Hi everyone!
Where have I been? Very busy! I will split this up into 2 posts so that you aren’t reading a novel at once.
This post is going to be all about the beginning of my work with Safe Water.
This past week James and I were able to travel to one of the communities where the water filters are set up. They have a water filter set up in a clinic and two homes.
One of Safe Water’s problems is that they do not have any transportation options to bring the filters to the communities. Fortunately they found a connection through a taxi driver who was willing to bring them to the community for free because he had relatives there. The taxi driver, named Abbot, and the leader of Safe Water in Ghana, Josephus, were able then to bring the filters to this community about 3 months ago but have not been able to go back to do a follow up. The community is a little over 3 hours away so public transportation would be costly and difficult.
Fortunately, we were able to drive up there with them and finally do a follow up with them. This also provided an opportunity for James and me to do a little interviewing for our research.
The first filter that we checked up on was the filter in the clinic. One filter there provides enough clean water for the entire clinic a day and they never have a problem of running out during the day. This is good because it shows that they are using the filters properly, since the more they are used the better the filters are. The filter system was working well and the water was coming out clean, however, someone must have knocked it because the spout was broken off. We will have to try and make it back there to fix it for them but for now it is still usable.
The second filter that we checked on is used by about 7 families and other members of the community as needed. They also informed us that the water is cleaner and their health is improving. We did notice that there seems to be mold of some sort on the piping though and we will have to look into ways of avoiding that in the future. They also showed us where they get their water from to filter. The water was very dirty and unfortunately that is what they were drinking before. Water is a major issue for Ghana
The final filter was working great and had no mold or problems at all. This was really encouraging because it shows that there can be good success with them and they will not all have problems if used properly. I am glad that we were able to report that at least one is going smoothly.
Our research will be interesting as we begin to continue interviews with everyone involved and find the root of the problems.
Sorry, this may be one of my more boring posts but it was interesting and I know some of you will think it is cool J
Love you all.
Picture 1: Josephus with the filter in the clinic
Picture 2: The second filter, the clear hose is where the coloring is
Picture 3: Their water source
Picture 4: The third filter
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