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The Saha Team

CWS on the Road!

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For the next three weeks, the CWS will be on the road, recruiting students and young professionals for the CWS Fellowship Program! We will be holding information sessions at colleges an universities all around the East Coast, and we would love to see you there! Although these info session are taking place at schools, they are open to anyone who would like to learn more about the Fellowship Program – so if you’re in the area, come on by!

Community Water Solutions Fellowship Program, Fall Information Sessions:

9/10 – Connecticut College, 4:30 pm, Blaustein Rm 203.
9/13 – University of Virginia, 7:00 pm, the Kaleidoscope Center, Newcomb Hall
9/14 – Georgetown University, 4:00 pm, the Leavey Center, Seminar Room 1
9/16 – Virginia Tech, 7:00 pm, Randolph Rm 331
9/20 – Amherst College, 6:00 pm, Career Center, College Hall, First Floow
9/21 – Middlebury College, 4:30 pm, location TBD
9/23 – Yale University, 5:00 pm, location TBD rescheduled for the first week in October! We’ll let you know when and where soon!
9/24 – MIT, 1:00-3:00 pm, MIT International Development Fair, Student Street, Stata Center
9/27 – Tufts University, 6:30 pm, Location TBD
9/28 – Boston University, 5:00 pm, SMG, Rm 222

A Successful First Fellowship Program

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The CWS Fellows, now seasoned development veterans

The CWS Fellowship was a great success for all those involved. The Fellows learned a lot about water treatment, experienced an insight into what life in development is like, and became great friends, with each other, with their translators, Shak and Peter, and with the villagers in the process. Most importantly, they left behind a permanent business which will provide access to clean drinking water and improve the quality of life for a village of almost a thousand people. The CWS community grew by five incredible individuals this summer and we are grateful for the opportunity to have shared our experience with them. We hope Amaia, Ben, James, Molly and Sarah will return to visit us and Wambong one day. They will always be a part of CWS and as we support and monitor the Wambong center over the next year, we will continue to update the Fellows on the success of their project. We are excited and look forward to many more Fellowship Programs in the future and would like to thank our Fellows once more for helping us shape and improve the program for our next Fellows.

Thank you,
-The CWS Team

2010 Summer Fellows!

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CWS is excited to announce our first team of Summer Fellows! Congratulations to Molly Barrett, Sarah Britz, Amaia Noguera, Ben Powell, and James Little

This June, the Fellows will be traveling to Ghana were they will learn about the global water crisis and implement a CWS water business in a rural village. Interested in supporting their trip? Check out Molly, Ben, or Sarah‘s fundraising pages!!

Every donation makes a difference!

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In addition to helping Community Water Solutions provide clean water for rural villages in Ghana, your donations help us pay our wonderful Ghanaian staff, who do everything from translating to implementing water business on their own. Last week was very exciting for Peter, our project manager, because he had finally saved up enough money to purchase a plot of land. Peter is the first person in his family to own land – his parents and grandparents have always  rented homes in town. He is planning to eventually build a compound on this plot where his whole extended family can live.

Peter has been working very hard for CWS over the past 15 months  and has been very responsible – saving his salary little by little. He did not tell his family about his plan to purchase land, and surprised them last Wednesday by driving them out to his plot and showing them his deed! His parents were so proud of him and so are we!

Peter, standing on his plot, holding his deed!

This is just one example of how your donations can really make a difference in the lives of people in Ghana. Thank you so much for your support thus far!!

If you are interested in making a donation, please visit www.communitywatersolutions.org/support.html

Meet Raffie

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Meet Raffie, CWS’ new guard-puppy. Raffie used to belong to Shak, but his house is not surrounded by a fence and he was worried that Raffie would get hit by a car (her brother died this way a few months ago). The CWS office has a big yard and is fenced-in by a big cement wall – the perfect place for Raffie!

Raffie enjoys:

Rolling around in the grass

KenKey and Fish

Wachee (rice and beans) – but only if it comes from a street vendor and is covered in grease (my steamed white rice and canned beans did NOT go over well).

Biting ankles

Getting her belly rubbed

Jumping up on people

Raffie does not enjoy

Dog food

World Water Day!

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Yesterday was World Water Day, and we made sure to celebrate this special day with our entire CWS Family here in Ghana!

We started our celebration bright and early by opening our fifth water business in Gbong! It was so much fun to open a CWS water business ON World Water Day, even though most of the people in Gbong did not understand what we were talking about when Shak and I kept cheering for WWD! We had an amazing turnout, with 94% of the village showing up to buy water. Fati and Amina, the CWS ladies in Gbong did a great job selling and treating the water! Here are some pics from the morning:

Shak recording which households came to buy water

Selling water on World Water Day at Gbong
Safe storage container filled with safe drinking water!

The one hiccup was a few dozen leaky taps – but Shak and I were able to fix them all by the end of the morning.  Thank you iContact for sponsoring the water business at Gbong!

Later that afternoon, we had a party for the entire CWS family here at the office. Shak and I cooked (well, I chopped veggies while Shak cooked!) while Peter went to pick up everyone. Everyone except Fati from Kasaligu was able to make it to the party. The ladies were a little shy at first, but once they got to know each other, they started to share stories and offer each other advice. It was such a great experience. For example, the ladies in Cheko mentioned that some people in their village don’t like the smell of chlorine in the water. Alhassan, from Jarigu, explained to them that the chlorine was the most important step in the water treatment center, and that in a few weeks, people won’t even notice the smell. He went on to explain his experience in Jarigu, and how the chlorine smell is the smell of “clean water” so of course it is going to smell different than the “dirty water” from the dugout. This entire conversation happened while I was in the kitchen helping Shak, and when I came back, Soufoo (who can speak a little english) told me about it. I was thrilled! We missed you Mike, Chuck, Vanessa and Peter A!

World Water Day Celebration!

Of course we had to serve water from a CWS Safe Storage Container!

Everyone was dressed to the nines! (sorry that the picture is blurry!)

Damba Festival

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Shak, Me, and Peter all dressed up for the Damba Festival

This Friday was the Damba Festival in Tamale. According to Peter and Shak, during this festival “all of the sub-cheifs from the villages around Tamale march into town and then dance outside the central chief’s palace.” I tried to find another description of the festival online but didn’t really have any luck. According to ghanaexpeditions.com


The significance of the festival is to commemorate the birthday of the Holy Prophet of Islam. Activities includes prayers and fasting and procession of people on horseback, amidst drumming and dancing.

Originally linked with Islam to mark the birth of Mohammed, the festival has gradually taken on a traditional rather than Islamic tone. The 2-day festival is full of pageantry and showmanship and is celebrated in the towns of Dagbon, Gonjaland, Mamprusiland and Nanumbaland

I didn’t see any more praying then was usual for a Friday, but there was a lot of drumming, dancing, firing gunpowder, and horses. I can’t figure out how to upload the videos that I took – anyone have any suggestions? For now, here are some pictures

crowded streets - everyone marching to the Tamale Chief's Palace

The Community Water Solutions House/Office

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Here are the pics of the house that I promised!

The house
My Room (before)
My Room (after)
My Room (after)
Living room/office (before)
Living Room/Office (after) - still waiting on big dining table
Living room/office (after)
Hallway (before) - the first door on the right is the store room, the next door on the right is the lab, the door at the end of the hall is the kitchen
Hallway (after) - taken from the kitchen, the door at the end is to the living room/office
Kitchen (before)
kitchen (after)
Lab (before)
Lab (after)
Lab (after)

Exciting Changes For the CWS Staff

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Now that Peter has been working with Community Water Solutions for a year, he has been promoted to full-time project manager! This means that, in addition to monitoring Nyamaliga and Jargiu, Peter will be implementing a CWS water business in a new village on his own. We have been so pleased by Peter’s work over the past year and are confident that he will do a great job in his next village. Congratulations Peter!

Since Peter will be off on his own, I needed a new translator to help me run CWS’s operations in Tamale and implement our businesses in new villages. It didn’t take long to find the perfect person to fill this position…..

WELCOME TO THE CWS FAMILY IBRAHIM SHAK!! Shak is a great friend who I met 2 years ago through my thesis advisor, Susan Murcott. Shak has just joined the CWS team as my translator/right hand man and we are thrilled to have him! It seems as though everyone in Tamale knows and adores Shak. He is proactive, knowledgeable, and extremely hard-working. I am really looking forward to working with Shak this year.

Back in Ghana

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Thats right friends, I’m back! I arrived in Accra on Tuesday evening and will be spending a few days here before heading up to Tamale on Friday morning.  I am excited to be back in Ghana and have had a great time so far catching up with my friend (and old roommate in Tamale), Lisa!  Lisa is an intern with the World Food Programme and spent 4 months in Tamale and is now in Accra for her last few months.

Stay tuned for more updates from Tamale soon!

-Kate