January 2023 System Repairs and Upgrades!
The entire week, from the moment we exited baggage claim, was a grand reunion full of hugs, introductions, and shared memories of past trips. After a long 3 years of travel restrictions due to COVID-19, we finally had the chance to travel back to Kenya. On our previous implementation trip in 2020, the rainwater harvesting system at Imurtot Primary School was completed. Our goal this trip was to return to Imurtot to inspect the system and make any necessary repairs and upgrades.
We spent the first day inspecting the rainwater systems to understand what needed to be done. Members of Water is Life Kenya (WILK) and the Imurtot board joined us after introductions to get to know one another. We walked around as a group discussing the system including the usage and any challenges the school faced. For example, it was brought to our attention that termites are a major problem at the school and the reason many of our tap and manifold enclosures were damaged or missing. Facts like this got our team thinking about this trip not only as a repair trip, but a system improvement trip.
One of my favorite parts of the first day was when we would see evidence of what Larasha part of the Kenya WILK team, called “local engineering”. Examples we saw included plugging leaks or holes pieces of wood to save water, rocks supporting delicate portions of the system where wood supports were damaged, barbed wired used to support a pipe where a metal strap broke, tape around broken pipes to seal leaks, and much more. It was inspiring to see the care put into the system to save valuable water resources, even when the necessary tools or materials for a fix weren’t readily available.
Our morning safety meetings and tea breaks served not only as a chance to review the plan for the day, but also introductions. Each day seemed to bring new friends. There was no shortage of people looking to help with the project and say hi to Kim and travelers from past trips. Without much construction experience, I loved having the opportunity to learn how to use different tools and methods to repair and upgrade the system.
One of my favorite tasks was when we needed to empty a tank in order to complete a repair. Everyone came together to troubleshoot the best way to siphon the water to an unused tank to be distributed. Since this was an unexpected task, we had to brainstorm creative ways to do this with the limited materials we had. After that all it took was one person to tell a neighbor about the availability of water and from there groups of women and children arrived with buckets. I loved having the opportunity to help fill buckets and say hello to other members of the surrounding community.
At the end of the week, we had the chance to drive around Amboseli National Park. We saw all sorts of animals and even had lions and elephants less than 20 feet from our vehicle. On the last day we visited the WILK bead workshop to see how they transform paper into beautiful beaded jewelry.
Photo by Kim Teoli
While volunteering with our chapter over the years I’ve have been listening to the stories of travel teams and hearing the names of all our partners in Kenya who help support our project. What I didn’t understand until experiencing it myself was the incredible connection we have with our Kenyan Water is Life Kenya (WILK) friends. We were able to come together as a team and work seemlessly to accomplish more than we initially anticipated expected thanks to the friendships created through years of working together and many, many, group tea breaks , of course.
One of the hardest parts saying goodbye to all of our WILK friends in Kenya who spent the week helping us, but happy to look back on all we accomplished and know we will be back again soon to take on our next project!
-Megan
