UC Davis Blum Center for Developing Economies

Figure 1: Taken on a boat on the River Nile. For the past 5 ½ years I have lived in four countries; Uganda being one of them and Uganda being my favorite. Being back this summer was an enjoyable and nostalgic 8 weeks. In this blog post, I will briefly share some of the experiences(both good and bad, but all memorable) that left me in deep thought during and after my project. The first experience was in the first week, during my school visits and surveys when I noticed that some students were literally sharing and drinking from plates (yes plates) when using the filters because they did not have cups. When I asked the school administration why they did not provide cups for the students some said: “it was not in their budget” (this came from the same head teacher that offered me bottled water when I entered his office!). Others explained that cups were a luxury and if the students were given them, their parents were likely to take them away and keep them in their homes for visitors...

Class: Good morning Teacher Kemi! Kemi: *cringes* Maybe facilitator Kemi? Yes, I think facilitator Kemi has a better ring to it, don’t you? I did not like that they called me teacher Kemi. I wasn’t there to teach. I was there to facilitate. Kemi: “Good morning P4, but please sit down.” I did not like that every time they addressed me they would stand up. Figure 1:A selfie with some of the students during a workshop. Every Tuesday and Thursday morning for six weeks this summer as part of my research project I facilitated workshops at St. Pauls Primary School Nsambya, primary four(grade 3 equivalent) class. The primary four class was made up of 80 students and the workshops focused on safe water practices, and aimed to progressively encourage the students to lead and facilitate their own conversations on water health and sanitation amongst their friends and family in hopes that it would increase their willingness to practice progressive collection methods by involving them i...

Figure 1 & 2:Landmark where the Equator crosses Uganda and me talking to students during a workshop. After months of hard work and preparation, email exchanges and phone calls I was finally in Uganda. My first Monday morning in Kampala(Uganda’s capital) found me waiting and waiting and waiting in the front office of my host organization. Finally, I got to meet my would-be-supervisor, and after a brief introduction, I was told that the organization was no longer in operation and that they would refer me to someone else, who would later refer me to another person who would also refer me to someone else. After what felt like a lifetime of referrals I was then told that I did not have the correct paperwork to conduct my research project and that I would have to wait six months for a permit to be approved. In the words of American boxer Mike Tyson; “everyone has a plan ‘till they get punched in the mouth”. It felt like the world was quickly crashing around me and I started to panic...

Today was packed with stuff to do. To start, we woke up at around 6:15 in the morning in anticipation for our community meeting. After a brief breakfast and such, we set up the room and finished packing our stuff so that the community meeting could be held indoors. It was pretty cold outside, but the inside temperature wasn't much better. At 7:30 when our meeting was going to start, we only had 5 or so people on time; this was a drastic change compared to our first community meeting where we had plenty of people show up on or before our start time of 7:30. We didn't start the meeting until about 9 or so, and launched into our parts. Sophie, Sam, and Stephen talked about the soil and water sampling we had done, as well as household surveys. They described why we were there and also what tests we were doing. Then, Allison talked for Lauren (who was starting to feel really sick and couldn't give a speech) about forming a latrine committee. This was the turning point in our tal...

I started the day with a bit of breakfast and some household surveys with Allison, Sophie, and Ana. The first interview we had lasted about 40 minutes, and concerned a community member, his father, and his mother. He explained that although he already had a latrine, it was very uncomfortable, and he didn't like when his dad went to the bathroom because his dad was sick often. It was an interesting circumstance that could be perceived as cruel, but the fact of the matter was that these people had absolutely nothing, and had to negotiate for what little they did have. Ana had a really good way of talking with the community members, as she was very charismatic and had a way to make them laugh. Afterwards, we moved on to a house that we had not previously surveyed or taken a point of, which was interesting considering that we thought we had marked everything. The resident had a nice latrine, but it was unfinished, and although he was in Parque-Colani (the place that we had agreed to do...

Today was packed with a lot of driving. Sam and I woke up and scrambled to get dressed. Fortunately for us, Ana, our NGO, had not arrived yet; however, it wasn't long before she did. The person at the front desk of our hostel had taken our passports as a deposit for our Wi-Fi password and key, which felt sketchy, but we got them returned all safe and sound. Ana, to my surprise, was a young engineer probably in her late 20's or early 30's. She was from Spain and spoke fluent Spanish and English. She detailed our plan for the day and was thorough with some paperwork we had to sign. She had a good energy about her. After packing the truck, our driver Jose drove us to Achacachi, which was our first stop on the way to Sorata. Before our drive, I noticed older women wearing the iconic hats that were present in Bolivian photos. They were very traditional, but I was surprised at the frequency of how many women wore them. Men wore a kind of fedora which was also interesting, and I g...

My first 9 hours in Peru I spent in an airport waiting for my flight from Lima, the capital, to Cajamarca, another major city in Peru. I am part of the group Engineers Without Borders and this year our project was to go build a reservoir in La Huaylla, a community in Peru. Now, 9 hours would be no big deal if we all just slept before our next flight which was at 5 in the morning. By all, I mean Hannah, Evan, Josh, Semaj and Olyvia- the first half of the team. We all met in Lima to head to La Huaylla together and rather than getting even an ounce of sleep we spent all night talking about things I couldn’t remember if my life depended on it.  We board our plane hours later, a little exhilarated, excited and yes of course, exhausted. When we land we are greeted very cheerfully by Jorge, the HAUSS president (the HAUSS is the waterboard committee in La Huaylla) and two Peace Corps volunteers, Andrew and Joe. They haggle with 3 taxis and finally agree on 8 soles each to take us...

Meet Luis, he was the most shy and one of the smallest of all the school kids but he was my favorite! Like many of the other kids he loved to run around and play soccer with us in the school yard. After a long game all of the kids would go up to the sinks to get a drink of water and cool down. Watching the school kids drink straight from the tap made me realize even more how important it was for them to have clean drinking water flowing through the pipes because “agua es vida”. Water is life. The colorful mural in the school yard painted by our team last summer stands as reminder of how import access to potable water is.

Four weeks in a rural community was tough. We showered with ice cold water, hiked 30 minutes to get to our construction site each day and another 30 minutes to get to town for dinner. Despite the many ways in which living in a small rural community was not as comfortable as I am used to at home, I had the time of my life! We built great friendships with our Peace Corps Volunteers, community members and many of the children. I could not be more grateful for the UC Davis Blum Center and Engineers Without Borders for allowing me the opportunity to work abroad and further develop my engineering skills.

On our last day in the community of La Huaylla, everyone came out for the inaugural celebration of the reservoir. In the back of the picture you can see the brick stoves and large pots the women of the community set up. They spent all morning cooking up a delicious meal for hundreds of people (meal featured in my lap). There was music, dancing, ice cream and even a toast made out to our team for all of our efforts in helping improve their water supply. Even the school kids made it out to celebrate during their lunch hour. It was a beautiful sunny day in La Huaylla and a day that will always have a warm place in my heart.

I was a co-lead for the project in La Huaylla, Peru. When I was in the community, my counterpart, Evan Barnell, and I shared responsibilities. He was more technical than I am so he was normally at the construction site and I was either assisting him or leading the team in another part of the project. When Evan did not go to the construction site, I was the construction manager in his place. As a women construction manager, I was not something the contractors and laborers were used to.  EWB members posing after unloading construction materials.  In La Huaylla, women almost never work on constructions sites. Last year, when EWB constructed something in the community for the first time, the contractors and laborers got used to seeing women and men on the construction site. Both last year and this year our teams were half male and half female. Last year we only had one contactor and this year we had two contractors because the scale of the project was much larger. The contract...

Our team was in La Huaylla, Peru for a total of 10 weeks. Each student stayed for 3 - 7 weeks, so we had a total of 4 - 7 students in the community at one time. Once construction of the 80 cubic meter reservoir started, we were on the construction site most days. Usually, half the team would go to the construction site and work on construction management while the other half of the team worked on other parts of the project, such as making lesson plans and filling out paperwork. Before we started construction, the community changed the location of where the reservoir was going to be built. During our trip the year before, we had surveyed the land where we thought the reservoir would be built, however, we did not survey the land that the reservoir was actually going to be built on. We had to measure the soil properties and composition to make sure it could withstand the weight of the reservoir. With the change of location, we did not know we were going to have to measure the soil quality...

This was the second time I’ve visited La Huaylla, Peru and the third time EWB-UC Davis has visited. I was very excited to go back and see all the familiar faces I had not seen since one year before. When we arrived in La Huaylla, we were dragging our suitcases up the dirt path to where we were going to be housed when I heard a scream. Flor, one of the elementary school students we had taught the year before, saw me and ran into my arms for the biggest, longest hug. I had missed her so much and it was very sweet to realize that she had missed us as well. During the first week in La Huaylla, I noticed that the community was treating us with more kindness and familiarity than the years before. When we visited the community last year, we renovated their spring catchment chambers and made a tangible difference in their water supply. By coming back to the community year after year and making a difference, we earned our trust from the community. Semaj playing with the students during the les...

Today was the day that we poured the concrete walls of the reservoir. We were not expecting such a high turnout of volunteers! Members of every household showed up to lend a hand. Todays task required people to gather aggregate and cement and place them inside the concrete mixer. After the everything was mixed, people would carry buckets full of concrete to the top of the reservoir scaffolding and then pour them inside the forms. Contractors with a gas operated vibrator would vibrate the concrete to make sure that there would be no air gaps in the wall as the concrete dried. After we finished pouring all the concrete, we had a big community feast where we ate cuy (guinea pig) with wheat rice and potatoes. A one of the community members brought a speaker so we took turns playing famous American and Peruvian songs. This day was a big milestone in the construction process and we were able to bond with the volunteers and contractors. Concrete being mixed  Pouring concrete into f...

Figure 2: Josh, Olivia, Semaj, and Hannah with local students before parade After meeting with the leaders of the local elementary school, our team was invited to participate in a school parade. In this parade, each grade had a specific theme. We were requested to join the 6th graders who had a “tourist” theme. We were the mascots! We walked around the city following behind a pickup truck that acted as the float for the parade. This was a fun way to bond with the community. After the parade we had the opportunity to tour the school and interact with the students.

Figure 1 : Evan stands on weights to test soil integrity The first week that we have been in Peru has been rather eventful. The build site was changed by the community last minute because the owner of the original land decided he did not want to go through with the deal. This created a challenge because we were not yet able to make any soil tests on the new location to verify if it was sound enough to support the structure. We did not have a penetrometer to test the soil, so after consultation with our mentors back at home, we decided to use a makeshift penetrometer to test the soil using free weights from the gym where we stayed at. We were able to verify the integrity of the soil this way. This is an example of why it is important to be able to think on your feet while implementing these projects because whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.

I don’t think I will ever get used to how friendly and open everyone is with their homes and overall hospitality. Completely unlike what I’ve experienced in the states. It's a truly refreshing experience even if we can’t always communicate effectively. I love that they are so fascinated by my skin color and hair, it initially caused discomfort but it makes me really happy and provides very unique interactions. I love Peru and will have to come back to visit some of the friends I have made. I feel like La Huallya is a home away from home.   Some middle school girls who wanted to take pictures with me.

Man can these volunteers work, and in sandals nonetheless. Today is pour day and we were initially worried that there wouldn’t be enough people and it would take all day to pour concrete in our 6 meter tall tall reservoir walls. But boy was I surprised that they exceeded expectations and brought 30 guys and had a conveyor line of guys mixing concrete and lifting concrete in 40L to the walls. A task that was estimated to take an upwards of 8 hours only took a mere 3 hours. They work hard and fast, and it's a pleasure to be a part of this community supported project. Yanques or Sandals. (above).  The forms were being built in preparation for the concrete pour(below)

Just made it to Peru and these past few days have been a rush of hiking up to our construction site and seeing how the current water distribution system works. Very beautiful views and and complete overhaul of what I knew to be basic living needs. They have so little in comparison to what I may experience on a day to day basis back home but at the same time, I feel like they have so much more. Actual community socialization and bonding, and they love to feed us. A Lot of our socializing with La Huallya involves some sort of food, which is very delicious. The food mostly consist of meat and potatoes but it's served quite spectacularly. Fried guinea pig (cuoy) with potatoes and rice Eating at a local restaurant for breakfast Arroz con Cubanos (rice with fried plantains and fried egg)