we will be finished finally with the pipeline by the middle of the week. just a few valve boxes, concrete covers, and some digging remain. thank god. Justin and I will traveling to village very early Monday to accomplish all the tasks. We told the village that we would not turn the water on until all of the trench is back filled. so the whole village filled the trench on Friday. only a couple of day remain for that. after we finish we will have some free time to do whatever we want. The villagers want to take us to another village to see their friends and play football.
the journalist, Matt dewalt, the journalist from ud arrived on Wednesday. he spent one night in the village. he has talked to many of the projects adviser's and other key people. he will be traveling with the immersion group to get a complete feel of Cameroon.When we visited friends he comes, he seems to enjoy everything we do.he is impressed on the relationships that we have. i believe he will write a good article with some nice picutres.
10. we had the Dayton versus Cameroon football match. the cameroon team didn't have any girls on the team so we divided the 15 dayton girls to play on both teams. the match finished in 7-7 draw, many people scored including girls, justin, and myself. dr amin was the referee but tends to not concentrate on the game, he is just there to make sure everyone has fun.
9. i bought dress shoes yesterday, the salesman initially wanted 60,000 cfa but we finally agreed on 27,000. my friend dereck did all the negotiating. there is whiteman and blackman price for everything.
8. i have learned how used a machete, i have been cutting forms with it. i am not as good as the local but i can do it.
7. we have gone swimming in the lake twice, once we had all villagers around our age went for a swim. we took the villages engine boat without an engine into the lake. we dove of the boat and enjoyed the water and sun. the next time just us whites wen. we were waiting for the canoe that was carrying our luggage to come and we went in for a dip. the lake is warm in most placed from the sun but there are also some cool spots.
6. now i am very adjusted to the heat. i do not sweat as much and i don't drink as much water. today would be a very hot day in ohio but it is cool here.
5. every sunday at eben's in kumba they play micheal jackson's greatest hits as everyone prepares for the big midday meal. this is the one meal that we usually eat with ma and pa.
4. in the village everyone is related. there is one family that had five children, those five chrildren have many kids and grandkids. some people in the family have married other villagers making one huge family that is at least half the village.
3. some small kids are afraid of whites. there is one named kelvin who you can hold one day but the next you can't even get near him without him crying.
2. i got another hair, this time at barber shop in kumba. the barber shops are similar to one in the states, a rotating chair, sports picture everywhere, and sports illustrated. but this one had pictures of footballers covering all the walls and ceiling. also on the walls are hair styles of puff daddy snoop dogg, and other random people.
1. water is going to flow this week.
much love,
mark
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
filters are coming in the village!
Hello Everyone,
Happy late 4th of July! When you were probably grilling out, swimming, and watching the fireworks we were in the bush celebrating. Overall, we are all having a great time staying in the village. Even though there are lots of bugs, we are having a blast! During the day we work on either the pipe line of filter construction and by night the boys are ready to play some soccer while the girls hang out with the kids, play cards with the women, and help with dinner.
As you may know, our main goal for the Barombi Water Project is to provide Barombi Village with clean drinking water using affordable and appropriate technology. The pipe line will provide the water while the point-of-use filters will be implemented to provide clean, healthy drinking water.
For the first three/four weeks here Katie, Marissa, and I worked with a welder in town to fabricate a mold which we are using in the village to cast the concrete forms for the filters. After finishing the mold, we casted our first form at the hardware man's house; unfortunately, we had to destroy the form because the extractor fabrication errors. The welder made some adjustments, and we were successful on our next try. The mold and other necessary materials were then transported to the lake on a motorcycle and then carried to the village by canoe late last week.
Last week, for the first time, all six students stayed in the village for the week. Construction for the water distribution system continued and the production and implementation of the filters started. The team met with the water committee to start organizing for production, education, and distribution of filters. During the week we worked with a few men everyday to teaching them the process of making the concrete forms; by the end of the week 4 forms were constructed. We also met with the women in the village to give them a brief summary of the filters using visual aids and help from Carin, our Cameroonian mommy, who helped translate for us. This Thursday we will be having our first filter demonstration to show the villagers how they work and let them start signing up for their very own. As for the distribution, as a team decided that it would be best for the villagers to pay for a jug (which will be used to carry the clean water) and to provide a half liter of oil for the steel mold. The money collected will go to the water committee for future filter maintenance and materials.
This weekend we came back to town to catch up with our Kumba Town friends and gather more materials to build the concrete filters. It was a pretty big adventure trying to send more concrete and sand to the village. We had to find a truck which was willing to drive back to the lake side; it's not an easy drive with all the hills and pot holes (I think it could be called Father of the Beast). The best part of it is that the truck we used is 48 years old (If you have seen the movie Cars, it looked just like the old rusty truck Mator, haha)!! Tomorrow we will meet up with Justin, Mark, and Liz in the village and continue making the point-of-use filters (hopefully the men will not need any of our help!), start painting the forms, and filling the forms with the sand and gravel. By the end of the week we will be done with the pipeline and everyone is going to want there very own filter after seeing how beautiful they are!
We are all excited to come home and tell you all more about the village life and the project, it really has been a blast. Despite all of the midgets, mosquitoes, and the outhouse, we are all loving it. Well anyway, I hope you guys are having a great summer, I can't wait to hear about your summers too.
Keep in touch and see you in a few weeks,
Hayley
Happy late 4th of July! When you were probably grilling out, swimming, and watching the fireworks we were in the bush celebrating. Overall, we are all having a great time staying in the village. Even though there are lots of bugs, we are having a blast! During the day we work on either the pipe line of filter construction and by night the boys are ready to play some soccer while the girls hang out with the kids, play cards with the women, and help with dinner.
As you may know, our main goal for the Barombi Water Project is to provide Barombi Village with clean drinking water using affordable and appropriate technology. The pipe line will provide the water while the point-of-use filters will be implemented to provide clean, healthy drinking water.
For the first three/four weeks here Katie, Marissa, and I worked with a welder in town to fabricate a mold which we are using in the village to cast the concrete forms for the filters. After finishing the mold, we casted our first form at the hardware man's house; unfortunately, we had to destroy the form because the extractor fabrication errors. The welder made some adjustments, and we were successful on our next try. The mold and other necessary materials were then transported to the lake on a motorcycle and then carried to the village by canoe late last week.
Last week, for the first time, all six students stayed in the village for the week. Construction for the water distribution system continued and the production and implementation of the filters started. The team met with the water committee to start organizing for production, education, and distribution of filters. During the week we worked with a few men everyday to teaching them the process of making the concrete forms; by the end of the week 4 forms were constructed. We also met with the women in the village to give them a brief summary of the filters using visual aids and help from Carin, our Cameroonian mommy, who helped translate for us. This Thursday we will be having our first filter demonstration to show the villagers how they work and let them start signing up for their very own. As for the distribution, as a team decided that it would be best for the villagers to pay for a jug (which will be used to carry the clean water) and to provide a half liter of oil for the steel mold. The money collected will go to the water committee for future filter maintenance and materials.
This weekend we came back to town to catch up with our Kumba Town friends and gather more materials to build the concrete filters. It was a pretty big adventure trying to send more concrete and sand to the village. We had to find a truck which was willing to drive back to the lake side; it's not an easy drive with all the hills and pot holes (I think it could be called Father of the Beast). The best part of it is that the truck we used is 48 years old (If you have seen the movie Cars, it looked just like the old rusty truck Mator, haha)!! Tomorrow we will meet up with Justin, Mark, and Liz in the village and continue making the point-of-use filters (hopefully the men will not need any of our help!), start painting the forms, and filling the forms with the sand and gravel. By the end of the week we will be done with the pipeline and everyone is going to want there very own filter after seeing how beautiful they are!
We are all excited to come home and tell you all more about the village life and the project, it really has been a blast. Despite all of the midgets, mosquitoes, and the outhouse, we are all loving it. Well anyway, I hope you guys are having a great summer, I can't wait to hear about your summers too.
Keep in touch and see you in a few weeks,
Hayley
Hello everyone!
A quick update on the progress of the pipeline for those interested...
We have now connected all of the pipes except for the branches reaching to the three tap stands. Last week we finished the pvc in the village and connected the iron and pvc pipes. We also installed all the appropriate valves and poured the concrete tap stands in the village. This week we will hook up all three tap stands to the main pipeline and proceed to test the line with water flowing for the first time! Hopefully we don't encounter any leaks or other problems! After testing it, all that is left to do is fill in the trenches and some minor clean-up work at the catchment and tapstands. We also need to design our drainage plan for each tap stand and excavate accordingly. Our final task will be to train and educate the appointed villagers (from the water committee) to maintain and care for the pipeline after we leave. We aim to have all this accomplished within the next two weeks, which will give us one week remaining to relax and have our inaugeration ceremony in the village before we come back to the States! Wish us luck!
A quick update on the progress of the pipeline for those interested...
We have now connected all of the pipes except for the branches reaching to the three tap stands. Last week we finished the pvc in the village and connected the iron and pvc pipes. We also installed all the appropriate valves and poured the concrete tap stands in the village. This week we will hook up all three tap stands to the main pipeline and proceed to test the line with water flowing for the first time! Hopefully we don't encounter any leaks or other problems! After testing it, all that is left to do is fill in the trenches and some minor clean-up work at the catchment and tapstands. We also need to design our drainage plan for each tap stand and excavate accordingly. Our final task will be to train and educate the appointed villagers (from the water committee) to maintain and care for the pipeline after we leave. We aim to have all this accomplished within the next two weeks, which will give us one week remaining to relax and have our inaugeration ceremony in the village before we come back to the States! Wish us luck!
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