Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Day 251: Community Engagement Is The Name Of The Game

Our current biosand filter beneficiary community, Jean Jean, is the furthest one we've yet worked in, and comes with a few logistical challenges. Besides the distance, Jean Jean is at the end of a long, narrow dirt road, which dead ends into the "center" of the community, if it can be called that. Most of the people who live there, however, live away from the road, either up the side of the mountain, or across the river in a subsection of Jean Jean known as Jean Jean Two (keep it simple stupid!). Normally, our installation teams can get close enough to the homes we'll be installing the filters into that getting the filters from our truck to the homes isn't a problem but that isn't the case in here. Problem. 

Solution? Community engagement! We've asked all families that want to get a filter to help us in moving them from our truck to their homes, and it's worked great. Now, when our installation team arrives with the filters, we have the beneficiaries at the drop spot, ready with donkeys and motos to take their filters to their homes. In exchange, we lower the contribution amount we ask for their filter, so it's a win-win for everyone. Sure, it's minor in the grand scheme of things, but small victories should be celebrated. So, on that note, a few photos from the field...

Filters are unloaded from Kepler's tap-tap and loaded onto local motos.
This lady handles her filter like a pro.
Another delivery set for take-off.
Making it look easy.
Google Maps view of Jean Jean.
Some of the kids decided to hang out during an install.

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