I have a lot to write, it's been a very exciting week, but should save this post for info about the project!! This week (and for the rest of the summer) Austin and I have suddenly stumbled upon/worked out a huge list of things to do! We're both really excited about it:
1. Applying for a 25,000 dollar wat/san grant. This will fund water and sanitation projects from rainwater catchment to latrines to WASH education in 4 community centers (the clinic and 3 schools). This is SOOO very exciting- the kind of work I see myself doing for a substantial portion of my life!! So now we're compiling info from every possible source- surveys, clinic history, oral history, etc to try to get some good baseline info to use. We're also looking up cost-effectiveness, availability, sustainability, etc etc of different interventions from education to rainwater catchment to biosand filtration to VIP latrines. We're calling all possible resources/experts to try to plan these projects so that we can apply for funding for them!! I feel SO thankful for the water policy class I took this semester. Never in a million years did I think I would be using Dr. Whittington's infinite knowledge (well not this soon!!!) but it's really been useful!
2. Health clubs at Minyenya and Lwala primary schools. This is a follow up from the training last week since the participants were teachers, parents, and community members from these two schools. We started these this week and it was sooo much fun!
3. Follow up with participants from the last training- this is almost like a health club but with adults! From this group we're hoping to possibly start the soap-making group!! They're also hiring a public health worker from the community (prob someone who has completeled secondary school but needs money to go on to college) who will work alongside Austin and I on all of these things in hopes that this will make our projects more sustainable and ensure that the work is continued after we leave. This person will have a salary of about 50$/month (which is a pretty average salary here) to put towards University AND this will give the person a better chance of recieveing a scholarship from the Lwala Village Development Committee (a group of Lwala-ers who give scholarships for high school, make decisions on behalf of the community for various projects, etc.
4. Baseline surveys and tippy taps at 8 other nearby schools- one of the staff, Susan Ocof, is helping us with this- she's awesome so I'm excited to get to know her better walking around the beautiful western Kenyan landscape (Ive never seen a place SO green!! in search of this info)
5. Mobilizing Kamije and Katianga for the training to take place July 13-16th at these schools/communities.
6. WASH education at the clinic
7. Designing a flier with "quick facts" about WASH such as diff facts about the SODIS method of disinfection, cost of latrines, 6 steps of handwashing, local potable water sources, etc. Interestingly, this will be in English bc apparently more people can read English than Luo.
8. Completed WASH training at Lwala and Minyenya (I learned and Laughed more in these 4 days than i have in a while!!)

More silly stories to come soon!!

ps: most Kenyans pronounce Feces (fisheys) and soap (shoap) Imagine how hilarious this is during a WASH training. haaaaa!!!