Thursday, November 21, 2019

Implementation Part 3!

Our implementation trip in Kenya began with a very long flight. On Saturday, August 24th, after many hours of traveling, we touched down in Nairobi. As a first-time travel team member, I had no idea what to expect. We spent most of our first day in Kenya driving to the small town of Loitokitok. It was my first day seeing wild giraffes, and our first time eating mbuzi – the Swahili word for goat.

Our typical mbuzi meal for lunch and dinner.

During the drive, we found out that the country wide census was occurring. This meant no restaurants or stores were open and school was delayed for a week. We wanted to meet the students at Imurtot Primary School, where our tanks would be installed. Unfortunately, we wouldn’t get to see the students while we were working. While eating dinner at our hotel, Poa Guest House, the census workers came to count us. Although we weren’t Kenyan, we had to write down our information – a unique experience for our first day.

Our vehicle for the week.     

The next morning, we woke up promptly at 3am to a crowing rooster. This would end up being a daily occurrence. Tired, but eager to get started, I watched the sunrise then met the team for breakfast.

The view from our hotel, Poa Guest House.

We started our longggg, bumpy ride to Imurtot Primary School to start construction. Along the way we had incredible views of Kilimanjaro and were greeting by dozens of children running up to our truck to wave at us.  


A church on the way to Imurtot Primary School.

I wasn’t sure what to expect while constructing the rainwater catchment system. How hard can it be to connect 3 tanks and some gutters? Within a few hours, it was apparent that this would be one of the hardest projects I had ever done. With limited construction experience, mostly coming from assembling Ikea furniture, I had to be a fast learner. I found that there were 5 rules for EWB Construction:

1. Usalama Kwanza – “Safety First”
  2. There’s always time for tea breaks

Our last tea break of the trip.

3. Nothing goes right the first time
4. Hakuna Matata
5. We can fix it with local engineering!

Dave hard at work on our tap enclosure

Construction was difficult, but rewarding. With locally sourced construction materials, there were many challenges and opportunities for problem solving. With the school being situated on a hill, we also had three 5,000L tanks to keep a close eye on. When Kim, Dave, and I were having a discussion, Dave looked up and proclaimed “Oh no!” and ran after a tank that had started rolling down the hill. Anything can happen.

The team moving the tanks into place.

Although I was not the most experienced travel team member, I was the smallest. This meant I had the honor of climbing inside the tanks to clean them and seal the plumbing. The first 2 tanks were a bit dusty, but nothing too bad. When I got to the 3rd tank, I looked inside and thought it looked really clean. I climbed right in. When I turned around, I found a family of at least 100 spiders living inside the tank.  I had to spring into action, killing and cleaning up all the spiders in the tank while the rest of the team watched and took videos. It would probably be a recurring nightmare for most, but luckily, I made it out alive.

Cleaning the inside of the tanks

One of the hardest projects of my life turned into one of the most fulfilling when parents from the school came by to say what a great impact our systems have had on their families. We worked efficiently and finished our phase of the project and maintenance on some of the other systems! Completing an additional 15,000L of rainwater capacity for the school at the end of the trip was so rewarding. All of our hard work will contribute to better access to clean water for over 500 students at the Primary School!


The team celebrating a successful implementation!

Now that the hard work was complete, it was time to do some exploring. We headed off to Amboseli National Park for a game drive on Friday. There were more animals than I could have ever imagined. From giraffes to elephants to flamingos and zebras, it was the most amazing experience.

Amboseli National Park

That evening we had another unique adventure climbing up Lemomo Hill at sunset. The ranger, Patrick, told us of the lack of funding for nature conservation and how difficult it is for the few rangers to cover so much ground to ensure there are no poachers.

Our hike up Lemomo at sunset.

That night we had an authentic goat roast before heading to bed at Kimana Camp. The next day was long and packed with incredible experiences. We started the day with an early morning game drive and saw some lions enjoying a meal. From there, we had the opportunity to attend a Maasai wedding. The songs, colors, and laughter filled the air as we watched the bride get picked up from her village to be driven to the ceremony at her future husband’s village.

Maasai wedding procession

We couldn’t stay for long as we were off to Mamasane’s house for lunch. Our chapter sponsors her daughter’s school fees, and there were many thank yous and songs after a delicious lunch. Finally, it was back to Kitengala where we were met with a tremendous downpour and some of the most delicious mbuzi we had on the entire trip. Hopefully the rains came to Imurtot to fill up our tanks!

Our last day involved some sight-seeing and more delicious food in Nairobi before we got on the plane for the long ride home. Huge thank you to Water is Life Kenya, EWB, and everyone who supported our successful implementation. On to our next phase of the project!

View of Nairobi

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