The Workshop

Yesterday we completed our three day workshop here, in Shirati. It provided a more thorough look at safe water for three water committee members from each of the three communities of Roche, Nyambogo, and Burere (nine people total, if that was confusing).

It started off early Monday when I walked by myself to the hotel. I think it was the first time I had walked through town on my own, but not because I hadn't felt safe. I was really excited because everyone was treating me as if I was a local. No muzungu crap, and everyone greeted me in Swahili. I was so excited - and then I got to the center of town. There everything went back to the usual as about ten people yelled muzungu at once.

The first day of the workshop was my day. I was so fortunate to present the subject of poop and compost. It actually was a lot more interesting than it sounds, it explained how to protect source water. My talk covered four categories of waste and how to deal with all of them.

The beginning category was organics, when I explained all about composting. The next was hazardous waste and I introduced it by having Sarah speak about the importance of protecting your environment. I prefaced her speech with an explanation of the increasing global awareness (and struggles) of protecting our environment. I explained that in the US there are many people who are not yet willing to make the sacrifices necessary to protect the environment.

After Sarah's talk I continued by having the participants list all the hazards that come out of their homes. In multiple instances they discovered that making the environmentally conscious choice for hazards disposal required sacrifice. For example, I told them the best way to dispose of batteries was to make a cement-lined pit that would be water tight and keep the batteries safe inside, or to reduce the amount of batteries by buying solar-powered electronics. They said both of those options are expensive. I explained how that is true everywhere.

For the time being we have agreed to collect the batteries and have them sent to a battery collection facility; if the entire community picks up their batteries. There are currently many scattered all over the place. Another area that they discovered sacrifice was in respect to insecticide. They asked how to dispose of it; I asked how it came packaged. I told them that a non-pressurized can would be much easier to dispose of than a pressurized can. They said that a pressurized can was easier to use. I reminded them that those were choices they had to make.

This was interesting in two ways. First was seeing such dilemma on their faces. It was such a similar struggle to what we deal with, which I had told them. But I truly had no idea they would find themselves in such a similar place. Second, the dilemma they seemed to find showed that they really understood the importance of what I was explaining, with respect to their water and health. It was fun to be a teacher for a day.

The second day was Sarah's day. One of her sessions was to build sieves out of screen and wood. These are used to sort material for sand filters. Each community took a turn while the others worked on preparing a community action plan. I got to man the building station. It was the best part of the workshop for me. It was an incredible bonding experience, which is actually not surprising. I finally, including all the time in the last couple of months, had a goal to share with them that was clearly physical and less mental or theoretical. We could communicate our needs by actions and went about the work each speaking our own language. No translator was needed and we all felt like we had a purpose. It was refreshing and a great bonding experience.

It took us quite a while to build the sieves, and towards the end they had already finished their community action plans. Sarah somehow got them on the topic of singing, and they all sang as we finished. I think that was Sarah's bonding. It was really nice, but I'm very glad that I didn't have to sing.

The third day we reviewed action plans and presented each participant with a certificate of participation. Josiah, an important member of SHED, and a local, presented the certificates. In his presentation, Josiah encouraged the people to share the knowledge they had learned. To do this he used an analogy: "Would you travel to collect food and eat it before getting home?" To this statement he got the loudest sound of approval that had come out of the entire workshop. It made me feel the importance of knowing the people.

Overall, I am extremely happy with the entire workshop.