I haven't written for the blog for several days now, I've been caught up in giving my water testing workshop. It's been a fabulous, rewarding experience, but exhausting and somewhat overwhelming. I didn't get much sleep on Wednesday or Thursday nights and now finally on Saturday morning I've gotten enough rest and time to be able to think clearly and try and put down some of what happened.
One issue has been that my team partner Stan and I have very different interests and objectives for our work. Food for the Hungry has received requests from different remote villages for help with their water systems, whether wells or springs or pumps or whatever. Stan then is sent out to check them out, a long process that takes most of the day, and two interpreters. They try to coordinate our projects with Stan's, so it sometimes turns out that we are kind of stuck in someplace waiting till he finishes his work. I had a lot of prep work to do prior to the workshop, so I asked for time to work in the office, and on Wednesday their staff had a meeting to attend so they just gave me their keys. Susan and I spent the day there working getting ready for Thursday. Because I decided to use their projector and do a power point show rather than just hold up pictures, Susan had to photograph some of my things that weren't in the computer then down load them. They looked a little funny, but were the best we could do. I wanted everything to be both in English and Spanish and so had to write some Spanish titles on the fly. I'm definitely not a power point person and it took an exceedingly long time to put the show together. If I had had time before I left to prepare I'd have felt more secure.
I couldn't sleep Wednesday night fussing and organizing and I had a big stack of papers and handouts I'd prepared to get sorted. I worried that I hadn't tried the projector with my computer and program, so I made copies of it in various formats. I copied it to a zip drive so that possibly I could use another computer if mine was compatible. I also was worried that inadequate information had gone out to the participants in advance. I wanted everyone to bring cardboard so that we could make stoves. Susan didn't think that they had access to cardboard boxes and that we might have to find a different material, but I was hopeful that there would be enough for at least a few stoves. Also it has been cloudy and overcast a lot and I was worried that the solar stove display would be a bust. I finally got up at about 4:00 and went over my speech trying to translate my thoughts into understandable Spanish. The only good sign was that there was plenty of hot water for a shower and I didn't cut myself shaving!
It's about a half hour drive from town to the resort where the workshop was held. Guatemala is an incredibly poor country, but there must be some rich people because this resort was almost as nice as any in the States. It covered several acres with gardens and pools and their own zoo of native animals. They had several fancy restaurants and very nice coffee service for our group. We got there about 8:30 and there were already 15 or 20 people waiting for a 10:00 start. At first there was no electricity, then no extension cord, but the lady doctor with Food for the Hungry also was going to use the projector and she had a little temper tantrum and immediately a cord appeared. I had a lot of of stuff to set up, but the director of the program caught me off guard by saying since everyone was there early, they might as well get started an hour early! There was nothing to do but grab my notes and plunge in!
At first my speech is just about how many people suffer from contaminated drinking water and the bad effects it has, especially on children. The audience was interested but not enthusiastic, I think they had heard that part before. Then though I start getting more technical and complicated as I start to plow into basic bacteriology. I want the participants to be knowledgeable about what they are doing and not just guess at the results, and it obviously was a new topic for some of them. I think some people didn't even know there were bacteria. I think next time I’ll have a slide that shows the relative size of things. We talked about what bacteria and viruses were and how they grow. Then we went into the various diseases and why you need an indicator for contamination. People were definitely sitting up in their seats then.
After all that I pull out some petrifilms and some tubes and we start looking at samples and talking about which are positive and why. I always struggle with the explanations in Spanish and then a person was translating my Spanish into the indian language. It slowed things down, but gave me time to think about my next sentence so it was all right.
By that time people had been sitting for an hour so I had everyone get up and we practiced pipetting. The little plastic droppers actually are a little trick for people to get used to, and they have to pipet exactly one ml of water on the Petrifilms, using the markings on the dropper. Usually we mix some coffer or coke with the water so it is more visible and then everyone gets a chance. I think people seemed to be having fun.
After everyone feels comfortable with the pipets we get started with the setup. I passed out Petrifilms and Colilert tubes, but I had a hard time keeping people from opening them up. First I talked about the importance of labeling and record keeping. Even though they only had one sample today, it is important to stay organized and accurate. I taught them how to open the pipet package without contaminating the tip and then to carefully open the tube. After we filled the tube to 10mls we replaced the top and mixed it well. Then I demonstrated how to carefully draw up one ml of water and put it in the center of the Petrifilm and very slowly replace the covering. This is sort of a trick also and several people had to try again before they got the knack of it. We used my petrifilms because I wanted them to start their work with a complete kit of supplies.
Of course then comes the big joke of the morning when I demonstrate how to incubate the samples under their clothes. I told them that for tonight this was their spouse and they were going to sleep with them all night in their beds. Then we got serious about how bacteria need the right temperature – body temperature- to grow. I gave everyone a ziplock bag and after some joking around every one put their samples in the bags and put them inside their clothing, including some of the women. Then we had a very nice lunch in the resort restaurant.
A minor problem was that everything moves slowly and happens when people want it to, so I fuss with the projectors and organize handouts, but everything starts 45 minutes late, except when I'm not prepared. Eventually I started out by talking about the risk of drinking water contaminated by bacteria and ask how that could be prevented. One simple way is to heat the water before drinking. The water need not be boiled because I show that harmful organisms are killed at temperatures well below that level. I show the WAPI chart and then explain how the WAPI works, how it can be reused and we pass some of them around to look at.
Meanwhile I had Susan setting up the solar stove and heating the water outside. We all got up and went out to see her display. Miraculously when she took the top of the pot off, the wax had melted. I brought along a digital thermometer and showed that the temperature was well above 65 degrees. I let Susan do this part of the program and she did quite well. Everyone has to touch the pot to prove t themselves that it's hot and then for dramatic effect I mixed a cup of the hot water with some Nescafe and drank it to show that I was confidant that the water was safe.
People seemed quite impressed with the stove, but have a hard time believing that they can be simply made, so the final part of the day is to have the participants form small groups and make solar stoves themselves out of cardboard and tin foil. Most tried to trace my Cookit stove even though I had lots of pictures of different stoves they could make. I think next time I'll hide mine to force them to create their own. It's a fun activity with everyone down on the floor cutting cardboard and gluing foil on it, it reminds me of a 3rd grade art project. At the end of the day everyone sets up their stoves to dry and we leave. I should try to work in a summary session at that time, but everyone is scattered and tired.
So that was Thursday, the microbiology lesson and sample set up, followed by a solar stove building session. On Friday we will examine the samples and go from there.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Climbing the hills
Monday started out really early, about 6:30 for breakfast in the hotel dining room. I'm not sure but they seem to be the slowest restaurant I've ever been in, even coffee takes 10-15 minutes. The other side of it was that even though our minder said she wanted to be going by 7:30 it was really closer to 8:30 by the time we actually left.
We drove to a small town a few miles from Cobán, San Juan Chamelco, where the head offices of Food for the Hungry are located and met the local Director Shane Hoffner and his wife Cali. They are both young and just learning Spanish, but seemed very dedicated and competent. His background is Civil Engineering and hers is Health Promotion, so they have good backgrounds for their work. We were only in the office for a few minutes and I was racing around to get the supplies for my had washing demonstration. We had purchased some soap and nylon stockings to put the soap in the night before and a bottle to use for the “tippytap” demonstration. Then we all piled back into the van for a trip on a very rough road to a small mountain community where the health promotion was taking place.
When we arrived they were already involved in the program, with a very animated woman giving an pep talk on hand washing to about 60 ladies from the area. She was speaking in the local native indian language and the woman were paying very close attention and responding to her talk. She was in modern dress but the audience women were all dressed in very elaborate, traditional costumes There were many that were hand embroidered, and some in traditional styles but using modern materials. The clothes were beautiful and I took a number of photos of them, which they seemed to be proud to pose for.
After the lady spoke, Cali, Shane's wife spoke. She is a beginning Spanish speaker but gamely gave a talk about hand washing and children, then did the old trick of putting hand lotion on her hands then glitter. Then by shaking hands with another person, some of the glitter and lotion came off on that persons hands who shook anothers hands and glitter came off again and the third person, and so on. It's a simple but effective game to play to demonstrate how bacteria are transferred from person to person. Next I did my demonstration with my water bottle. We used the same ladies to show that washing can remove the glitter/bacteria. I spoke in Spanish then someone translated it into the Indian dialect. It went okay, but my point was that it didn't use much water, and most of the women in the audience had running water in their homes and didn't need to conserve. It rains a lot and there are lots of springs so many villages have some sort of water system. The part about washing the glitter off their hands made more sense to them, it had a practical purpose. In all, I thought my presentation was sort of lame next to the ladies talk. She then followed my with an elaborate skit about a baby with diarrhea and had everyone's complete attention.
After I spoke I set up the solar stove outside to try it out. In my rush to get going I didn't bring a small pot so the one I ended up with was too large to heat up the water quickly, but the outside of the pot got hot. The ladies were really interested and crowded around wanting to know how it worked, so Susan and I took turns explaining it. That turned out to be the big hit of the day, so that was good. There is a lot of cloudy weather and rain and many people feel that a solar stove can only be a backup to wood burning. There is quite a lot of deforestation going on so that is a big issue.
Stan Withee was there looking at the water system. They have a chlorination system there but it doesn't work very well and they don't know how to manage it. Stan collected a sample for me to test for bacteria.
After that Stan and Shane were going out to look at a couple of other water systems and asked if I wanted to go along. With such short notice Susan and I had to race around to get our stuff collected and we got scattered . I ended up leaving my pack with my water bottle and laptop with Susan and took off in the van. We went to another community further up the road. They had a system where they had to pump water up to a high distribution tank. It was very expensive to run and didn't provide enough water for the people. The question was whether the pumps were working right or whether there were leaks in the system.
We hiked up the whole length of the pipe through very dense brush to measure the distance to the upper tank. The local men guided us up the hill, chopping the brush with machetes. There were beautiful flowers and plants everywhere but it was a struggle and very slippery and muddy from the rain. On top we took GPS measurements of the elevation and checked the tank. Everything seemed to be okay with their water system. Stan offered advice to them about simple things like making sure there were no leaking water faucets at peoples homes, or that they make sure they don't overfill the tanks and waste water they have pumped. He also examined their pumps to see that they were working adequately.
I thought that they had a very sophisticated and complicated system for such a small community, but that they seemed very comfortable with running it.
We then looked at another community even further up the road at a higher elevation. Our van couldn't climb the steep road and so we ended up walking up to the houses. There was no electricity there and the only year round functioning spring was below the homes, and it was small so there was no opportunity to pump adequate water up to the homes. The best that Stan could offer was to do a simple survey to show where the water pipe could be brought out to the edge of the road so that they could have a more convenient tank to store their water. Also we made suggestions about how to fence off the area to keep animals out and to cover the spring so that mud and debris didn't get into the water. We also took a sample to check for bacteria.
We finally got back to Cobán about 6 pm. I was really tired and muddy from all the climbing, plus I had several water samples to set up and incubate. It had been a long day, but it was fun. We rested for a while and took showers and got to bed about 11. I'm still concerned about my workshop on Thursday and need to go to the mercado to look for stove parts to build a rocket stove for a demonstration. I hope we will have time on Tuesday to look.
We drove to a small town a few miles from Cobán, San Juan Chamelco, where the head offices of Food for the Hungry are located and met the local Director Shane Hoffner and his wife Cali. They are both young and just learning Spanish, but seemed very dedicated and competent. His background is Civil Engineering and hers is Health Promotion, so they have good backgrounds for their work. We were only in the office for a few minutes and I was racing around to get the supplies for my had washing demonstration. We had purchased some soap and nylon stockings to put the soap in the night before and a bottle to use for the “tippytap” demonstration. Then we all piled back into the van for a trip on a very rough road to a small mountain community where the health promotion was taking place.
When we arrived they were already involved in the program, with a very animated woman giving an pep talk on hand washing to about 60 ladies from the area. She was speaking in the local native indian language and the woman were paying very close attention and responding to her talk. She was in modern dress but the audience women were all dressed in very elaborate, traditional costumes There were many that were hand embroidered, and some in traditional styles but using modern materials. The clothes were beautiful and I took a number of photos of them, which they seemed to be proud to pose for.
After the lady spoke, Cali, Shane's wife spoke. She is a beginning Spanish speaker but gamely gave a talk about hand washing and children, then did the old trick of putting hand lotion on her hands then glitter. Then by shaking hands with another person, some of the glitter and lotion came off on that persons hands who shook anothers hands and glitter came off again and the third person, and so on. It's a simple but effective game to play to demonstrate how bacteria are transferred from person to person. Next I did my demonstration with my water bottle. We used the same ladies to show that washing can remove the glitter/bacteria. I spoke in Spanish then someone translated it into the Indian dialect. It went okay, but my point was that it didn't use much water, and most of the women in the audience had running water in their homes and didn't need to conserve. It rains a lot and there are lots of springs so many villages have some sort of water system. The part about washing the glitter off their hands made more sense to them, it had a practical purpose. In all, I thought my presentation was sort of lame next to the ladies talk. She then followed my with an elaborate skit about a baby with diarrhea and had everyone's complete attention.
After I spoke I set up the solar stove outside to try it out. In my rush to get going I didn't bring a small pot so the one I ended up with was too large to heat up the water quickly, but the outside of the pot got hot. The ladies were really interested and crowded around wanting to know how it worked, so Susan and I took turns explaining it. That turned out to be the big hit of the day, so that was good. There is a lot of cloudy weather and rain and many people feel that a solar stove can only be a backup to wood burning. There is quite a lot of deforestation going on so that is a big issue.
Stan Withee was there looking at the water system. They have a chlorination system there but it doesn't work very well and they don't know how to manage it. Stan collected a sample for me to test for bacteria.
After that Stan and Shane were going out to look at a couple of other water systems and asked if I wanted to go along. With such short notice Susan and I had to race around to get our stuff collected and we got scattered . I ended up leaving my pack with my water bottle and laptop with Susan and took off in the van. We went to another community further up the road. They had a system where they had to pump water up to a high distribution tank. It was very expensive to run and didn't provide enough water for the people. The question was whether the pumps were working right or whether there were leaks in the system.
We hiked up the whole length of the pipe through very dense brush to measure the distance to the upper tank. The local men guided us up the hill, chopping the brush with machetes. There were beautiful flowers and plants everywhere but it was a struggle and very slippery and muddy from the rain. On top we took GPS measurements of the elevation and checked the tank. Everything seemed to be okay with their water system. Stan offered advice to them about simple things like making sure there were no leaking water faucets at peoples homes, or that they make sure they don't overfill the tanks and waste water they have pumped. He also examined their pumps to see that they were working adequately.
I thought that they had a very sophisticated and complicated system for such a small community, but that they seemed very comfortable with running it.
We then looked at another community even further up the road at a higher elevation. Our van couldn't climb the steep road and so we ended up walking up to the houses. There was no electricity there and the only year round functioning spring was below the homes, and it was small so there was no opportunity to pump adequate water up to the homes. The best that Stan could offer was to do a simple survey to show where the water pipe could be brought out to the edge of the road so that they could have a more convenient tank to store their water. Also we made suggestions about how to fence off the area to keep animals out and to cover the spring so that mud and debris didn't get into the water. We also took a sample to check for bacteria.
We finally got back to Cobán about 6 pm. I was really tired and muddy from all the climbing, plus I had several water samples to set up and incubate. It had been a long day, but it was fun. We rested for a while and took showers and got to bed about 11. I'm still concerned about my workshop on Thursday and need to go to the mercado to look for stove parts to build a rocket stove for a demonstration. I hope we will have time on Tuesday to look.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Cobán
On Sunday morning we had a nice breakfast at the small pension where we stayed. It was a little distance from the airport and the streets are a little rough and confusing so I don't know exactly where we were. After breakfast we went to look at a different hotel that Roger Capps group will be staying in when they arrive. It really didn't look very clean so then we went to another hotel that our guide from Medical Teams recommended. It was really much better and about the same price so I wrote to Roger and to the person from Child Aid who is in charge of his trip with that info.
Guatemala City is large and spread out like Mexico City but seems to lack attractive central areas like parks or plazas. At least I didn't see any as we drove through town on our way out to Cobán. Cobán is about 4 or 5 hours away in the mountains. The climate is cooler and cloudier, sort of like Oregon but with a few palm trees. We passed through an area known as a bioreserve where some species of birds and plants are protected, like the Quetzal, Guatemala's national bird.
Near the bioreserve is a hotel resort complex called the Park Hotel. It's where we are going to have my workshop on Thursday and Friday. It's very nice and upscale, the fanciest place I've held a workshop. It's a little intimidating, I hope we get enough people to justify the expense.
In Cobán we met up with Stan Withee my teammate. He's been here a week surveying water systems in the small communities. He's a water engineer and has been climbing up and down the hills laying out pipe lines and examining springs and other water sources. He has a number of water samples for me to test so that he can report back to the people he helped.
Apparently we are scheduled to go to a health fair tomorrow in a community. The first part is a talk from a health nurse about hand washing and I suggested that we bring a hand washing station – called a tippytap- to show. It's just a plastic bottle with a few holes in it, plus a soap in a nylon stocking, but it works very well and is a good demonstration. In Mexico I gave out small geraniums with the tippytap which made them much more desirable. I'd thought about including it in the Friday lecture, so I guess I can try out my speech tomorrow.
In the afternoon I'm supposed to take some water samples as a demonstration for the community and bring the results back the next day. The only problem is that it sometimes takes more than 24 hours so I hope I have some results to show.
I've still got a ton of unpacking to do to get ready for tomorrow, so I'll sign off.
Let me know if you're reading this blog, and what your opinions are.
tom
Guatemala City is large and spread out like Mexico City but seems to lack attractive central areas like parks or plazas. At least I didn't see any as we drove through town on our way out to Cobán. Cobán is about 4 or 5 hours away in the mountains. The climate is cooler and cloudier, sort of like Oregon but with a few palm trees. We passed through an area known as a bioreserve where some species of birds and plants are protected, like the Quetzal, Guatemala's national bird.
Near the bioreserve is a hotel resort complex called the Park Hotel. It's where we are going to have my workshop on Thursday and Friday. It's very nice and upscale, the fanciest place I've held a workshop. It's a little intimidating, I hope we get enough people to justify the expense.
In Cobán we met up with Stan Withee my teammate. He's been here a week surveying water systems in the small communities. He's a water engineer and has been climbing up and down the hills laying out pipe lines and examining springs and other water sources. He has a number of water samples for me to test so that he can report back to the people he helped.
Apparently we are scheduled to go to a health fair tomorrow in a community. The first part is a talk from a health nurse about hand washing and I suggested that we bring a hand washing station – called a tippytap- to show. It's just a plastic bottle with a few holes in it, plus a soap in a nylon stocking, but it works very well and is a good demonstration. In Mexico I gave out small geraniums with the tippytap which made them much more desirable. I'd thought about including it in the Friday lecture, so I guess I can try out my speech tomorrow.
In the afternoon I'm supposed to take some water samples as a demonstration for the community and bring the results back the next day. The only problem is that it sometimes takes more than 24 hours so I hope I have some results to show.
I've still got a ton of unpacking to do to get ready for tomorrow, so I'll sign off.
Let me know if you're reading this blog, and what your opinions are.
tom
Saturday, October 23, 2010
First Night in Guatemala City
Susan and I arrive here in Guatemala City after a nice flight from Portland to Houston and then on to here. We'll stay overnight here and leave in the morning for Cobán, about four hours away by bus. It's supposed to be a beautiful place with lots of flowers and birds, including the Quetzal, the national bird. It's a sort of beautiful parrot with a long trailing tail.
I talked yesterday about the very short time we'll actually be here, just two weeks to visit many different small communities. I don't like that in one way, I don't want to be a visiting authority who comes in for a short visit, doesn't really understand the situation or the communities needs, makes some pronouncements and leaves. I'm going to try and not make myself seem all knowing and smarter than I really am. I'm expecting to learn more than I teach.
Someone once made a good observation to me that I really liked. When Americans volunteer for service projects like the one Susan and I are on, we sometimes think of ourselves as knowing a lot and coming to teach others who know less than us. We are on a higher plane and the people we are serving are down on a lower level. We are going to hand down our wisdom and the people will gratefully accept it. It's certainly easy to think like that when you see extreme poverty and illness, especially if you think you know ways to alleviate it.
That person put it differently. He said that instead it was more like a mutual sharing. That these people had ideas and skills just as valuable to teach us. He tells the people that he is working with that Americans need help, they need the skills and values that they have and that the Americans are coming to learn from them. Americans have lost the sense of family, the sense of sharing and community that these people have and they need the lessons that they can teach. That is a trade, not a one way transfer and no charity is involved.
When the interaction between volunteer groups and local communities is seen in that way, there is more of a mutual respect and sense of value in what each offers. I try to keep that observation in my mind at all times, and I try to listen more than I talk. I've certainly learned a lot about people and human values on the trips I have done, and I've hoped to share a little of what I know that can help someone else.
I'm really looking forward to this new learning experience!
Tom
I talked yesterday about the very short time we'll actually be here, just two weeks to visit many different small communities. I don't like that in one way, I don't want to be a visiting authority who comes in for a short visit, doesn't really understand the situation or the communities needs, makes some pronouncements and leaves. I'm going to try and not make myself seem all knowing and smarter than I really am. I'm expecting to learn more than I teach.
Someone once made a good observation to me that I really liked. When Americans volunteer for service projects like the one Susan and I are on, we sometimes think of ourselves as knowing a lot and coming to teach others who know less than us. We are on a higher plane and the people we are serving are down on a lower level. We are going to hand down our wisdom and the people will gratefully accept it. It's certainly easy to think like that when you see extreme poverty and illness, especially if you think you know ways to alleviate it.
That person put it differently. He said that instead it was more like a mutual sharing. That these people had ideas and skills just as valuable to teach us. He tells the people that he is working with that Americans need help, they need the skills and values that they have and that the Americans are coming to learn from them. Americans have lost the sense of family, the sense of sharing and community that these people have and they need the lessons that they can teach. That is a trade, not a one way transfer and no charity is involved.
When the interaction between volunteer groups and local communities is seen in that way, there is more of a mutual respect and sense of value in what each offers. I try to keep that observation in my mind at all times, and I try to listen more than I talk. I've certainly learned a lot about people and human values on the trips I have done, and I've hoped to share a little of what I know that can help someone else.
I'm really looking forward to this new learning experience!
Tom
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Guatemala Health Survey
It's been a while since I last posted on this blog, I usually try to focus on my current activities and projects. My wife Susan and I are leaving on Saturday, October 23 for Guatemala for a month of work. We are scheduled to meet with representatives of two organizations, Medical Teams International and Food for the Hungry. We'll be staying with them and helping do a health survey in a number of small communities is the central highlands of Guatemala.
Nearly two million children world wide die annually from drinking contaminated water. Most of my interest is is simple, low tech things families can do for themselves to make their water safe and protect their own health. Others can promote larger scale programs like wells and water systems, but I find that these projects are often expensive and complicated and a long time coming. Meanwhile children and families suffer from easily preventable diseases.
The kinds of questions I'll be asking include how many of the families have an adequate latrine or toilet. How is the drinking water in the community and has it been tested for contamination. How do families cook their meals, and what do they use, gas?, charcoal? wood? What is their overall health like.
The next questions are about what do the people there see as problems and what would they like to change? What are their priorities? Also, are there positive things about their communities and their lives that they want to preserve?
Then the question is what are their resources to make changes. Can the community help with money or labor? Is there leadership in the community to guide the work to completion? What about long term follow up?
I try not to impose my ideas on the people I'm working with, but try to understand their concerns and offer suggestions if asked. I'm hoping rather for discussions about their interests and their ideas about solutions. I can then perhaps offer different ideas that they could consider.
We'll see how all this will go! On top of all the logistical, cultural and language barriers there will only be a short amount of time to actually talk to people and listen to their ideas. I expect that I will get far more out of the visit than the people I meet. Hopefully I'll be able to bring back some ideas and perhaps develop some ideas for future projects.
In addition to working and report writing, I'll try to maintain this blog of my activities and I'll be happy to hear opinions from you about what I'm doing. You can also check out my Agua Pura website at http://aguapuraparaelpueblo.org/
watertestingTom
Nearly two million children world wide die annually from drinking contaminated water. Most of my interest is is simple, low tech things families can do for themselves to make their water safe and protect their own health. Others can promote larger scale programs like wells and water systems, but I find that these projects are often expensive and complicated and a long time coming. Meanwhile children and families suffer from easily preventable diseases.
The kinds of questions I'll be asking include how many of the families have an adequate latrine or toilet. How is the drinking water in the community and has it been tested for contamination. How do families cook their meals, and what do they use, gas?, charcoal? wood? What is their overall health like.
The next questions are about what do the people there see as problems and what would they like to change? What are their priorities? Also, are there positive things about their communities and their lives that they want to preserve?
Then the question is what are their resources to make changes. Can the community help with money or labor? Is there leadership in the community to guide the work to completion? What about long term follow up?
I try not to impose my ideas on the people I'm working with, but try to understand their concerns and offer suggestions if asked. I'm hoping rather for discussions about their interests and their ideas about solutions. I can then perhaps offer different ideas that they could consider.
We'll see how all this will go! On top of all the logistical, cultural and language barriers there will only be a short amount of time to actually talk to people and listen to their ideas. I expect that I will get far more out of the visit than the people I meet. Hopefully I'll be able to bring back some ideas and perhaps develop some ideas for future projects.
In addition to working and report writing, I'll try to maintain this blog of my activities and I'll be happy to hear opinions from you about what I'm doing. You can also check out my Agua Pura website at http://aguapuraparaelpueblo.org/
watertestingTom
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