Last week in Kenya!!!

This week started out with our assessment for rainwater catchment system at the Lunga Primary School. Our hydrogeologist Mr. Omwamba conducted some more surveys at a site in Lunga to give us an idea of how the geology is different there and whether there is better chances for water. At the primary school, we found it challenging to take measurements because many of the buildings' foundations and roofs were not level. After we finished taking the measurements, we came back to Miranga village to conduct our final meeting with the community. We summarized our future plans for the project and presented our sincere gratitude for cooperating with us throughout the trip. The community was also very grateful to us for our dedication and hard work put into this project and wanted us to come back soon for another implementation trip. We bid goodbye to the community on Monday afternoon.

Due to the change of plans in the project, we ended our work a few days early. The travel team was very excited to explore Kenya in the rest of their time here. The team left Kisumu early Tuesday morning, and headed to Lake Naivasha, a very serene lake surrounded by mountains. We went on a boat ride on the lake to see the Hippos. It was quite an experience. Next day, some members decided to go hiking on Mount Kenya; the highest mountain in Kenya, while the others decided to go on safari in Maasai Mara; the large game reserve. Both trips turned out to be very exciting for the team, an experience they will cherish and remember throughout their lives.

We returned to Nairobi on Friday evening, and we're looking forward to ending the journey with some shopping and sight-seeing in Nairobi during the weekend.

Here is the link to our photos from this week.

Enjoy the pictures of the beautiful wildlife and leave us your comments. 

Make it Rain and Clear it Out

Over the past few days we've been working on our assessment for the rainwater systems - taking measurements of the school buildings, getting prices for materials from hardware stores in Kisumu and for labor from a local contractor. We visited both the Miranga Primary School and Bishop Okoth - Miranga Secondary School, and we took a look at the hospital's rainwater catchment system. The hospital has a very good system that was set up by Unicef a few years ago. While we were in the hospital grounds, we saw the linemen installing some of the lines - this was encouraging because we were unsure of the progress of the electricity service. We spoke to the electrical engineer on site and he said that the transformer should be installed and the electricity should be up and running at the end of the month.

Linemen installing lines outside hospital. They could probably work for Cirque Du Soleil.

Resourcefully measuring the height of the gutter board using a stick because we had no ladder. Yes it is legit.

Jen and Prachi doing the calculations. We all forgot calculators and abacuses (abaci?), so cellphone calculators it was.

We have also been working on our post-implementation report that is due to EWB-USA when we return.

Today is our last day in the community, and it will be busy! Mr. Omwamba, our hydrogeologist, will be coming with us to the community to conduct another survey in Lunga. We are hopeful this area of the community will have a better prospect for water because it is in a valley. Meanwhile, we will be taking some more measurements of the Lunga Primary School. In the afternoon, we are scheduled to meet with the community one last time to inform them of our future plans. We also hope to get the rainfall data for this area from the Airport's Meteorological Department this evening.

Hey, we just surveyed you. And this is crazy. Where is water? Drill again maybe?

Bill, our other professional mentor, arrived on Wednesday evening, so for the past few days we've had the whole team together and good thing too because we've had some really big decisions to make.

We received the report from the hydrogeologist Mr. Omwamba yesterday morning, and we were really crossing our fingers that the results would be favorable for drilling in these new locations. He recommended drilling about 300 meters away from our first location, but this time 250 meters down!

Mr. Omwamba is very good at his job, but fortunately so are our mentors. Natalya explained to us that the method of vertical electrical sounding that he uses to test for resistivity and detect water is only really accurate up to about 50 meters below the ground. So we couldn't exactly take his report as fact.

Jon Reed and school students watching the electrical sounding process.

We were also able to access a hydrogeological profile of our area done by a Dutch company in 1988. This report gave us some general information about the geology and water prospects for the area, and the one key point we found from the report was that most groundwater will be found between 50-70 meters down.

In the end, the only sure way to know where water is, is to drill for it. So, we had to decide to drill or not to drill.

We all got together, crowded into one hotel room and had a discussion about how to move forward.

The first dry borehole cost about $10,000, so is it worth the risk to try again?  Is there another way this money could be used with more certainty to get water?

In the end, we decided that we should not drill another borehole this trip. The risk is too great.
This was an incredibly difficult decision for us, but we know it is the right one.  After speaking with the WatSan and Peter Oduor from ECODS, we decided on another alternative to provide water for the schools - improving and expanding their rainwater catchment systems. We also visited another part of Kolunje that doesn't have many water sources, but has a better geology for drilling - a subvillage called Lunga.

In this remaining week in Kenya, we plan to do assessment for rainwater catchment for three schools - the Miranga Primary School, the Bishop Okoth Secondary School in Miranga (both schools that we planned to serve with the original borehole) and a large primary school in Lunga. All three schools have some sort of existing rainwater catchment, but they are either damaged or inefficient with some roof area unutilized. This week we will also ask Mr. Omwamba to do some surveying in Lunga with hopes of drilling a shallow borehole there on one of the upcoming trips.

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to a few of our team members this morning as they headed home and back to work. We wish them a safe journey home and hope that they enjoy the clean, dust-free air and smoothly paved roads back in NJ.

Please leave any questions you have about our project or about life in Kenya in the comments!

A dry well, new plans.

Sunday 8/11

On Sunday, the drill team finished drilling to 160 meters. Disappointingly, the well was completely dry. The rock that we drilled through was a hard, highly weathered granite which was an aquifuge layer, meaning that it did not bear water. While this was a major setback in our project, we had to continue on. We abandoned the dry well and moved on to look for another site to drill for water.

The secondary school principal sadly gazes at the dry borehole.

Monday 8/12

The team spent Monday considering the options available to us now that our first try for water had failed. A meeting was held between the team, WatSan, Mohamed Ali, Peter Oduor, and Mr. Moturi who was the district water officer. The hydrogeologist Isaiah Mawinda was also asked to come, but he did not attend. In the meeting, people expressed their frustration, but also their determination to find water. By Mohamed's recommendation, a different hydrogeologist, Augustine Omwaba, was asked to survey various sites in Kolunje tomorrow, including our dry borehole, two previous boreholes while yielded water nearby, and areas near the schools and hospital.

Omwamba, the hydrogeologist, analyzes soil samples

Drill Baby, Drill!

On Friday, Mohamed Ali, our drilling contractor arrived with his equipment and set up the drilling rig on the second borehole location which was expected to hold the greatest prospects for water. They began to drill immediately. Watching the drillers finally break ground was one of the most exciting and satisfying moments of the project thus far, and the whole team was in good spirits.

For most of the travel team, it was our first experience to witness a drilling process. As we arrived at our site on Friday morning, we saw the towering drilling rig surrounded by different types of rods, pipes, and other equipment that the drillers had brought. The drilling team was composed of 6 experienced men who had worked with other successful boreholes in the past. The rig used an air rotary drill that was powered by a diesel engine. They also needed to inject water into the drill to keep the drill bit cool or for certain types of rock. Every so often, the driller would release all of the debris from the hole, letting mud and rock spill out of the hole in a dramatic burst. Samples were taken from the debris every 2 meters to analyze what type of rock the drill bit was going through.

The drilling rig was new and still had a shiny coat of paint

Everyone from the nearby community, especially children had gathered to see the workers drilling. As the drilling commenced, the workers started collecting soil samples at different depth. We have so far drilled 92m deep. We hope to finish the drilling today and find water, in abundance, to serve the community with clean drinking water.

Although the drillers were doing good work, progress was severely delayed a number of times when the drillers ran out of water for drilling and had to wait for more. When they stopped drilling on Friday, they had gone down only to 18 m. Fortunately, some ground was made up when they were able to reach 98 m by the end of Saturday, the second day of drilling.

We continued to survey throughout the weekend while the drilling continued. By Saturday, we had accumulated a total of 53 households surveyed, which surpassed our target of 50 samples. This information will be valuable for establishing the water fee, the demand model, and to better understand the community we wish to serve.

Today, we hope to reach the target 160 m and find water.

Here is an album with pictures from the past two days.

Getting to know the community!!!

Early on Wednesday, the project team met with our hydrogeologist, Isaiah Mawinda to confirm the location of the borehole at the Bishop Okoth Secondary School. Following the meeting with Isaiah, the team traveled to Kolunje to conduct community surveys. Upon arrival in Kolunje, the team split up into groups.

Meeting with Isaiah Mawinda

Students, Prachi Arawal and Colleen Thiersch and mentor Jonathan Reed visited the Miranga Sub-District Hospital to conduct a health assessment of the facilities and operations. The group collected valuable pre-implementation health metrics that can be used to compare data from post-implementation trips. The remaining students and mentor met with possible contractors for the construction of the guard house, fence and culvert. This group also investigated electricity rates in the Magwar Sub-Village. For the reminder of the day, the whole team began surveying families living within the proximity of the proposed borehole site. The team was guided by two local women, Maureen and Beria who also acted as translators.

Thursday also proved productive for the Kolunje Water Supply Project. The Rutgers team conducted our first group meeting with members of the Water and Sanitation Committee (WatSan). The team discussed a number of items that will affect the long-term operation and maintenance of the water system. Among other things, topics of discussion included the following:

• Training programs
• Employing facility managers and watchmen
• Establishing a fair and sustainable water fee
• Memorandum of Understanding

After meeting with the Water and Sanitation Committee, the students once again split into groups. The first group continued surveying families located near the proposed borehole location. The other group visited the 2013 graduating class of the secondary school. By the end of the day, a total of 21 families were surveyed and students from the secondary school were taught about the project, sustainable development, America and global engineering opportunities.

A group picture with our team members and the secondary school students

A collection of photos from Wednesday's and Thursday's activities have been posted here:

August 7-8 Photos.

Fire at Nairobi Airport - We're all Safe

This morning there was a fire at the Nairobi International Airport. There were no casualties, and they are unsure of the cause of the fire.

Today also marks the 15 year anniversary of the bombing of the American Embassy in Kenya

International SOS has warned us of heightened risk of terrorist attacks during Ramadan and the days after. We've been told to stay away from government buildings, embassies and religious institutions.

We are unsure about how or if the fire at the airport will affect our flight plans, but we are all safe here, paying close attention to the news, and staying alert.

Local media coverage of the fire

Drilling Permit Acquired!

Getting a permit to drill our well has certainly been a long and arduous process. Last August, we filed our permit through our original drilling contractor, hoping to have it filed in time for a January implementation trip. Repeated attempts to contact our driller were unsuccessful, and in December we lost all contact with him, forcing us to postpone our trip. After months of searching a reliable drilling contractor, we found Mohamed Ali. Mohamed was recommended to us by Montana State University's EWB chapter; he has drilled eleven successful wells for them and is currently working on a twelfth. He refiled our permit in April, and today, our struggle finally came to an end. We have a drilling permit! We picked up the permit ourselves from the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) office.  Here is a picture of our professional mentor Natalya Shimunova receiving the well permit from NEMA official Stella Kamwasir: 

Afterwards, we returned to the community to meet with Mohamed and discuss borehole locations and construction of a guard house. Mohamed informed us that drilling can start on Friday!

Meeting Everyone

Jambo, Habari ya Asubuhi

Today, at around 9am we were able to meet with Aggrey Ogossi (Kisumu County Representative) who drove us to the Kisumu County office to meet with the Minister of Water, Energy and Natural Resources, Professor Barack Obonyo, and Kisumu County Deputy Governor, Her Excellency Ruth Odinga Busia. We found out that the Minister had spent 13 years studying in the United States before he moved to Kenya to run for office. Both the Minister and the Deputy Governor were very enthusiastic about the project and convinced us that we have their full support.

After this long period of speeches, we were taken to the Ramogi Institute of Advanced Technology; classes were not in session, but we had a short tour of their labs and workshops. Finally, we arrived at the community and we met Kolunje community residents, WatSan officials and other members of the school board outside under a beautiful, shady tree. Most of the meeting was carried out in the communities native language, Luo. Though we didn't understand what they were saying, we laughed and clapped along with the rest of the audience. Our team introduced ourselves and the project. We gave out pamphlets, answered questions and got to know the community members a bit better.

After conclusion of the meeting, we had a taste of African hospitality as we were offered lunch prepared by the community members. It included ugali, sukuma wiki, chicken and some chapati.
 
Here are some pictures from our meetings today.

First Visit to Kolunje

Today, Peter and Grace Oduor, representatives of ECODS, met us at our hotel. After telling him about our plans for this trip and asking him questions regarding the community, we set out for Kolunje. The 30 minute ride led us to the small rural village where we were greeted by Simon Okingo and William Mbeke who were part of the Water and Sanitation Committee (WatSan), the group which will hold responsibility of the project when it is finished. We also met William's uncle, who was a highly respected village elder. They showed us the locations of the the two potential drilling sites, both of which were predicted to yield water. These sites are located on the grounds of the Arch-Bishop Okoth Secondary School. Here, we took measurements to ensure that the drill sites were far enough away from any nearby latrines. We also took a look at the newly built power lines along the road which we will need for the electric pump. We will visit the other school and hospital tomorrow when we are also going to hold a community meeting and a meeting with WatSan.

One of the roads on the way to Kolunje. Not exactly the smoothest ride we've been on.

The humble city of Kisumu!

Peter drove us from Nairobi to Kisumu today! During the nine hour drive, we were able to get a glimpse of the different landscapes in Kenya. There were small towns with huge crowds and many shops and roadside vendors. After we passed through the towns, there were tea, sugarcane, and maize farms that stretched across the landscape for miles. We traversed through rugged mountains (2400 m above sea level) which were blanketed with fog. Unfortunately, this fog covered up the Great Rift, so we'll have to visit it on the way back. We did, however, spot several herds of impalas and zeals of zebras! For food, we stopped at Taidy's, a small but scrumptious restaurant along the highway.

When the journey finally ended, we had driven over 400 km (which included getting lost twice) through bumpy, muddy roads with road diversions, police checkpoints, and potholes, while dodging matatus and bodaboda. As the sun set, we checked into our hotel in Kisumu.

Tomorrow, we will be going into the Kolunje and meeting with Peter Oduor from ECODS. I'm really excited to finally see the village and meet the people with whom we are working!

Since we're having some trouble uploading many pictures straight onto the blog, we'll be using Picasa. Here's the pictures of our trip.

Thanks to all of our Supporters

We would like to take a moment (a post) to thank everyone who has helped get our project to this point:

• Our Grant Donors: Bechtel, Boeing and Lockheed Martin - these three corporations recognized our project as a standout among other project applications, and we appreciate their support and encouragement.
• Brian Reilly and Stacey Reilly: Mr. Reilly is a Rutgers School of Engineering alumnus, and we appreciate the couple’s kind support of our chapter.
• Rutgers School of Engineering: Deans, faculty and staff at Rutgers SOE have all helped us immeasureably along the way in getting to this stage of the project.
• Family and friends of the project: Many have donated to our project over the years. No matter the amount, every donation has helped us get to this point of the project.

And lastly, we’d like to thank all the project members who’ve contributed to the project, but were not able to travel. 

Asante sana (thank you)!

EWB-USA Rutgers Team's First Day in Kenya

We've arrived in Nairobi!

After a very long flight, the team has all arrived safely and we are excited to begin working on the project. Here is a picture of all of us with our driver, Peter Mungai, and his wife Alice at the Kinsfolk Gardens Hotel in Nairobi where we stayed for our first night. 

We are now about to hit the road and head to Kisumu. Here is a link to the Google map location of our final destination - the well site in Kolunje.