Jambo Kenya

 A view of the great rift valley on our initial drive to Kisii from Nairobi

 Research on greenhouse construction. This one is about twice the size of the ones we will be building at our schools.

 The office at Rigoma

 This is the storage building that I helped to build. The three tanks out front are rainwater storage. They are nested for over flow. We are demonstrating how people can increase their storage abilities over time, not having to buy a very large tank but a few small ones.

 The site where my greenhouse will be going, We are starting construction on monday, More photos of the project to follow as we move along.

This is an example of one of our water filters. They can filter up to 40 liters of water a day, in most cases that is more than enough of a family of 6 to drink in one day. We also sell the clear plastic containers. They are called safe water storage containers. They have a tap on the bottom as well as a lid to prevent recontamination of the water.

Long days are the way of life here. Early in the morning well into the evening for a volunteer at an NGO. The work is hard but gratifying, the end result looks like it will be pretty great as well. After a night in Nairobi Scott, Claire and I. Scott and Claire are the husband and wife team who manage Aqua Clara’s programs here in East Africa. We traveled due west of the big city to the town of Kisii where I will be working for the next year. The offices are in a rural village about thirty minutes outside of town. We have three rooms in the same building as the DO or District Officer. He is the government representative for the village of Rigoma, where our offices are located. We also have a plot of land about 50 yards from the office where our demonstration area is being set up. The set up and construction of the required buildings are my first responsibility at Aqua Clara. Demonstration gardens have already been planted and are producing lots of vegetables for us office workers to enjoy they also serve as a form of payment to some of the local people that help us out.  My current construction project is a storage building for our filter supplies and general things that do not have a place in the office. The building is almost complete the installation of glass and the rainwater collection system remain. Next will be a green house for growing tomatoes. I am traveling to a site where one is being built this week so I can get a feel for the project and to see exactly how much help we will need. 

The rains have started in the past couple of weeks so it is very hot during the day upwards of 90 then an afternoon storm will roll in around 5 or 6 and cool the whole place down to a balmy 75. One thing that has amazed me is the amount of mud that builds up after so much rain. Pants are usually quite filthy from the knee down after even the shortest of walks. Motorcycles are my main mode of transportation around town. They are pretty cheap and convenient but very dangerous. I have been involved in a couple minor bumps already so if I have the opportunity to walk, I take it. 

Aqua Clara had a week long training last week. We are starting five more schools in my area and our program is expanding to a town called Eldoret, about three hours north of Kisii. There we are starting a bunch more schools. The training session was great I learned so much more about the program and the roles of each of the individuals who works for us.

I am taking a trip to Kakamenga rainforest this week, I felt I deserve a long weekend so thats exactly what I am going to have. I will also get to see Lake Victoria which I am looking forward to. More photos and regular updates to follow my apologies for the time it took for this one but I am really busy. I hope you all are doing great and I miss seeing your smiling faces. Lots of Love

Sam