So we tested our first hand washing station design, and although people really liked it, durability was an issue. After a couple weeks of use, a couple of devices started to crack at the tap/bucket interface. After some group brainstorming action in which our Field Officers came up with several new designs to address the …
So after two weeks, more than 6000L of diesel fuel, and 2 completely worn out carbide-tipped drills (carbide is one of the hardest materials on Earth), we’ve drilled a total of 319m at 3 different locations. According to Maji-Tech, our drillers, this has been the hardest rock that they’ve ever drilled through.
I really don’t diversify enough in terms of my sources here in this blog, but I just have to recommend this clip of a recent Hans Rosling TED talk about the MDGs. If you don’t have 15 minutes to spare, start at the 11:10 mark. It’s such great stuff, and it’s so relevant to the …
“This is not a party, Vivian.” The CED Field Managers seem to be disappointed in my choice of words for what I call a ‘Mifos party’, which involves pulling my managers out of the field and commandeering the office clerks for a day of sorting data for entry into our Mifos database. “It’s a party”, …
Over the course of the past 3 days, the team has been divided between Kisumu, Nairobi and Kuria on a hunt for best practices. This hunt is a culmination of the past few weeks, which have been focused on increasing the team’s exposure to innovative work, training them on project planning techniques, and working to …
“Freshly Stolen From the Water Front” This is another odd phrase that has stuck with me through the years. The original statement, or rather – advertisement, was literal and in reference from a few pairs of sunglasses (of the highest quality) stolen from the Victoria and Albert Waterfront in Cape Town, South Africa. While living …
This week the story of one of our community members, Francis Mwita, was released. When his story was filmed almost a year ago, Francis was an outstanding Nuru farmer. He followed the intensive agricultural training and group work to triple his maize yield. Today, he continues to be a standout member and a great example …
We’ve finally started drilling our well in Nyangiti, and the community has really pitched in. They’re cooking meals, inviting the drillers into their homes to stay for the night, and even provided manual labor for the drillers. However, we’re not in the clear yet. Maji-Tech has hit some very tough rocks that are eating up …
In the hills of Ikerege, a man has built a windmill out of steel drums cut in half and soldered to a post. This windmill powers his home. Our neighbor rewired his radio and created an amplifier using plastic scraps, dirt, fire and some wire. In Kioma Kebe, I visited a home that has a …
In the midst of restructuring team dynamics, retraining and revisiting homevisit strategy, it may seem that we’ve put on hold our primary and imminent responsibility of getting into the field to provide the community with the tools to help prevent and mitigate diseases. But to the contrary, we have diligently been planning and patiently waiting …
As always, the amazing Duncan Green communicates more brilliantly and with a few other outside references about the topics we are thinking about here in a recent blog post: What Should Aid Focus on, Poor People or Poor Countries? In the post, he is reviewing a paper that reports that three-quarters of the world’s poor …
So… the drilling schedule has been delayed because Maji-Ttech ran into some problems at the last site that they were drilling at. Of course, we had informed the community that drilling schedules are hard to predict, as the drillers hit unpredictable crazy rock formations sometimes. Good thing I had a back-up plan for this week… …
I have always believed in the intense power of creative thought and expression. I believe creativity is an essential component of intellect and one that should be stimulated and nurtured. Kids possess raw creative genius and curiosity. They are natural inventors, constantly repurposing blankets into forts, trashed containers into airplanes, old cardboard boxes into rocket …
Kuria Annual Stakeholders Meeting Over the past few months we have been working hard to improve our relationship with the Ministry of Health. We should no longer merely co-exist, we need to be allies in the war on communicable disease and preventable death and our development of a CHW (Community Health Worker) unit is directly …
Slowly Going Mobile In our first month using M-PESA PayBill to receive loan payments, we got 1 test transaction, 4 loan payments, and 4 payments made in error by other M-PESA users. Not quite the mobile banking launch I was hoping for. The adoption of mobile loan repayment through M-PESA’s PayBill service has been slow, …