(Kevin) Maderitso comes home!

I have been at my new home for 5 days now, and I guess that I’m starting to fall into a routine. I wake up at 5:30am, sweep the house, boil water for tea, bathe, and of course – greet all of my neighbors in the morning (“Mwadzuka bwanji?” = How did you wake?). At night, I stop by the market to buy goods at the market (eggs, bread, cabbage, avocado, etc.), cook with my friend, chat and sit with the neighbors, and then go to bed at 7:30pm.

As for photos, they’re coming – I promise. I’m still a bit awkward when it comes to pulling out the camera, but I’m getting better. As I’m sure you can agree, it’s a real drag to ruin a perfect moment of learning by taking out your camera for a snap-shot. However, photos are great for accenting my stories, and I shall deliver!

 The person who owns the house I’m staying in – Maderitso – has come home after spending a while in the hospital for an injured foot. I guess this means that Blessings and I can take a break from speaking broken English and Chichewa, and it’s probably good timing. I don’t think either of us could be more lost with our understanding of the situation.

Maderitso is an amazing dude. He is one of the drivers for the ADB project crew, and he has a lot of energy. And get this – he’s 22! Same as me. I know that we’re going to get along well, I can feel it. Another cool thing is that in the past week, I’ve had three Canadian moments:

1)    I met Nancy, who is from Winnipeg, Manitoba and works with the ADB.
2)    I was visiting the hospital with a few of my co-workers, and someone had a Celien Dion ringtone on their phone.
3)    One of Maderitso’s friends had an Algonquin Park sweatshirt with a moose, and canoe, and a maple leaf. Oh Canada!

One the things that I found most interesting about the proposal for this project is the assumption that there will be a 75% success rate when it comes to drilling boreholes. This project is responsible for implementing 193 borehole (yes – 193.. I’m not sure why such a peculiar number) by the end of two years. To account for the success rate, they will drill at between 250-260 locations, anticipating that only 193 locations will be successful. This means that proper geological analysis is needed before to ensure that a success rate of 75% or better is achieved.

As Chris tells me, boreholes are often drilled dry when their location is swayed by community and governmental politics, as opposed to proper geological evidence. The location of the borehole won’t always be ideal for a community, but in my opinion it is worth it if it increases the likelihood of getting a functional borehole.

At this point, after collaboration between IGIP and the district government, the locations for the new boreholes have been decided. It is very unlikely that these locations will change, which is okay from my end, because what I am trying to find out is what factors came into play when these decisions were made.
What I’m trying to say is that my placement is not trying to influence the locations of the new boreholes, but is trying to learn from the decision making process that lead up to this point. During my time here, I won’t be participating in any borehole drilling.

I like to think about myself as a detective: mapping out the chain of events, interviewing folks, and scoping out biases. Neat-o..

I’m planning to visit the communities who are receiving the water points with the government extension workers. These extension workers will be conducting water point committee (WPC) training. A WPC is a group of individuals (a mix of community members and government officials) who are responsible for the maintenance and well-being of their new borehole. Considering that the training will be in Chichewa, I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to get out of it, but I’m excited to observe anyways. I’ll also be using these visits to find out more about why these communities were chosen for a new borehole. What factors come into play? However, none of this can happen until the ADB funding comes in for extension workers’ allowances, so until then I’ll get caught up to speed with literature, and chat with my co-workers.

Aside from work, life is good. My biggest challenges so far have been a few bugs (as in insects, not sickness), not enough daylight with too much to do, and biting my tongue in tough conversations. I’ve also had my first night of home sickness, but it passed when I reminded myself to stay in the moment. Home is good, but challenge is good too. For now, I’ll keep rolling on.

One more thing – at the bottom of this message is the organizational structure of the project I’m working on. The people I am working with most are the IGIP Team Leader (Chris), the District Water Officer (Steve), and the extension agents (CDAs, HSAs, and WMAs).


Be well, and much love from Machinga
Kevin