EWB UMass Kenya Program

"What is your mission statement?"

2010-03-17T14:01:00.000-07:00

Bernard Amadei, the founder of the entire Engineers Without Borders organization gave a talk at Smith College a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see it, but I wish I had-he is quite the speaker. I watched this video of Dr. Amadei giving a short acceptance speech for the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Leadership Award he received in 2009 and I encourage you to check it out. In it Dr. Amadei encourages every organization and individual to know their mission statement and act on it. The mission statement of Engineers Without Borders is to help communities worldwide develop sustainable solutions to better their qualityof life and that is what we strive for in our projects. But Dr. Amadei takes the idea of a mission statement one step further. The mission statement, traditionally thought of as something only organizations and companies have, he thinks should be something every individual has to guide their life. To have a mission statement is to have something to work towards. A mission statement gives you something to look at when trying to make a decision or when assessing past actions--will this decision further my mission? Did that action fit into the goals of my mission? We all know we want things in life and have goals, but in hectic times it is often difficult to remember what they are and what our major life priorities really should be. Dr. Amadei encourages us to take the time to figure out what those priorities are and how we want to impact the world we live in. "What" Dr. Amadei asks "is your mission statement?"

EWB KENYA NIGHT 2010!

2010-02-23T18:12:00.000-08:00

It is that time of year again when we at EWB-UMASS are planning our annual EWB Auction Night! This is our biggest (and funnest!) fundraiser of the year. Last year we raised ~$10,000 to support EWB-UMass Amazon and Kenya Projects. The event is a silent auction with a lot of great items, from Brazilian jewelry to Kenyan wraps and lots of great items donated from local businesses that offer their support. We always have great music, drinks, food, and entertainment, and to top it all off--it takes place in a barn!
This years theme will be Kenya night (last year's was Brazil Night). We are already preparing the night's details and procuring items to be auctioned. Stay tuned for more details about this event.
Go to our website at www.ecs.umass.edu/ewb. to find out more about the auction, past donors and info about our current projects.

Assessment of Spring Boxes in Western Kenya

2010-02-18T17:57:00.000-08:00

While in Western Kenya during January EWBers Ben Taylor, Patrick Border, and Peter Rasmussen traveled to local spring box sites in and around the town of Webuye, which is the town near Namawanga where we stay when working in the village. Spring boxes are structures, typically made of concrete, which are built around natural springs and function to collect and filter the natural spring water. Ben, Patrick, and Peter collected data and pictures of the spring boxes in order to determine improvements needed at each water source. They found several recommendations that could be made to improve the quality of the water coming from the spring boxes and protect the water sources. We are currently working on a report to send to the Webuye Municipal Council that outlines recommended improvements that could be implemented to improve these spring boxes. This is the first step in expanding our work outside of the Namawanaga village and into neighboring communities. To learn more about our projects or make a contribution go to www.ecs.umass.edu/ewb.

Well Drilled in Namawanga!

2010-01-28T17:38:00.000-08:00

Since beginning work with the village of Namawanga a major goal of the EWB Kenya Project has been to provide the village with a groundwater well. We are happy to announce that we achieved that goal this past fall! The well was drilled at the Machakha Polytechnic School in Namawanga which is a centrally located site in Namawanga that will be accessible to many village members. It is estimated that at least 1,000 people will collect their daily drinking water from the well. Three members of our project traveled to Namawanga over winter break to witness the opening of the well and help establish a plan for managing and maintaining the well. Ben Taylor, Patrick Border, and Peter Rasmussen traveled to Namawanga over the winter break and worked with the village of Namawanga to develop a system for collecting funds from users of the well and using those funds to maintain the well pump when future maintenance is needed. While there the team also traveled to nearby villages to perform assessments on village water sources. It is the hope that while continuing our work with Namawanga, we will be able to expand our projects to other villages in Western Kenya. To read more about EWB-UMASS projects or to donate to help make the projects a success please see our website at www.ecs.umass.edu/ewb

Brazil Night!

2009-03-27T17:15:00.000-07:00

Come out and help us raise enough money to travel to Kenya again this summer!

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NEW LINK!

2009-02-03T14:38:00.001-08:00

Check out our new link:

http://blogs.umass.edu/ewbumass/

Fundraising for the well

2008-10-14T12:24:00.000-07:00

With our third trip to Kenya down, it's time to get back to work. We've committed to drill one well (about 300 feet down) at a Polytechnic School in Namawanga. The well will be located far from any other reliable water sources, and will make a big difference to the school and the surrounding homes. (In the picture, Pat Border poses with the marked location of the future well)

The well has been quoted at around $21,000 by a reliable driller in Kenya. With the help of the Westfield Rotary, we've currently raised over $7,000, leaving us with $14,000 more to raise!

There are several ways we can go about this. We are currently applying for grants. We can also contact companies and do small local fundraisers. We've created a website, as well, that we hope will aid in raising money. The website makes it simple to donate using a credit card... simply click on the link and it will take you to our EWB-USA page! All donations are tax-deductible as well.

Here's the link. If you know anyone who might be interested in donating, companies, and potential large donors, please send this their way.

sites.google.com/site/ewbkenya

Post Trip Update

2008-08-10T12:54:00.000-07:00

We left for Kenya on June 1, and arrived back in the U.S. on June 21. The trip went well, and everyone remained safe and fairly healthy!

Our travel team was a good mixture of students: Patrick Border and Patrick Westropp (undergrads), Amanda Keyes and Christina Stauber (graduate students), and Tom Chase (graduated this past spring) made up the student team. Dr. John Tobiason joined us for the first week of the trip, and David Bakuli, our new mentor, was introduced to the team and got right to work! Chris Arsenault joined us on the second week of the trip and was a huge asset.
During our three weeks in Kenya, we hit all of our goals. Amanda Keyes measured the water quality of the spring boxes, Pat Westropp gathered health surveys, Dr. Tobiason and Christina Stauber spoke to high school students about clean water, and Tom Chase and Pat Border headed up the construction projects. While we all had our separate responsibilities, we helped each other and worked together.

Connections and Networking

Our first day in Kenya we visited JB Drilling—our drilling company. We hope to have a well drilled at a local school by the end of the year. At JB Drilling we met with Tom Armstrong, and were reunited with Chris Arsenault and Julie Gagen—former Kenya project leaders!
We made some invaluable connections with a nearby university and with a group called GWAKO that works to bring biosand filters for household water treatment into villages like Namawanga. With a biosand filter, villagers can safely drink water that is closer by but is not as clean as water from a spring box or a drilled well (drilled well water is the best quality!). We ran into LOTI (Least of These International), who were distributing solar panels and training villagers to maintain them. Solar panels allow for electric lighting at night, and people signed up to buy them, either paying 8,000 KSH (about $130) all at once, or through a payment plan.

Construction: What exactly did we do?

We were able to build four fences around spring boxes that had not been previously protected, and we built our own spring box.
Pat Border (who just finished his first year at UMass) led the fence construction, allowing Tom Chase time to head up the construction of a spring box! Chris Arsenault and Pat Border helped with the spring box considerably, and I think we all took our turns digging knee deep in a muddy trench.

David Bakuli, our new mentor (and Kenyan native), really came to our rescue as well. He helped with everything from communication and driving to chopping wood and pouring concrete. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t help with!

We started to run out of time while working on the spring box, but the guys really pulled it together and finished just in time.

A little bit about spring boxes…

A spring box allows shallow groundwater in the hill behind it to collect behind a concrete structure and pour out of pipes, where the water can be collected. Building fences around spring boxes protects the shallow groundwater from fecal coliform in runoff from cow manure and other waste. Simple concept: keep the cows out, and decrease harmful bacteria! We helped build fences last year. This year, we upgraded our fence post design by incorporating steel posts. The villagers really appreciated fence posts that would last longer than wood. We supplied the steel posts, and in turn, the villagers provided the wood posts that filled in the spaces between the steel posts. Getting the posts ready took several days, but it was worth the wait to have the villagers supply their own materials! They also supplied the wood for the spring box construction. Supplying their own materials will hopefully give them more of a sense of ownership. It is important that the people we work with claim the project for themselves—that way the work will last!

What was it really like being in the village?

Getting things done was important, but construction work often took a back seat to socializing. Our job, while we were there, was just as much to take pictures of everyone we met and to drink loads of tea and eat very good food, as it was to construct a spring box. While one of us was working, the other would often be found taking pictures and giggling with the children in the village, making sure to display the pictures after taking them so that people could see what they looked like on the camera. It got tiring after a while.

The food we ate was traditionally Kenyan. We ate ugali (seemed like stiff cream-of-wheat), mashed bananas, rice, chipati (like Indian nan), and chicken. The broth/sauce they served with it all was delicious.

Language

Kenyans speak English and Swahili, and a local language (Bukusu in Namawanga). We quickly learned some Swahili and Bukusu greetings. The common Swahili greeting is “habari,” pronounced with a light “d” sound where the “r” is. The response to “habari” is “mzuri sana.” Translation: “how are you?” “I am very good.” Another word that was very important was “metosha,” meaning, “enough, I am full.” Thank you is “asante sana” and no worries is “hakuna matata.”

Lodgings
We stayed in a guest house in a town about a half-hour’s drive from Namawanga. Our rooms consisted of two beds with mosquito nets, a shower, a toilet with no toilet seat (that sort of flushed), and a sink with a mirror. The service was excellent and our laundry was done and our bed sheets changed whenever we wanted.
Food at the hotel was good too. We had breakfast and dinner at the hotel, and lunch in the village. We ordered dinner in the morning. We ate chicken, beef, and lamb, with ugali or rice, and with a dish prepared from seaweed.

What next?
Fundraising for the well that will be drilled at Majaha Market still needs to continue: we have approximately $8,000 more to raise. Soon the group will decide how to continue on the project in other ways.

Thank you to everyone who helped and contributed with their time, their money, or their support. We needed it all! Thank you!

Update: Fundraising!

2008-04-09T14:28:00.000-07:00

We have some exciting fundraising opportunities coming up!

As of two days ago, we're halfway to raising $7,000 that should cover in country expenses and construction costs! We recieved a grant from EWB-USA for $2,000 for a trip this summer. We're really thankful to them, and to everyone else who's donated to us in the past!

We'd like to raise the rest of that $7,000 with our next two fundraising events: our Run for Namawanga and our Raffle.

The link for the 5k is below. Come run, or walk with us! It's only $10 to register, but if you raise money from your friends and family, you'll have a better chance at winning one of our raffle prizes!
http://people.umass.edu/akeyes/run4namawanga.html

Also, we are always accepting donations. We need everybody's help. :) As well as raising in country expenses, we are also still trying to raise $20,000 to drill the well. To donate online, just follow the link below:
http://www.ewb-usa.org/project_search.php?op=project&ID=157

Update: travel plans!

2008-04-09T14:23:00.000-07:00

The group has settled on tentative travel plans. We are planning on going to Namawanga for the first three weeks in July. While there, we will improve current sources of water, do a lot of water use education, and possibly oversee well drilling. The details are below.

Improving current sources:
1. Check on spring boxes we fixed last year, and see if the village has continued with the improvements. If needed, do more spring box improvements.
2. Build a gravity-fed storage system for one of the spring boxes, to potentially supply water even when the spring box goes dry
3. Check on an possibly update one of the rainwater catchment systems at one of the schools

Education:
1. One of our obstacles is the perception that the villagers have about water and its use. We'd like to do a lot with promoting proper collection and disinfection, etc. We'd also like to encourage developing other sources of water, e.g. using rainwater catchment to wash clothing with while drinking well water. We'd like to encourage sustainability. Drilling wells could end in overtapping the aquifer, if it's overdone and water is wasted.
2. Connect the right people with Potters for Peace and/or Lifewater (biosand filters) to give them the opportunity to have great in-home water treatment.

Drilled Well:
We'd like to drill a well as soon as possible but are still waiting to raise the money and to chose a driller. We are having the Majaha Market site permitted by Aqua Well.

Kofi Annan successfully mediated talks

2008-03-02T16:47:00.000-08:00

Kofi Annan has left Kenya, after successfully mediating talks between President Kibaki and Raila Odinga. They have agreed to create the position of Prime Minister, and Raila Odinga has filled the position.

To read the whole story, click on the link below.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7273605.stm

Updates

2008-03-02T14:23:00.000-08:00

Kenya project updates:

Fundraising:
1. RAFFLE and ROAD RACE being planned! Amanda and Christina have begun approaching businesses for product donations.
2. Waiting to hear back from the Keen grant - applied to by Molly.
3. Development office is helping us approach three major companies - great job Molly and Dawn!

Technical:
1. Technical Report is almost ready to be turned in by our technical team, and will be a reference tool when communicating with the village and choosing sustainable, practicle water technologies to implement.
2. The team plans on traveling to Kenya this August, if all goes well with fundraising and if it is a good time to visit Kenya.
3. Surveys for the three drilling sites are happening soon!

EWB Chapter:
We're looking for people to fill officer positions! :)

-Christina Stauber
Project Manager

2008-02-26T14:09:00.000-08:00

Talks in Kenya have haulted. It sounds like Odinga and Kibaki are not getting along. In the article below, BBC states that "Mr Annan said that negotiations had become acrimonious and that the situation had become 'very dangerous'. " The two leaders have agreed, however, to create the position of "prime minister," which Odinga would fill.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7265234.stm

New Blog

2008-02-22T13:59:00.000-08:00

New blog for the Kenya Project starting today!

News: We're meeting in Marston 12 tomorrow, Saturday morning at 10am to split up and approach local businesses for donated products.

More to be posted soon.