Project Obodan

Day 22 :The Dog Days Commence

2011-08-16T12:42:00.000-07:00

In contrast to earlier this week, today and Friday were much more laid back and plodding. Work seems to have stalled somewhat, or is rather moving slower than before. The masons have been working a lot - we employ the same three ones for most of the work - but with so many sites, it's hard to stay exactly on track all the time. But no fear! The latrines will still be mostly done by the time we leave next Saturday (Anough is again the lone wolf which is behind all the others).

Our time here is split between buying and transporting materials around to the sites and actually overseeing and helping with the construction, with healthy doses of naps in between (physical labor is more demanding than what we're used to). Akokapom moved slowly to finish 90% of the superstructure, after which they ran out of sand and needed Sammy to buy some more. One of elders in the village took Anjali, Mike, and Ben to see the nearby Christian cemetery, tucked away in a surprisingly serene grove of trees. Besides the founder of the village being buried there, we saw a tall mango tree which is purported to have been planted over one of the graves. That means that the village has been around for at least a hundred or so years! It's amazing how old Obodan and the surrounding areas truly are.

Western Obodan saw plastering on its walls continued, with cries of "Mortar! Mortar!" coming through every so often. After evening took hold (it's pitch black by 6:30 pm here), the team ate rice for dinner, and finished up watching Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in the evening. Brilliant movie.

SIgning off,

team 2

Day 24+: The Weekend+

2011-08-16T12:38:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we took longer than usual to get started for the day, which worked out perfectly because Winnie came to greet us instead. We took her around to the sites to talk specifics about the project that we had only glossed over when she came with Benard. After visiting the project sites, we returned to Obodan and held a meeting for the children and a few mothers of the village. We first demonstrated proper tooth-brushing and flossing technique with the help of Winnie speaking in Twi. Then we proceeded to present the children with toothbrushes, toothpaste and dental floss which caused great excitement. In retrospect we really didn't plan that part out well so it turned chaotic for some time, but in the end it worked out well and the children went home excited to use their new things. The rest of the day consisted of more work on the sites when Winnie left and we finished watching The Two Towers sometime in the afternoon. For dinner Sammy wanted to take us to a nice restaurant where we could play pool, but it turned out that the place didn't have a pool table anymore and wasn't currently a restaurant either, just a bar. The owner was able to accommodate us in the end and although we needed to wait a long time for the food, we were provided with the most delicious chicken and rice we've had on this trip (I think it was even better than what we had at the Golden Tulip place where we first met Amadei). At the restaurant we spoke to three other pre-med Obronis currently working at the Nsawam hospital for a few weeks. They chose Nsawam on a whim, but were having a good time despite not enjoying the local food all too much. We arrived back in Obodan late, but not too late for a movie...

We then finished The Return of the King sometime in the wee hours of Sunday morning, with roosters actually crowing while Frodo and Sam are at Mt. Doom.

Seeing as time is short at the internet cafe, I'm going to quickly gloss over the exciting events of the past few days. On Sunday we danced at a funeral party held in Obodan which was awkward throughout, but lots of fun nonetheless. Mean Girls! We also taught Matthew how to play spa...strange seeing how we taught him a Ghanaian card game. Monday brought us to Sammy's farm as he harvested more pineapples. We waited a long time at Blue Skies, though we enjoyed ourselves as we watched an interesting TV show and read some ridiculous articles in the daily newspaper. Suraj and Ben got pretty sweet haircuts that the kids have been all over. Bought lots of roofing material and found out that we can actually use an ATM in Nsawam, which is a heck of a lot closer than Accra is! The sites are moving along well and should be nearing completion soon. Peace!

Day 21: A Traditional Celebration

2011-08-16T12:28:00.000-07:00

Well hey there! Just pretend you're reading this before Thursday's post. Wednesday was a very exciting day for our team and for Obodan because Benard Amadei came to visit our projects in each community. During the morning we worked at various sites, particularly Akwakupom while Winnie took Benard to a few places in the Nsawam area including Blue Skies. Upon arrival he asked us questions about community involvement, feedback, structural choices and the materials that we used. He was very impressed with our work and surprised that we were able to work on 6 different sites all at once. His input was also valuable for thinking about future projects. As a civil engineer, he was mainly concerned with the structure of the homes and the erosion that jeopardized the structure of them, so he talked a lot about diverting rainwater away from homes. In the end we showed him our pilot latrine and honored us by using it himself!

Afterwards, we walked back to the Chief's Palace where a traditional celebration awaited us. Loud drums and dancing started things off, with Benard and Mike taking respectable stabs at Ghanaian dancing! We met with the Queen Mother and other community leaders and listened to talks given by Sammy, Winnie, the Queen Mother and Benard as well. The celebration was topped off by the presentation of a beautiful white mask from the village to Benard. We hope to communicate further with Mr. Amadei to hear more feedback from a man so experienced in engineering for development. Colorful pictures and video to come!

Day 19 and 20: Team 2 Takeover

2011-08-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

Day 19

After bidding farewell to our Travel Team 1 counterparts (we miss you!), Anjali, Mike, Ben, and Suraj headed back to Obodan for night and awoke to a brand new week of latrine work. With the majority of the latrine sites finished with substructure work (the exception being Anough), today began with inspection and helping out moving blocks to the Western Obodan site. The boys can carry the blocks with their strong, manly muscles, but the office-work atrophied arms of Anjali required her to carry the cement block on her head (with a T-shirt rolled up underneath for comfort). It's quite amazing how strong the community members' necks are here - heads are used to carry most large items, and the women can even balance whole tubs of water on their heads without needing hands to steady them as they walk. The Western site finished most of its superstructure.

After Western we took a break in our room that quickly morphed into an afternoon siesta for most of the team (Mike doesn't do naps, alas), after which we blearily trooped to Alata to check up on the rebar work. The masons were working hard and swiftly at pouring in the concrete slab, and finished that for the day. We bought some rice on the way back, and for dinner Anjali showed her cooking prowess (or at least her ability to not mess up) by making some rice with flavoring in it. We were all quite tired for the day, and the evening ended with an early bed.

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Day 20

Laundry Day! One truly appreciates washing machines once she has washed four loads of clothes by hand, with breaks to fetch a bucket of water at the nearby borehole every so often.

Today was a more strenuous work day, the kind that actually has you waking up a bit stiff the next day. In the morning the team split up between overseeing the work in Akokapom and Central Obodan. The concrete floor slab was poured in Akokapom, while the superstructure was finished in Central. Then, after a lunch break of the ubiquitous bread (our diet tends to consist primarily of carbohydrates here) sold here, we all walked to Alata, where we carried blocks once more and mixed mortar for the masons to use to work on the superstructure. No naps today. After Alata we moved to Anough, where the substructure was still being worked on. Dirt needed to be filled in on the sides of the pit, so the team grabbed shovels to help with that part. If you've ever read "Holes" by Louis Sachar, then you have a better idea of how shoveling dirt feels like. The evening ended with Ben taking over the chef's duty and cooking up some more rice, except with the added bonus of onions. There was time for a quick movie, then beddy-byes.

Cheers from Africa,

Anjali, Ben, Mike, Suraj

Day 18: Lake Volta and Team 1 Leaving

2011-08-07T06:25:00.000-07:00

Wow we had to wake up super early for our van ride to Lake Volta so we could catch the cruise! So me and Marta and Mira were already up by 5am packing up all our bags *sniff*. We left some extra bug spray and hand sanitizer behind for the others. So since we were leaving, Suraj, Mike, Anjali, and Ben would be stay back. We walked to the van and barely had time to say goodbye to the kids; we weren't going to be back either, we had to bring our luggage with us because after stopping by the Lake we were going to Accra to meet Winnie and Bernard Amadei, the founder of EWB for dinner! We did see Ebenezer and Akotuanat and said bye to them, and I told Richard to tell the others that I said bye but I dunno if he will!

We also got great bread on the way, but upon arrival, we realized not only that the cruise was full, but that is was 40CDs each, around $30 per person, which did cover food and a live band but still, it was full. Besides, there were too many obronis for our liking, and you know us, we're totally not obroni enough to go on the cruise. So we decided to leave and ended up going to a really nice resort that also had a 'cruise' but it was a 15-person sized motor powered quaint-looking passenger boat. Sure why not? The resort was nice and had a pool, and some grass to play soccer and volleyball in (net included!) Mike even got a nice beef khebab that we all drooled at. So on the boat ride we realized how freaking huge the lake was, I just looked it up and it's the largest reservoir of water in the world by surface area, and the 4th largest by volume in the world. It has a dam that powers 80% of Ghana. Woah.

After a small lunch we headed to Accra to meet up with Winnie and Bernard and others, but decided to take a small trip to the beach! Full of people, horse rides, and bars. We just chilled on a strip further away from most of the people and tossed the frisbee and a hacksack, and Mike and Ben even jumped in the water. I think Mira did too. Great, now we had to meet Winnie in our soaking wet clothes. Good thing we brought nice clothes to change into!

So we met at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra, and formally met Winnie, our professional mentor from Cali, Bernard Amadei, founder of EWB and professor at U of Colorado, Boulder, along with members of the Ghana Institute of Engineers and Engineers without Borders - Ghana. We took pics and sat down for a nice dinner. First time we had non Ghanaian food in a while.

This is when Team 1 left Team 2. A team photo was taken and handshakes and hugs were exchanged. And as soon as we had gotten to Ghana, we had to leave. Me, Mira, and Marta stayed at the hotel to wait for Winnie to take us to a guest house for the night so we could make it to the airport at 4am without having to go back to Obodan. We waved goodbye to Suraj, Mike, Ben, Anjali, and Sammy, and headed to the guest house. Indoor plumbing was quite a surprise. So was the king size bed we shared for the 4 hrs we slept. Tomorrow we would leave for the US...

-Eric, Marta, Mira

P.S. Team 2 can tell you if they did anything else that night, like watched a movie, I have no idea lol.

Day 17: Boti Falls and a Surprise Guest!

2011-08-06T10:25:00.000-07:00

Today was our first true Touristy trip. We all clambered into a taxi van and began our journey to Boti Falls. On the way, we obtained FanIce a soft vanilla ice cream you squeeze from a package! Yum. When we got to Boti Falls, we noticed huge throngs of students from around Ghana; they were wearing matching shirts or polos and as soon as we got out of our van we were kind of bombarded with plantain chips and candy, some of which we bought. So we went along with a tour guide down to Boti Falls, which was just a staircase away from where the plaza we parked our van was. There are two falls actually, one male and one female, from two rivers that had joined up at one point on their way to the falls but then diverged again due to a large rock. They were discovered in the 50s I think and the name comes from a foreigner's inability to pronounce the full name of the area (something-boti) so the name got shortened to Boti Falls. Then we stopped for a bit to eat more plantain chips, and began hiking up a trail to who knows where.

Sammy was a bit tired by this point, and for good reason. Some of the drops were like 90 degrees and there were some climbs where you had to be on all 4s to get up. Finally we reached our destination which was this large flat rock balancing on this other rock. And the view was amazing too. Lots of obronis on the way too. (Obronis being foreigners, like us). Anyways, after we made our way back to Obodan, we still had work to do: move 300 blocks from central Obodan to Anoff, a satellite of Obodan about a 30 second truck ride away. So we loaded 100 blocks at a time onto the flatbed truck, road with it to the site, then unloaded it all around where the pit was dug. These blocks would be the eventual substructure! Also, Clay and Chelsea and some ELiTE friends decided to visit Obodan and stay the night and even helped with the blocks.

After playin a little frisbee and soccer at dusk, we spent the night in Nsawam chilling at McDonal's and came back and collapsed from exhaustion. Also, tmrw we have to get up super early to make it onto the cruise on Lake Volta...

Days 15 and 16: Me Boh Eh Soom Thre Thre

2011-08-05T06:38:00.000-07:00

Ah so today was a good day to wash our clothes. Not much to do initially in the morning so we had time. Too bad it rained later in the day while our clothes were line drying. Note to self: bring a line next trip so we can dry our clothes at our place rather than hang them up at Faustina's... Anyways, the rebar/steel bender came by today and he agreed to do one floor latrine per day. And then we went over to Kwasi-doi again to this time make sure the plastering was getting done on the substructure. The kids we noticed, in this area, are much more... outgoing. They'd get into random arguments and would just gather around the pit and chat. I asked James what they were arguing about, because James was the instigator of the argument in the first place, and he had said that they were going to put chickens in the bottom of the latrine, or something ridiculous like that. And then the Kwasi-doi kids got angry at James (who's from Obodan) and they would start arguing. They're like 10-12 years old and it's great! I guess it was pretty enjoyable to have them around. For lunch we took a break and ate some Muslim food, it was like rice and beans and some spicy ingredients, and it was quite tasty. We also got "sugar bread" later which is just sweeter-than-normal bread, plus we got a discount (and thus a larger loaf of bread) cause the driver of the bakery van liked Mira.

Also since the rebar was finished too, we helped with pouring concrete onto it to make the floor slab. Can't wait to see the finished product! We had some good food for dinner again too, Mira made her rice and spicy sauce and egg combo while Marta and Anjali made a non-spicy version with rice and tomato and egg. It was goood. We also watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall. LOL

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Day 16:

Today we saw the finished concrete slab so we plan to start building the superstructure today. But it is still not 100% cured so we won't lay too many layers of superstructure. We took the second team to see the pilot source-separated latrine from last summer and hung out there a little bit, and it wasn't smelly at all! Looks like it was working yay! I tried hiding in the latrine to scare the team, and Mike would tell me when they were coming, so I sat on the toilet (cover down of course) and then Anjali opens the door and I'm like Ah Anjali, close the door, I'm using it. I think she said she was pretty startled. Nice. And the kids who were hanging around Ben kept saying to each other "Me boh eh soom thre thre" which means "I slap you three times" even though three in Twi is "ebiesa" they just shortened three to "threh." No slapping was actually done but it was just fun to say. Ben's got the phrase down.

So then after a few more sites got their concrete, Eric, Mira, Mike, and Marta went with Sammy to Accra to run some errands and most of all to buy souvenirs in this indoor outdoor market. They literally bombard you and shake your hand and ask you to buy their things. And most of them were selling the same stuff too, Ghanaian shirts, jewelry, wooden sculptures and masks, etc. Mike almost got a free painting for a piece of gum; unfortunately the package was soggy from the rain that day or else we woulda got a free painting! We all bought a few things and turns out Marta's really good at haggling. Tonight we had instant noodles, instant macaroni, and instant pasta for dinner. Yesss. I also think tonight was Lion King night.

Me boh eh soom thre thre,
Eric, Mira, Mike, Marta, and Faction 2

Days 13 and 14: New Kids in Town

2011-08-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

The days here aren't as hot as you would think. The wet season is just ending and the hills next to the village are usually covered in this rolling fog. It doesn't rain too much, well it drizzles a bit, but it's not too sunny. The breeze is nice though. So today we continued with making sure the masons were plastering the inside of the pits and we were looking forward to seeing the second team today!

Sammy went to Accra to pick them up, but when we called him to check on how things were, he told us that their flight as cancelled and that they were stuck in Morocco. Plus, their bags had not made it on the flight. We didn't want to believe him at first because he likes playing jokes like this, but when he came back to the room and we didn't see anyone with him, we considered he might have been telling the truth. Then Suraj, Anjali, and Ben burst through the door and then we're like oh Sammy, you got us didn't you. The only part of his story that was true was that their bags actually had not made it on the flight and they were going to come two days later.

So we all visited sites together and tonight we ate at Fotobi and had a great time, although a few of us have been feeling slight headaches and fevers but nothing a little Cipro can't cure. And instead of Fanta, some of us had Alvaro, which is this nice non-alcoholic carbonated beverage with several fruit flavors to choose from, and we got Passion Fruit. Def a tasty drink.
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Mostly today we hung around Kwasi-doi to make sure the substructure was getting completed. Everyone helped out, whether it was shoveling, mixing mortar, carrying blocks, anything! Anjali was learning a lot of Twi from the kids, and I had learned to count from 1-10 in Twi as well. I also taught John Kwaye how to count from 1-5 in Chinese and then later taught him 6-10 but he said that was too hard. Then later, we walked to the site in Western Obodan, around a 20 minute walk from Kwasi-doi, but 2 minutes away from where we were staying, and we saw that they had laid the wooden boards on the substructure, in preparation for pouring the floor slab.

Then we noticed that they were designing it per the pilot latrine we implemented last summer, which was neither gender-divided nor side pit access. So we had to sit down and talk about which design would be better, and of course we knew it would be gender-divided but we had to clarify where the entrance doors were and where the pit access doors (where you dig out the solid waste) were. We ended up getting it figured out thanks to Sammy!

Tonight most of us went to Nsawam, and logged on to the internetz. But nobody updated the blog. Psh.

Night,
Team 1 and Team 2

Day 13 pics (Day 14 pics start at the picture with Ben, Anjali, the kids, and the pit):

Days 11 and 12: Laboring and Anniversaries

2011-08-01T14:32:00.000-07:00

So today is Sunday, which means all the kids wake up real early and go to church with their parents. It also means it's communal labor day! The most work gets done today so we were really excited. We went up to Kwasi-doi, the lazier of the villages, who kind of disappointed us cause they were supposed to have the pit dug and all by the morning but they said they'd come back at 2pm in the afternoon. Hmph. At least we did have the honor of being served some food again by some of the villagers, this one woman has given us fufu (mashed casava) before so this time she gave us some cold square kenke, which is mashed maize, with some spicy tomato fish sauce. She also had us mash the fufu she was preparing for us with some hot soup which was great too!

On a brighter note, Alata's substructure is halfway done. We videotaped a lot of the construction with Marta's camcorder for her documentary. I even interviewed a couple of the kids, like James, who enjoys making animal noises and wants to be an engineer! It's all on camera I swear. And we also met John Kwaye from Kwasi-doi, who wants to be a doctor because doctors help people. I noticed how he said doctors help people, not that he himself wanted to help people. Well, maybe once he's closer to his dream he'll realize he will be the one helping others!

Dinner was quite special tonight because Mira made gardenegg soup (gardenegg is a squash the size of a tomato i guess, and it has tomato paste, onion, jalapeno peppers, palm oil, and some spices) and cocoyam (a yam-like... yam) Sammy said it's almost as good as his mother's gardenegg soup... Congrats Mira!

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Monday, August 1st, means only one thing. Team 2 is one day away! Suraj, Ben, Anjali will be coming tomorrow! Anyway, Mike and Sammy went to Accra to take care of bizznazz, and me and Mira had to go check up on Kwasi-doi, the slower-digging village. We literally took the straightener and shovel ourselves and made sure the bottom sides of the pit were vertical and straightened. It was really sunny too, so it turned out to be a good workout. As you can see too, kids love helping out with the latrines too. So why not let them have a shovel and go at it right?

And tonight we went to Nsawam again to McDonal's! Not for burgers and fries but for chicken and rice. We also celebrated Marta's 7th anniversary with her bf, well with us, but you know what I mean. McDonal's is like a club actually because when you enter there's a huge space for dancing. The restaurant is upstairs, and a floor above the street so you're free from the streetlights and noise and everything. And today we were able to get some internet too, only the 2nd time actually. We're really living simple here, even though there is electricity in the village, we don't have a means of calling or going online without Sammy's blackberry or coming to Nsawam which is a 15 min taxi ride from Obodan. At least it's kinda cheap though (the taxi which is around a $1 per person and the internet which is a $1 an hour)

Your obronis,

E&Ms

Day 11 pics (Day 12 pics start at our group picture):

Days 9 and 10: Bros and Hoes

2011-08-01T14:25:00.000-07:00

Well hello again, this is our shout out from the ninth and tenth days of the trip. Important events included: Mike pick-axing, Eric hoe-ing on the side (of the pit), serious table-topping from all sides, a 3 - 1 current tally of wrestling victories to Mike over the great Sammy Gamson himself, sweet concrete-pouring in western Obodan, an absolutely delicious dinner of home-cooked rice, eggs and pepper sauce made mostly by Mira, and financial clarity (at least on paper).

The next day began when we finally decided to leave our room at the extra late time of 8am, only to find out that Sammy Gamson had been setting up workers for over 2 hours. Our first stop was in Obodan where we led a massive block carrying campaign with the help of eager children. Yes, cement/dirt blocks are very heavy and yes the kids are much better at it than we are, but we did our best! Kwasi Doi came was our next stop where we again aided in the digging process.

Skip to tonight and we spent the night in Fotobi and some Don Garcia magically appeared and tempted us to drink it. Which of course led to Mike and Sammy arm wrestling.

Well that's alsadbdf aiabmasd aawa *drool*

Eric, Mike, Mira, Marta (the 3 muskebeers)

Days 7 and 8: Doctors and Masters

2011-08-01T14:08:00.000-07:00

Today the doctors came omg! It was great, we met Amelia, her husband Cyril, and Joseph. So we set up shop right outside school and started preparing index cards for each person, with a place to put their name, age, village, then sections for their heart rate, height, weight, blood sugar, etc., while we set up the stations at the same time. People started coming around 7:30 ish and the doctors started seeing people around 8:00pm. In total around 100 or so people came! Mostly middle age to older women and men. Mike and Mira even helped with taking down their height and weight so it was a full team effort. And the Queen Mother of Nsawam even came and said hi!

Anyways, we successfully poured concrete today in the north villages. Anyways, I include a picture of one of the villagers because he's hilarious. His english is only so so but he's just a character. He enjoys drinking which is why we always think he's drunk whenever he talks, but he is just really friendly. That's why the north village is one of our favorites, one because of this guy, another because they work really fast.

Tonight we again ate and drank at Fotobi and even learned how Sammy met his wife. It's a great story for another time :)

Today we met MARTA! Well first we had to go to Accra again. It was mindblowing really, after being in a village for a week it is kind of amazing to see not only other Obrunis (white ppl) but also civilization lol. We had yummy chicken sandwiches too.... double chicken sandwiches. Marta's great too. She's here to document the latrine construction process and how the community interacts with each other during construction. She's more an architecture urban design person so its cool seeing what she's done before in relation to construction in Italy (where she's from). We also bought groceries at a Shoprite today, and even looked at cribs for Sammy's newborn aw. We hope to make lotsa Ghanaian food in the coming days.

Then we saw Sammy's farm! Hella pineapples in every direction holy s***. They were unfortunately not ready to harvest yet lol but whatever.

Hopefully we'll get online soon because we are not doing these blogposts justice. at all.

See ya'll later,
Eric, M^3

Days 5 and 6: Fufu and Mark

2011-08-01T13:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long break but we've been really taking our sweet time here, not having checked our emails for a week hehe. But anyways, we started our 5th day here with yummy pineapple nutella sandwiches. Pineapples here are amazing to say the least...

We worked mostly at Kwasi-doi, one of 6 latrine sites in Obodan and its satellite villages, but without going into too many details, this site has been the slowest going. There are hella rocks in the pit and they find them too hard to dig through. What has been fun about this village though is this one mother who makes fufu for us, basically mashed casava, and even had us try it out. We also enjoy sugar cane when we get the chance. It's like gum cause you chew it but it doesn't last nearly as long, but it is quite juicy.

We also kept up with progress at the incomplete second pilot latrine, it still needs a floor slab and the superstructure, but it looks great. Nice plastered walls and everything...

Today we also seemed to have more time to chill because me and mike ended up playing... bamboo baseball on the soccer field in front of the school. The kids are just way too active for us haha.

Well the sixth day we had to start thinking about how we were going to meet the doctors for tomorrow, the 27th, but it ended up going very well as you will read about! Today we actually spent a lot of time in Accra. But first we had to make sure the villages were molding blocks and everything. It's actually a really quick process, they mix cement and sand and only a little bit of water then put it in this block mold and make sure it's all compact, then dump it in rows and let them dry. Quite cool. Plus it's less expensive and clearly more fun than buying blocks!

Anyways, we were in Accra most of the day too getting money for materials, etc., but it was interesting seeing the city life of Ghana.

There are still people selling stuff on the streets like in the villages but just much more densely populated, and crazy. We even have a private taxi guy who's been around since Steve Forbes rode with him, his name's Mark and he's awesome. He's only like 28 or so. But anyways, we saw a bunch of sites just driving around, and we met the Queen mother of the Nsawam region and even chilled at her place for a bit to chat and have soda :) We just made sure she would be in Obodan for the doctor's visit!

Well, again sorry about the delay in updates, but this is only the third or fourth time we've had access to blogspot...

Peace,

Eric, Mira, Mike

Day 4: Pineapple on a stick...and other wicked cool foods from Sunday 7/24

2011-07-24T16:00:00.000-07:00

Each day is twice as long as we are used to and for that we aregrateful! Today was community labor day so all adult villagers wererequired to work on community projects (sort of like taxes except waymore interesting). Now we're sitting down on stomachs full of chickenand fufu dinners and we can finally rest from a tiring and excitingday. Almost every pit was worked on with many diggers, including Mike,taking turns.

Much progress has been made on the latrine pits andwe're ready to move on to the next steps in the building process. Toour surprise when community labor ended, it wasn't even noon. We hungout in the school field, playing with all the children who never seemto run out of any energy...ever. I have a feeling that we will wake upslightly sore tomorrow from that well-worth-it workout. When thethree of us needed a serious break, we went to Faustina's home wherewe were treated to a home-cooked meal of cocoyams (idk if i spelledthat right but they're a pink yam-like food) with a delicious peppersauce. We also learned a lot of Twi from her because we have built upa wide variety of questions about the language and culture that neededexplanation (one village's name translates to "monkey forest" andObodan translates to "huge stone home/room" based on an ancientstory).

Next on our agenda, PINEAPPLE ON A STICK!!! We followedFaustina to her farm while Sammy sorted out an accident with the sandtruck and we ended up eating about 8 pineapples out there. They weresmaller than normal and therefore left behind but no less delicious.The best pineapple cutter was Angel, a girl that came with us who'sonly about 11 years old. Dinner came in Nsawam where Eric and Miratried fufu for the first time. It seems as though every food we try isbetter than the last and we're hoping to find/make some equivalentswhen we get back home. Pictures to come soon, we didn't have time toupload them yet.

Till next time, I'm Mike Wazowski, I'm Miriam and I'mDP. Peace out from Ghana!

Day 3: Circle Rainbow Across the Sky

2011-07-24T15:52:00.000-07:00

This morning Mira and Eric did laundry by hand using buckets of waterand soap. The local children were eager to help by fetching water andwringing out our clothes.

The central Obodan substructure was completed and a mason began workingon plastering the inner walls of the pit with cement.The northern satellite village (Akwakupom or Monkey Forest) had acompleted pit that was longer and deeper than specified in thedesigns. The extra length accounted for room around which the masonsneeded to work, but the extra depth posed questions for the structuralintegrity and ability to access at the side. Akwakupom also hastrouble with water distribution and have been getting their water froma nearby stream that looks quite dirty.

On the way to the villages we saw a circle rainbow. CIRCLE RAINBOW. Itwent around and around the sun. MIND BLOWING. CIRCLE. RAINBOW.

The eastern Obodan (Alatta) pit has been dug more but we have yet tosee anyone actively digging it. It needs to be deeper; the length andwidth are fine.At the eastern satellite village (Kwasi Doi) Mira played Waving Flagon the ukulele and Mike and Eric sang along. Some villagers danced.Most knew the song from the world cup. It was a heartwarming moment. Also on the way back Mira got her hair braided by some local women whothought her hair was fake.We showed our Waste to Power video to Sammy who respondedenthusiastically. His sister brought us dinner, corn paste (banku) and fishsoup, homemade. Always delicious.

That's it for today. XOXO.Eric, Mike, and Mira

Day 2: Blockheads

2011-07-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

Today is the first full day we are in Obodan! We slept kinda late watching HP and the Philosopher's Stone...but we did enjoy bread from the local village Fotobi and played frisbee til Sammy had to pick us up to go to Obodan. We looked at the substructure of the second pilot latrine but it needed more blocks for it to be completed. So surprisingly, we all carried blocks from across the road to the site. I think my head is still slightly sore but it was fun, especially since the kids kept saying Obruni and kinda laughing at us. lool. Not only that, we saw how strong the villager's heads really were. Some people were carrying two on their heads. =O After that we chilled with the kids at school, and although we were going to live at the teacher's quarters, we ended up sleeping in the administrative building's conference room that night. The kids enjoy grabbing...

Since Sammy couldn't always be around, we decided to look at some pits ourselves, measuring them and whatnot, even digging a little bit (they did leave the pick axes and shovels there...) When we got hungry we went to the center of Obodan and bought some bags of rice filled with a spicy red orange sauce that has some vegetables in it, then she put a hardboiled egg in it as well. A good thing to note about food in Obodan is that it comes in a bag. Always. Water? Bag. Ice cream? Bag. Rice and egg? Bag.

Anyways, after we were full, we had to talk to Sammy about the money situation. It seems that funds weren't transferring. So we had to wing it a bit. But it is still going rather smoothly; Sammy brings us to the digging sites as motivation! We are also taking lots of videos to aid in Marta's documentary. Some of the measurements are a bit off but we will be able to manage. And at night we again ate at Sammy's favorite bar in Fotobi and had some drinks and chicken and rice!

I guess that's all for now, hope you enjoy the pictures! I included some from our trip over!
-Eric, M&M

Arrival in Ghana! Day 1

2011-07-21T10:09:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone,

We arrived in Accra unscathed and ready to EWB! We met Sammy, our village contact and assemblyman/mayor
Of Obodan at 6am Ghana time this morning (right now its almost 6pm) and drove out of Accra, to Nsawam, and finally to Obodan. This
won't be a very long post cuz we're typing from Sammy's phone. Pics definitely to come! But so far we've
visited latrine sites with Sammy and met local chiefs along the way. We've enjoyed the company of a
student from umass-amherst during our travels (she enjoys rugby), jack daniels chocolate, satchet
water, and fruit snacks..

Til next time!
Mah joh (good afternoon) from Obodan,
Eric, Mira, Mike

8 Days

2011-07-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

Hello allll!

We're leaving soon, next week in fact!

Just a little test post.

-Eric, Mike, Mira

See you on TV!

2011-02-25T18:02:00.000-08:00

Yes... we're going to be on PBS! Thank you for your votes and support! You'll be seeing us on PBS's Earth Day Special airing April 8th (details to come later).

But here's the video anyway!

PBS Planet Forward!

2011-02-10T12:28:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! Thanks to a very productive assessment trip by Mike, Suraj and Garrison, a discussion with our advisor Professor Chandran, and hard work from our team members, our project is really being propelled in a good direction!

We just finished making a video that summarizes what we're up to now, it can be viewed at :
http://planetforward.org/idea/implementing-sustainable-sanitation-and-water-management-in-ghana/

We are in the running for PBS's Planet Forward program in which some of the best ideas on energy innovation will be aired. The above link is our page on the Planet Forward website, and in order to get on the show, we need your help! Go to the page, watch the video, and scroll down and click "viable" if you think our idea is viable ("Will this idea actually work? Is this a scalable, cost-effective solution to solving our climate and energy problems?").

If we have enough viability votes, we'll be selected as a nominee, and then the world can start voting for our video to be on TV. Nomination ends this Friday, and then voting will begin after that.

Voting and national television aside, this idea really can make an impact in developing communities... so check out or video and let us know what you think. Enjoy!

It's been a full week!

2011-01-10T13:29:00.000-08:00

We arose to beautiful Sunday morning. Life in the village is quieter today as some businesses and drivers are not operational. Instead they choose to go to church and take the day off. Earlier in the week we were invited to attend church with Dora, a girl we met in town, so Garrison and I took her up on the offer. It was a great experience to try out a mass with Jehova's Witnesses in Twi. One kind old man volunteered to translate some of the mass for us and Dora provided an
English bible to follow along. When mass ended we were greeted by most of the congregation and we tried getting pictures with some friends in their Sunday best. Unfortunately Garrison's camera died after two pictures and mine had been borrowed by some of the other children in the
village earlier so we had to pretend for a photo or two before everyone was satisfied.

After church the big project for the day was to meet Winnie at Valley View University. We quickly packed up and made ready to leave. As we were walking on the road looking for a cab, we ran into Sammy who called a cab for us that would take us straight to Valley View instead of following our plan which was basically to play it by ear as we hopped from place to place. Though the road we used was viciously bumpy and deformed, we arrived at Valley View earlier than if we had followed our original plan.

Since it was Sunday, VVU had very few people on campus, but Winnie and her neice solicited the help of a security guard to take us around to their source-separated bathrooms and to where they store the waste for composting. We couldn't go inside the student bathroom, but it was pretty impressive from what we could tell. They had six pipes collecting solid waste in transportable garbage containers and a rainwater collection system on the roof to supply
the sinks.

(Quick aside: Garrison and I spotted a mouse zipping behind our stuff after we finished our movie. We literally chased it around the room and forced it outside. Another point to SEAS and EWB Ghana. 11:05pm)

Next came the compost collection portion of the trip. Suraj filled containers with compost from their six storage sheds while Garrison and I helped out, but we mostly just watched and held our
breath. With all of our samples in hand we left VVU for the trek back to Obodan. By
the time we arrived it was too late to grab real food so we snacked on the never failing combination of bread and Nutella. We realized that we've only eaten 5 actual meals on the trip so far, meaning that we've been eating less than one meal a day. Further proof that the keys to
survival are chewy bars and Nutella.

Saturday

2011-01-10T13:27:00.000-08:00

Today Winnie, our professional advisor that lives in San Fransisco, arrived in Obodan with a friend named Stella. Winnie and Stella have been friends for many years as they both completed their undergraduate studies at the same university in Ghana. We quickly got acquainted with one another though Suraj, Garrison and I had only spoken to her in conference calls and in emails beforehand. After the usual preliminaries, we prepared for a day of teamwork.

Our main goal for the day was to gather information about the water distribution project and to explore new options. First we took a tour of the planned water project, while continually debating the best course of action. We examined the feasibility of our original plan against the constraints of cost, elevation difficulties, the desires of the community and other issues. Furthermore we tried out new thoughts and ideas to add or change the original plan in order to best help the
village of Obodan at the most reasonable cost. A lot of time was spent deliberating various points including the difficulty of cutting a water pipeline through the main road. As Winnie was speaking about the problem of traffic control and safety regarding roadwork, Sammy jumped up screaming and we looked up to see what was the matter. As if to prove Winnie's point, a child had been hit by a car because he was being chased across a sidestreet under construction and couldn't see through the big work truck to the oncoming car.

First aid was quickly applied to the child thanks to Winnie, Suraj's Neosporin and the first aid kit that my mom grabbed for me before the trip. Although he was distraught, he wasn't badly injured. He was still taken to the hospital as a precaution. When the situation had been dealt with by all of the adults in the village that had suddenly appeared at the whisper of bad news, we resumed our conversation. A design has yet to be officially decided on since we need information
about the cost of cutting through the road and the cost of deepening a borehold, but a general plan has been set.

We proceeded to set stakes in the ground at 10m intervals to be markers for surveying, which should be occurring soon in the next couple of days, depending on when we can get equipment. The markers represent the basic path of the pipeline from borehole 2 to the central water tank that will be located at the top of the road, near the junction.

The day ended in spectacular fashion as Winnie's friend, an architect living halfway between Obodan and Accra, invited us to dinner at her house. Not only were we spoiled by fresh coconut (which I admit to not enjoying as much as Garrison and Suraj) and cold water on the ride to the house, but we receieved a small feast of rice with vegetable sauce, goat, fried red fish, hard boiled eggs, beans and freshly cut pineapple. Garrison, Sammy, Suraj and I left with full and contented
stomachs. According to Garrison, "this is all that I need to be perfectly happy, a delicious meal and time to rest after."

Days 5 and 6

2011-01-10T13:23:00.000-08:00

Today was a busy day and I can't for the life of me remember what day it is. Thanks to the laptop's calendar, I'm informed that it's pretty late on Thursday night. We spent the majority of our day in Nsawam, but before leaving we made sure to complete a few other tests including some pump tests, coliform tests on latrine urine and pH tests on the solid waste.

When we arrived in Nsawam, it was as though we were dropped off in the middle of Canal Street at it's busiest. It turns out that today was market day, so there were hundreds and hundreds of people packed on a narrow street. Everywhere we looked, something new was being sold from Nike shoes to delectable Fan Ice (Ghanain ice cream) that Suraj recommended. While walking through the market we bought six small tanks to collect urine for summer testing, plastic spoons for further solid waste/compost testing, and a sack to carry sawdust from a local woodshop to the latrine pit.

Along the way we noticed many barber shops and Sammy, Garrison and I all felt that we needed haircuts. Suraj said he'd rather wait until he got home, but the rest of us went ahead with the plan. Sammy shaved his head because he'd rather not have any hair to deal with, but Garrison chose the classier fade. As for myself, I just needed a buzz cut to shorten my out of control hair. However, the barber had never cut a white man's hair before so he called me his teacher and I
explained what he needed to do.

We all left feeling fresh and considerably cooler in the sun as we walked through the streets to the house of Sammy's sister-in-law, where his sick wife was staying. It was really nice to meet his wife for the first time and we stayed and chatted for a little while before heading out again to grab food at McDonal's. This time around it was much easier to order our food since we knew what we wanted and I even took a leap of faith to try fufu, a common Ghanain dish of cassava and goat meat in a flavorful soup. It tasted delicious, but it was very strange since you're not supposed to chew the food, you're supposed to just swallow the pieces of cassava whole. Even though we tried starting a movie later that night, we couldn't charge the laptop and use the speakers that Sammy let us borrow, so we just decided to hit the hay a little earlier tonight, which I will be doing, well, right about now.

-

With a great deal of our tests underway, we took time off from the specifics of our project for a little while and decided to volunteer our manual labor on Sammy's pineapple farm. His 25 acre farm that will be growing 20,000 pineapples this year has been expanding over the last few years and even has it's own website, thanks to the website design course that Sammy took at Polytechnic University last semester. Like a superhuman, Sammy is able to balance himself as a graduate engineering student, a successful farmer and Assemblyman of his village, all while having a daughter and a wife that is now pregnant again.

To prepare for a day of hard work, we were treated to a breakfast of mashed maize with a spicy dipping sauce and tiny, whole fish. Working on the farm was very tiring work as we battled the tough, rocky terrain alongside Sammy's other, paid workers. It was fun to help out on the pineapple farm amongst such a gorgeous landscape, but the power of the sun took its toll and tired us out. We were exceptionally dirty on our walk back from the farm to Obodan, which made the flow of water that much more satisfying when we finally reached the borehole to clean ourselves off.

Upon arriving back in our room, we made sure to record the results of our previous water and urine tests from two days prior. Also, we performed a pH test on the solid waste sample, which yielded a very favorable result. After a relaxation and group bonding period we decided to head off to Nsawam. Our first order of business was to stop at McDonal's for the third night in a row because we were quite hungry from a day at the farm. Afterwards we stopped at the internet cafe because at this point we were sufficiently Facebook and internet deprived and we each got our own 30 minutes to ourselves (it's a much shorter time than you might initially think, even with a decent internet connection). Yet again, Garrison was unable to finish the movie we set out to watch before bed as he was beneath his mosquito net, fast asleep before Suraj and I had made it to the halfway mark in "City of Men."

Day 4 continued

2011-01-10T13:22:00.000-08:00

Suraj exchanged our American dollars for Ghanain cedis yesterday which finally gave us the freedom to purchase materials and pay for transportation ourselves without having to depend on Sammy, who is very busy with his pineapple farm and Assemblyman duties. As a result, we were very productive today and we were also able to expand our food choices beyond the various chewy bars that had dominated our diet.

The first order of business was fixing the latrine. We bought some new pipes, a pipe reducer, joints and glue for a plumber who took out the old urine pipe and installed a new one. So far this new pipe has worked well with no problems. Before the pipe was installed we took urine samples from the basin in the toilet that was overflowing due to the clogging and used those samples for testing. Next we determined the depth of the solid waste in the latrine which turned out to be less than we expected it to be, probably because they don't use the latrine as often as we thought they would. With the help of Sammy we were also able to take solid waste samples from the latrine by nailing a metal can on the end of a long bamboo pole and scooping the waste with that. It turned out that the waste was much less solid than normally expected, but it was most likely a result of the overflow from the clogged urine pipe into the solid waste pit.

We continued our day by surveying the families that use the source-separated latrine. We asked them their thoughts on the latrine, how often it is used, by whom and what could be improved. While talking to the families we developed the hypothesis that the small children could be the reason behind the clogged urine pipe since they're too small to use the source-separated toilet properly. We also asked Ebenezer and Kwobe's family to put ash into the latrine more frequently
than they have been to help solidify the solid waste and help it compost. While we surveyed the homes, we also took water samples to test for coliform.

When the sun went down we knew it was time for dinner. Garrison, Suraj and I took a taxi into Nsawam where we first stopped at an Internet cafe for a few minutes. Since they only had one computer available we each took turns filling out mandatory EWB-USA forms and quickly checking our emails. By this point we were very hungry and went to a previous favorite of Suraj's
called McDonal's (no relation that we know of to the largest fast food franchise in the world and yes, doesn't have a "d" at the end). We each had chicken and fries and we shared a plate of rice that was washed down with passion fruit flavored Alvaro.

2011-01-07T11:48:00.000-08:00

As reported by myself and Garrison from our room in Obodan. More to come!

We woke up this morning around 6:30, which by college student standards would be extraordinarily early, but in Ghana it'sactually considerably late. The sun has been up for at least an hour and this is definitely the latest we've woken up sincearriving in Obodan. Life continues normally as we brush our teeth outside and take a trip or two the the nearby borehole tofetch water. Garrison and I try to carry the large buckets of water back to the room balanced on our heads the way allthe locals do. Although some water is spilled, most successfully reaches the room. The borehole water, which we are doing tests on, is by no means safe for us "obronis" or foreigners to drink, but the locals are used to it and have strong enoughstomachs to drink it no problem.

The three of us are looking forward to today's work because we can finally start on the latrine. Upon arriving on the firstday, we had a chance to tour the village and see both latrines we built with the community. It turned out the second source-separated latrine had been out of order for a while because the urine pipe had been completely clogged by fecal matter. Suraj left this morning with a plumber to purchase materials that we can use to fix the latrine, both by unclogging the pipe and by installing an improved, solid pipeline instead of the pliable pipe that is there now.

(Quick aside: Mike and I (Garrison) are dancing with Ebenezer and Gregory to music from my laptop. Ebenezer's killing it.8:42 am)

The trip to Ghana was as enjoyable as any 16 hour journey by plane can be, though when we arrived at the airport in Accraat around 5am our bodies were sufficiently confused by five hour time difference and spending an entire day on a plane. Wewere greeted at the airport first by festive Christmas and New Year's decorations and then finally by our contact and friend Sammy Gamson. Suraj, our experienced traveler knew what to expect and how to handle himself around the group of fourmen that chatted with us and even carried a bag to the taxi, but Garrison and I were at a loss and were almost tricked into giving them a tip for the minute walk. We drove out of the airport towards our destination along dusty, bumpy roads that were partially under construction and paved, while the rest was in disrepair and made of dark orange dirt. We alsolearned that Sammy had just ran for village Assemblyman (or Mayor) of Obodan and won just two days before we arrived.

After reaching Sammy's house in the town of Nsawam, we put our bags down, took a walk through Nsawam and then another taxi to the village of Obodan. Obodan was active with many villagers preparing for church in theirSunday best. Although logic told us that it was about 7:00 in the morning, it felt as though it was almost noon because of the lively buzz floating through the village and the heat of the sun, not yet overbearing but sufficiently present.

(Quick aside: Mike and Suraj are going postal on an infestation of ants with bug spray and their sandals. Ants 0, EWB Ghana 1. 11:46 am)

We went to a local satellite village that is slightly north of the main center of Obodan to meet some of the people there,take a look at their sanitation/latrine system or lack thereof and to present them with a soccer ball because their previous one had either disappeared or been beaten up so severely that it couldn't be played with. We proceeded to walk toanother satellite village on the west side of Obodan for the same purpose, except they didn't need a soccer ball. As we passed through it was exciting to hear the loud, melodious voices and chants that were emanating from the nearby church that we could tell was filled to capacity. Religion, mainly Christian, plays a major role in the lives of Ghanains and almost all of the taxis and trucks have stickers with phrases like "No Jesus No Life" or "Amen."

It was great to walk around such a beautiful land with lush green plants growing everywhere that a house or road wasn't present. Great trees scattered the horizon, popping up high in the air against the hazy horizon that weakened the glare ofthe sun. We continued to travel for the rest of our first day in Ghana as "Assemblyman" Sammy had many people to talk to. We made sure to inspect the old latrines that EWB Ghana built previously and we examined the problem with the clogged latrine, but there was little that we were able to do without calling a plumber to decide what materials we needed and we were extremely tired. No matter how bumpy our taxi rides were, each of us would fall asleep and I even fell asleep at a local restaurant before getting our chicken and rice. By early afternoon each of us had taken our fair share of naps and although we were still tired, Garrison and I decided to join a local soccer game to end the day while Surajstayed behind. The soccer game was Obodan vs. Fotobi, another nearby village. We arrived late to the game so we didn't get in the game until the second half, but we had a blast! To top everything off, Garrison made a perfect cross pass tome and I shot and scored over the goalie's head for the winning goal. The first day ended with us setting up camp in an administrative conference room near the village center, tired yet excited for the days to come.

Getting up early on Monday morning wasn't easy, but we knew we had to be at the borehole at first light to be able to catchthe early birds that made their first water pickup as early as possible. Our goal was to determine how much water the villagers took from the borehole each day as information to help us know how much water we would need to pump into the water tank that we plan to build in the near future. At first we needed to pump water into our 17 liter bucket and then pour that into everyone else's buckets in order to determine how much was being taken out, but as the day progressed itbecame easier to identify buckets and remember their volume gave us reprieve from pumping everyone's water for an entire day.

Sitting at borehole 2 all day doesn't seem very interesting, but it is a popular hang out spot for the kids,especially with us "obronis" around. We had a great time with all the little kids, including Ebenezer and Kwobe. Even though we had made lofty plans for the day to take a trip to the money exchange location, buy a phone that works and topurchase materials to fix the latrine, we were only able to focus on borehole information which included total volume for day, the maximum flow rate from the spout, the time lapse between five minutes of pumping and the restart of the Artesian flow and the Artesian flow rate. Our other goals weren't met because we were now on Ghana time which is much slower than New York or Columbia time.
-
By day three we were moving at a decent stride. Mike, Suraj and I began the day at borhole 1 around 6:20 am, while Sammywas off tending to business on his farm. At around 7:30 am Suraj and I took water samples from borholes 1 and 2 to test for total coliform. When Sammy returned he and Suraj left to exchange money, purchase a phone, and send emails. In the meantime Mike and I performed the same tests on Borehole 1 that we had performed on Borehole 2 the previous day (with the exception of timing the return of Artesian flow after 5 minutes of pumping, since Borehole 2 doesn't leak water). During our downtime we began Twi lessons with a student from the girl's school, Dora. Dora also helped negotiate some space for usin the shade with two women doing laundry. At their invitation Mike and I tried our hand at washing, but we were quickly asked to resume our tasks counting liters of water. Several hours passed, full of photoshoots with the children, handball, and broken conversations in Twi and English. Eventually Suraj and Sammy had returned with their tasks completed, and Mike and I collected a second set of water samples from Boreholes 1 and 2. By sunset we were both tired and hungry, facts that weren't lost in translation on our hosts in the shade. To our amazement, Mike and I were presented with dishes full of jalarice with chicken and an orange Fanta. Eating that rice was the best minute and a half of the trip so far. That night I began the test for total coliform on the water samples. After a brief power outage we decided to call it a night with Pirates of the Carribean 3.

Proxy post - Ghana Winter 2011 trip begins!

2011-01-06T06:56:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

Our three intrepid travelers, Suraj, Garrison and Mike, have arrived in Obodan and started testing for the latrine and water projects. Since they are all so busy, I've decided to help share the news of their work. Here's a summary of the most recent updates:

"So far we did some pump tests, did the borehole water usage study for
both boreholes, and hopefully Mike and Garrison are doing the water
quality testing as we speak. We also went to the two satellite
villages of Obodan to see their latrine facilities and they seem like
good candidates for future latrines since they have no current
latrines. One of the satellites is that village that has the broken
water distribution system a bit past the girls senior high school.
Sammy and I are going to go see a plumber right now to see if we can
fix a problem with the latrine, we're probably going to have to buy a
new pipe since the urine flow is clogged. So today/tomorrow when we
fix the latrine we'll also be able to remove some waste samples for
testing and storage. It looks like we won't be able to go Valleyview
until next week, so we'll go when Winnie arrives. We should be done
with all of our testing and household surveys by the time we meet up
with you Winnie [in a few days...!]" - Suraj, Jan 4 2011

Great work guys!

-Clay

Most Influential College Organization in New York!

2010-10-23T18:54:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!!

Thank you for all your support in the first round of voting for the Stay Classy awards. Because of all your votes, we are now the Most Influential College Organization in New York! Now we are running to be the national winner of this category... for $10,000!

Help us win by voting here. (Don't forget to scroll down to the bottom and click "submit ballot")
Voting ends on November 5th at 11:59 pm. Tell all your friends to vote too! :)

StayCLASSY Awards!

2010-10-09T11:14:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

I realize that we haven't been very good about posting these last few months. Engineers Without Borders Ghana is back in school and so rather busy keeping up with homework and our post-trip paperwork and design work.

However, we DO have some exciting news to share! We were nominated and selected as city-wide finalists for the StayCLASSY Awards for New York City! We are up for the title of best college non-profit in NYC and if we win, we have the opportunity to go on to the national competition (the prize for which is $10,000... that is a lot of latrines)! We can't win without your help. This award is chosen, not by a panel of judges, but rather by YOU. So visit the site below and vote for CU Engineers Without Borders Ghana!

http://classyawards.stayclassy.org/classy-awards?city_id=16

Thanks!

Home!

2010-09-01T09:35:00.000-07:00

After a month in Obodan, the rest of the EWB team has returned. No more goats, rooster alarm clocks and small children shouting 'Obroni' at us from across town (at least for a few months!). The adjustment was almost seamless, but I am still stumbling across a number of surprising realizations about my work in Ghana and at home. My first surprise came at dinner. The Louisiana catfish I ordered was so unfathomably good that it would be obscene for me to keep writing about it. My first hot shower nearly made me pass out from contentment. The little things around me, like traffic lights and debit card machines in stores, continue to surprise me. However, some deeper realizations have delivered the most potent shocks.

Upon my arrival I noticed that my perspective on sustainability had shifted. In the cab back from the airport there was a program on the radio describing a new sustainable technology installation in New York. I think a new building was constructed with an exceptionally low carbon footprint. The announcer was applauding the project's environmental foresight, and emphasizing its improvement on the old way of doing things. The project was a testament to social change, and the broad accomplishments of scientific progress. Yet nowhere in the announcement could I hear any specific testimony. The electricity saved by the sustainable construction was more of an ideological gain, laudable for its responsibility but lacking any observable effect.

After the announcement, it occurred to me that sustainability in Obodan is an entirely different matter. You conserve water to avoid a second trip to the borehole. Waste must be collected and processed in some manner, because otherwise it piles up on your front porch. Electricity is conserved to avoid black-outs. I realized that 'Sustainability' is not some ideological definition of a long-term goal, but a basic element of daily life. Even the basic engineering challenges of finishing the construction of the latrine, such as how to avoid breaking the latrine seat when it is moved every six months, reinforced the point that some issues simply cannot be ignored. The latrine is more than just a new, responsible technology. It is a true-to-form concrete structure that deals with human waste. This trip has opened my eyes to the clever disguises that infrastructure can create to conceal the material consequences of human existence. I am beginning to understand how engineering, and responsible sustainability, are truly at the core of daily life.

Now for some design updates; The Tuesday after Lucy's latest post Claire and Nnenna picked up our brand new source-separated toilet seat. The seat was a pleasant surprise in all aspects. It was well-built, intuitively designed and much cheaper than we expected. A strong vote of confidence for Ghanaian home-brew manufacturing. Claire and Nnenna finished the testing protocol on Wednesday and left in the evening for Accra, leaving me and Lucy to tie up loose ends. We worked with Sammy to install the new seat over the next couple of days. The final construction process was a headache, but after a few redesigns and some handiwork with a chisel and mortar, I think the latrine is ready to go. We held a community meeting on Sunday to introduce the facility, and after the concrete sets by this coming weekend the facility should be open for business. Our next task is to put together a full maintenance guide, and to start planning our second version of the latrine.

I apologize for the lack of pictures, but we should have a full set of construction media up within a week. Stay posted!

Best,

Clay

Catch Up Session

2010-08-23T06:01:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy week, hence why the updates have been non-existent. Everything is progressing remarkably well and despite a few set-backs, we will finish all that we set out to do this trip!

The first latrine should be complete any day now. Once the pit cover has been poured and we receive the source-separated seat by mail (at least I think that is how it is arriving) we can have our grand opening! The substructure for the second latrine is complete and so we will just cover up what we have completed and shall finish the project on our next visit.

In addition to latrine building, we have been doing water testing as Claire mentioned in the last post. Since the last post however, we also tested the coliform levels in the KVIP. Yes, the KVIP... meaning that we had to GATHER the poo before we tested it! Needless to say, we wore gloves and stayed as far away from the pit and the poo as we could manage but never again will I test poop (nor will Nnenna or Claire I am sure!). Maggoty poo is never a pleasant experience. However, it was important to test the feces from the KVIP to compare to the decomposed feces that we will eventually collect from our new latrine.

This weekend we took a quick trip to Accra for a night on the town. It was Clay's birthday and so we decided to celebrate in style with a hotel room (flush toilets and REAL SHOWERS!!!), a fancy dinner and brunch, and a night of dancing at a popular Accra "nite club." While the entire experience was fantastic, the beds were probably one of the best parts of the weekend! After sleeping on the floor for three weeks, a real bed is the ultimate luxury!

Pleasant Surprises

2010-08-13T09:38:00.000-07:00

The last week has been one with some pleasant surprises! To start off, remember how it had been really hot and sunny the week before? The past week has been rainy and cool. Although it can make doing work a little difficult sometimes, twice it has rained hard enough that we leave our dishes under the overhang of the roof to soak and wash. Less trips to the borehole!

Another water-related pleasant surprise is the result of some of our water tests. We've tested for total coliforms from both boreholes in Obodan. "Borehole 1" tested positive, but "Borehole 2" has tested negative - or very very low counts of coliform, which we certainly didn't expect. This is great news, because this borehole is the one that we are planning to have as the source of the distribution system.

I promised pictures last time, and the only pictures I have on my laptop are ones of the coliform tests... but the colors are pretty so here they are:

Borehole 1: the foam and gel at the surface of the water (which has turned orange/yellow) is a sign of coliform presence.

Borehole 2: no foam! no gel!

Of course this doesn't mean that there are no coliforms whatsoever coming from Borehole 2- in fact, there may be some but just as a lower concentration. This is still much better than we expected though.
Even the water they sell in plastic sachets tested positive for coliforms.

Update on latrine construction: we've put in the door (complete with spring-hinges so that it shuts on its own) and the roof- now what we have left is the floor slab inside, ventilation pipes, the slab to cover the back of the pit, stairs to the door and some holes in the wall (holes? I know there's actually a more accurate word than that..) for light.

Time to go now. Hopefully a picture of construction will be up next time!

Progressing on construction and progressing on tanning

2010-08-06T10:25:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I didn't notice last year, but these past few days I've been feeling the effects of being closer to the equator. Even when the sun is only out for a little bit because the clouds come by quickly, that little bit of sunshine just feels so much more intense than what I've felt this past summer and we're all getting tanner by the minute. That we're outside.

Today we met with Mr. Brobbe and Kwabena, both engineers who are helping us out with the project. We showed them to the latrine (which now has a roof!) and discussed potential methods of closing off the pit (concrete slab vs. metal door), the possibility of a rainwater harvesting system on the roof, an alternate design for the second latrine, and the decomposition of the waste.

Our designs have tweaked quite a bit compared to what we came to Ghana with, after talking with the villagers. For example, the pit size is a little bigger and the pit access doors are positioned differently, but these changes were made to adapt to what they are familiar with and more comfortable with maintaining. The design for the second latrine may also change from this first one, but construction for it will not be finished on this trip. Instead, we'll finish the substructure since they have already started digging the pit, and continue with the superstructure on our next trip after we have gotten some test results from the first project- making sure that the source separation we designed is successful, and that the waste does compost like we hope it will.

We also did some more water quality tests today- bacteria tests for both boreholes. They need to be incubated, one for 24 hours and the other for 48 hours, so now we wait until then to see what's in the water. We went to get the water samples midday, and proceeded to brown in the sun, though we were not out for very long.

Right now, Suraj and Nnenna are purchasing materials to finish up the latrine. Hopefully we'll get some pictures of it in soon!

Semi-mid-trip update and Team 2

2010-08-03T09:11:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody, Team 2 (Clay, Nnenna, Lucy, Claire) just arrived yesterday, a week and half after the first team, so here's our semi-mid-trip update!

Construction of the latrine has been going very well- we're almost done with the first one, what we have left is mainly roofing, fitting the doors and finding the source-separation toilet seat to go in the latrine. Seeing the structure standing, almost complete after months of discussing it and designing it was amazing! Though it was only a small concrete structure, it was somehow so... pretty. In addition to the near-completion of this latrine, the excavation for the second latrine's pit has also started. Lauren, Milesh and Suraj have done a good job of getting materials together, getting the community engaged and moving progress along.

Today, as construction of the latrine continued, we began conducting a few water quality tests for the borehole water. So far we've tested for some heavy metals (arsenic, aluminum, and a test for multiple-metal detection) and they've all appeared negative (or very very low concentration), which is good news. We'll be doing some more tests for bacteria later, and sending samples to a lab for more accurate results.

That's everything we have to say so far in a nutshell. We'll update again soon, hopefully with even more progress being made.

Ghana 2010

2010-07-29T14:54:00.001-07:00

Once again, we have returned to Obodan. With three members of our team already hard at work building the source-separated latrine (the need for more [and more sustainable] waste infrastructure was identified as a possible project last summer) and four more EWB-ers arriving on Monday morning (hurrah for overnight flights!), this is going to be one busy summer in Obodan, Ghana!

We are building the first of (hopefully) many source-separated (meaning the liquid and solid waste are separate to reduce smell and ease of removal) latrines in the community. We have worked with latrines before, but not like this. A few years ago, the CUEWB Ghana project built a KVIP (Kumasi Ventilated Improved Pit) latrine in the community to reduce the amount of human waste leaking into the groundwater supply. While this fit the needs of the community at the time it was built, this one latrine now serves more people than originally intended. Therefore, it was time to change tactics. One problem with the KVIP system was that the waste had to be removed by a company that would suck out the waste via the original point-of-entry and cart it to some unnamed location. This costs money. With little-to-no organized taxation, it was difficult to collect a universal "tax" from the community to raise the necessary money to clean out the KVIP (although at only a few cents per person, it was a sum that every family in the community can afford). Therefore, we decided to change routes with the new system.

In the United States, we take our toilets at home for granted. Many in the US refuse to use public toilets for varying reasons (they are gross, who knows who sat there last, or because using the restroom with others around is embarrassing) but that is what the KVIP was: a public toilet. Not that there is anything wrong with that. The system DOES work! However, we are seeking to both provide increased waste infrastructure (in a country where most of the groundwater is now contaminated with coliform bacteria due to limited [or nonexistent waste infrastructure] in its major cities... I could list some papers with pretty horrifying statistics) and empower the community through responsibility, ownership, and pride. Therefore, we are building latrines designed to accommodate the needs of only a few families and there will be a primary owner of the structure who will be in charge of its upkeep. These latrines were designed with extensive input from the community and plans have been sent over to Obodan frequently throughout the design project for suggestions and approval. This alone gives the community ownership of the project. Even before we arrived, the community began planning for the next latrine, choosing an appropriate location!

As a first-timer when it comes to visiting Ghana and working in the field on development projects (and living without the basic amenities we in the United States have come to take for granted), I am both incredibly nervous and excited! It is certain to be an incredible experience for everyone involved.

Hopefully there will be pictures up soon of our designs and current progress on the latrine!

It's always sunny in Obodan

2009-08-13T17:31:00.000-07:00

Well, it isn't really, considering that it was wet season so on most days it was somewhat overcast if not rainy. But there's something about Obodan - it's either the bright orange soil or the wide open space or the kids or the enthusiasm with which people greet you ("How are you?" "I'm good-" "Fine! Fine-fine-fine.") - that makes it look like the sun's out. Cheesy much? Maybe you just have to see it for yourself.

In retrospect, we probably could have accomplished everything we needed to do in two weeks or less if we had to. Having three weeks though, we were able to go and collect data for things we hadn't on one particular day, fairly easily since we basically lived within 5 minutes of anything we had to do.

Like in the picture- you can see Danny, Suraj and I in the back by the borehole... We were measuring the flowrate of the water artesianing out of some holes in the borehole- water constantly flows out of it because the borehole is built over an artesian well. Saving this water for use instead of letting it flow to waste is something we'll work on.
And in the front are Nicholas and Ismael, who, like all the kids love to pose for the camera. (Oh, but not just pose- they like to take the camera and take photos too. A good two thirds of my pictures are taken not by me but by the kids)

Living in Obodan for three weeks also gave us a sense of the villagers' lives which would have been difficult had we stayed only briefly or if we hadn't stayed in the village. And as the days went by we learned each others' names and faces and I reached that state where pulling into Obodan after a day out in town felt much like it does when you come home from a trip.

We also had time to meet with many people who are related to EWB Ghana, all of whom will be very important and helpful as we undertake our own project: not only the members of EWB Ghana but also people interested in partnering with them to form a stronger and resourceful organization, people we've worked with in the past, and students from other EWB student chapters.

What next?

CU-EWB Ghana meetings, extensive data analysis, constant discussions, neverending fundraising. Project designs. Project implementation!

Very briefly, through our assessment trip we've identified the following as potential projects:

-Water distribution system
-Waste management system
-another KVIP Latrine
-Rainwater harvesting system

(Erosion control we pretty much ruled out, since it would be quite a big complicated project beyond our scope.)

Ah, Obodan.
I already can't wait to go back.

Pictures

2009-08-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

are up!

Home time

2009-08-09T00:18:00.000-07:00

Before I can do a end-of-the-trip post, here's a recap on the last few days since the last post.

This past week, we placed seven benchmarks throughout Obodan to use for surveying and then spent two days doing the surveying. The surveying was mainly done by a surveyor though (actually, all of it), who works at Engineer Apatu's (Vice Prez of EWB Ghana national) office. We will now have a much better topographical map than we expected we'd have. Yay!

By then we had completed all the tasks we had come to do for our trip, so we spent our last days visiting the Piece It Together guys at the Nsawam high school and having meetings with people.
We met with Winnie, who will be our new professional advisor taking over from Steve, and talked about the growth of EWB Ghana and how it will be a great help for student chapters coming in to work.

On Saturday, our flight was scheduled to leave at 10:20 AM. We arrived at the airport at 9 to find that Delta wouldn't let us check in because we were late, saying that check-in closed at 8:20. Then they changed their mind and we were halfway through the check-in process when they told us the flight was full and so we got our flight pushed to today.
And we thought we were just adhering to GMT... But seriously, we got delayed 24 hours when we were still an hour and twenty minutes ahead of departure.
I had been excited to go back and sad to leave, but being unable to leave and then not being in Obodan when we had stay was just a strange depressing feeling.

Luckily, we spent the night at Todd's grandmothers right off of Accra where the other guys were spending the weekend. And now we are here at the airport, relieved that we are finally going to board a plane soon...

Photos and another post or two to come as soon as I can use internet for free!

brief update

2009-08-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

The Piece It Together guys (Clay, Danny, Chelsey, Todd) have moved into the teachers cottage in Obodan and are living two doors down from us. They'll be here for a month and you can read about them on pieceittogether.wordpress.com

The last few days since the last post has been more play than work :)
I can't remember what days we did what anymore, but Suraj and I have sat by the other borehole for a day, and we've all gone and visited Elmina Castle and the rain forest by Cape Coast, and gone to a funeral (imagine a wedding reception, and you've got the right idea).
We've also played some good frisbee and soccer with the kids. The kids are absolutely awesome.

The weather this weekend has been surprisingly chilly.. you'd think that it's August and it's hot sweaty weather, but it's been cold enough to wear a hoodie (if I had brought one).

10:00 GMT = 10:00 Ghana Maybe Time = 1PM Greenwich Mean Time, if I decide to show up

2009-07-29T13:26:00.000-07:00

Senses of time are different all around the world.
In Tokyo, everything happens on the dot. Trains run on a schedule and a train 5 minutes late is bad enough that you can be excused from being late to school. Show up to a meeting right on time and you're already late.
In New York, the trains don't seem to run on any schedule, but everything is in a rush.

In Ghana...

Last Thursday (the day after last post) was the first day of Steve's workshop in Sakyikrom. It was scheduled for 2 pm I think... but we waited for a good hour and a half or so before people showed up, and then it turned out half of them were from another village who had showed up to the chief's palace to settle a curse somebody had cast on somebody. The entire workshop was scheduled to run Thurs to Sun so we showed up the next two days, but on both days we spent an hour or two waiting around before around three people showed up and we decided to come back the next day. On Sunday, we finally got a good crowd, with the help of Sammy rounding up some people and the workshop went pretty well with a couple people showing a lot of enthusiasm for follow up. So a four-day workshop finally whittled down to two...

During those days when we weren't sitting waiting wishing for people to show up, Suraj and I, with the help of Sammy, went around to households in Obodan to conduct surveys. We mainly asked them their household demographics, education, water usage, and waste and sanitation practices. Here are some key points we found out

1. people don't keep track of how many people live in their house or their ages... haha
2. many people want another KVIP latrine because the current one is overcrowded
3. people want a new water system in the form of taps in their homes, more boreholes or just simply more vantage points (currently most people get their water from either of two boreholes) (population of Obodan is around 1500)
4. the plastic water sachets that cold clean water is sold in is a problem because it litters the village, breeds mosquitoes and when buried in soil makes it impossible to plant plants
5. malaria is widespread (but also, people tend to call general malaise malaria- that's probably because it's so prevalent)

In total we conducted 35 surveys, and now we have to figure out a way to sort all the info.

On Monday, Suraj and I sat by one of the boreholes for an entire day to observe how much it was used. But by whole day, I really mean before the sun came up and a little before it went down. We got to the borehole around 4:50 AM and left at 6:20 PM. In order to figure out how much water they were taking, we'd pump water into our own 14 liter bucket, and then pour it into their container. Then we'd also ask them how old they were and how many minutes away their house was. We did this alllllll day, and the morning rush (6 to 8) and the evening rush (4 to 6) was pretty hectic. But we also got to know a lot of kids because they take so many trips. They'd come fetch water in the morning before school, then come visit during their midday break, and then come hang out after school. After a while they got the hang of it and started asking water fetchers the questions for us. They also provided all sorts of entertainment... playing cards, running around, listening to our ipods... if every 13 hours of straight sitting were that eventful I would really enjoy plane rides.

Yesterday, we picked up Clay, Danny and Chelsey from the airport- they're here for a summer program they're conducting at a high school in Nsawam.

Today, we walked around Obodan with a surveyor who is going to help us do topographical surveying, to get oriented before we actually start the surveying. Then we walked around and found the little stream that some referred to as a river... and then I played frisbee with a bunch of kids....

and now I have to finish checking my email. At this rate the next post you see will probably be a week from now, ha ha

"You are welcome." "...Thank..you??"

2009-07-22T04:40:00.000-07:00

That's how people have been greeting us- shaking hands and telling us we are welcome. The first time somebody said that to me I think was Sammy when he picked us up from the airport. I was confused at first, because I hadn't said thank you in the last second and it reminded me of how my dad says "You're welcome." in a sarcastically passive-aggressive way when he passes me something at the dinner table and I don't say thanks. So when Sammy first said "You're welcome" I assumed there was something I hadn't thought of (apart from being awesome and picking us up, hehe) so I said thank you back.

I realize now that it's just part of the super welcoming habits of Ghanaians- welcoming us and offering to help out all the time. They also have a really cool handshake where you hang on with your thumb and third finger after the shake and then snap.. hard to explain.

Though people are really friendly, we also attract attention everywhere we go. I should mention, for those of us that *love diversity* (you know who you are), that the four of us are a sight you don't see here every day: a black man (sammy), a white man (Steve), an Indian boy (Suraj) and an Asian girl (me) . Despite only Steve being white, kids will call out "Obroni!" ("White person!") as we walk by. We turn around and wave and they flash the biggest smiles and wave back and it's so adorable.

Anyways, we've settled into the teachers' cottage in Obodan and spent a small fortune the last few days on housewares and groceries. It's all good though because we're saving overall, and staying in Obodan makes it a lot easier to work. And we're making friends with the kids. Suraj and I went to the borehole to fetch water last night (no running water, so we have a bin full of water for washing) and befriended Stanley who offered to help us fetch water. He said he fetches water 5 times a day. Five times! And water is heavy! But kids put their buckets of water on their heads as they transport them. I'm going to learn to do that some day. Placing things on your head is so much easier than carrying with your arms. And people all around Ghana carry things on their heads, not just water. Women walking around selling things put everything on a tray on their head! Bread, turkey, fish, I even saw one lady with a crate full of jewelry. A crate!

Back to what we're actually doing...
Two days ago we went into Sakyikrom with Steve for his workshop, but it ended up only being an introduction instead of actually starting. It looked like many people showed up but a lot of them were actually from another town coming in to settle a curse somebody had cast on one of theirs... so it will start up for real tomorrow (thursday).

Yesterday we walked around the village and started plotting landmarks on our GPS. We got the boundaries of the village, the schools, churches, boreholes, and some other buildings. To get to the east boundary we walked up a hill and we passed by corn fields and pineapple farms! Obodan harvests good pineapples and we ate one yesterday, it was delicious.

Today we met with the new municipal chief who we'll be coordinating with from now on for projects since Mr. Brobbey, our district engineer is retiring. Later we're going back and starting household surveys and while we do that we'll be plotting the houses on our GPS.
We'll probably spend 2-3 days doing that (though plans are always changing, so I can't be too sure).

Eventually we'll also do:
-topographical surveying
-water quality testing
-sitting by the boreholes all day to record usage
-soil assessment
-checking up on the KVIP we built (we saw it, but going back and taking notes)

That's all for now. Not really. There's more I'd like to say but there's only so much you're willing to read and so much time I have at an internet cafe!

days 1, 2, 3 and 4: getting settled

2009-07-19T06:15:00.000-07:00

Hello from Ghana!! Suraj, Steve (our professional advisor) and I arrived safely in Ghana on Thursday and have spent the last few days settling in.

Here's a brief breakdown of what we've been up to:

Day 1 (7/16/09)

1. Met Sammy, our Ghana EWB man who's worked with us for a few years now and has been great about showing us around and arranging lodging and transporation and meetings with people and well.. everything!

2. Took a nice nap- I fell asleep and when I woke up I felt like I had slept so much that I thought it was the next day

3. Ate dinner

4. Settled in at Unity Lodge in Sakyikrom.
(our assessment trip is going to be focused on the village of Obodan, which is about 20 minutes away from sakyikrom. steve is conducting a community needs assessment workshop in sakyikrom, which we'll be sitting in for a day or two)

Day 2 (7/17/09)

1. Met the chief of sakyikrom (i'm going to stop capitalizing because the shift key is so stiff.), and steve explained plans for his workshop and decided to start it on tuesday.

2. checked out a house we were thinking of renting, which is in nsawam, the city that sakyikrom and obodan are near. living here would be cheaper than staying at unity lodge

3. went to ghana telecom university college in accra (sammy is the president of the EWB chapter there), met with national EWB Ghana members, accra poly ewb members, a guy from princeton who is getting set up before their implementation team comes, and tom powell, who is starting up an affordable homes company here.

Day 3 (7/18/09)

1. went to the edge of sakyikrom where there is construction going on. (you may know that the chinese gov't is involved in building lots of infrastruture in africa; as part of that they are building a highway that will bypass sakyikrom.) the chief and a bunch of other people were doing a libation and we made just the end of it. they had sacrificed a cow and were taking out the organs and cooking some of the meat...
it was very muddy around there too and my right foot completely sunk into the mud as i was walking. my sneaker got caked with mud.
the land here in ghana is all very clay-ey. it's all orange and quite dusty. (preliminary notes for erosion assessment!)
we also walked to the school in sakyikrom where ewb installed a rainwater harvesting system a few years ago. it was so nice to finally see something in real life what i had seen in pictures millions of times!

2. visited obodan. met with the chief, the queen mother (who is sammy's mom) and the family of the chief who passed away recently. we walked around and saw the KVIP (kumasi ventilated improved pit) latrine that EWB built in 2005! we also saw the two boreholes they use, lots of houses, lots of people, and lots of chickens.
(we see lots of goats and chickens. this morning i awoke to roosters crowing right around 6 AM. steve says they do that every morning- i guess the first two mornings i was too tired to hear them)
we found that we'll be able to stay in obodan instead, at the teachers' bungalow at the school there, for free. this'll be good because we'll cut on transportation cost, lodging cost and we'll cook our own food so food cost too. and living in the community will be a great way to get to know them.

3. went to a mall in accra to shop for things we'll need to live in obodan (gas stove, a mattress, utensils...)

now we're on day 4 and we're just going around accra seeing things. i'm running out of time on this computer and still have to check lots of email so i'll wrap it up for now. maybe next time i post i'll have some pictures.

we'll probably start actual work in a day or two and i can't wait! look out for new posts.
next time i'll try to be more comprehensive too.