things are picking up

i just have a few minutes to try to update and this keyboard has alot of sand dust stuck in it so it is difficult to type.

things got off to a slow start - i got out to the village of adoka on wednesday, and spent thursday - saturday looking for the right supplies. unfortunately there is no home depot here, therefore the efficiency of locating materials is a bit slow. but we did manage to find everything. finding the right sand for the filter has been tricky - at the moment we are not using the optimal sand but it will do the job.

we took the first filter to the catholic women's group yesterday - first swayed the 'reverend father' first. i gave a little introduction about the filter to about 100 women, then demonstrated by pouring dirty water in and clean water coming out. i felt like i was doing a magic show as i was standing in the back of a pickup truck and the looks on some of the older women's faces was priceless. their jaws dropped - weren't quite sure what was going on inside of the big cement box...
they were very interested and asked when they could get one and how much they would cost. so we have several potential orders already!
networking with people in the community is just as important as making the filter, so we have been meeting with alot of people. i met the chief of adoka the other night - that was a classic story all in itself. no time to post it now. i'll just say i sat on red velour couches in a room lit by a single red lightbulb and was served 'bubbling wine' with a taste reminiscent to laundry detergent...
it is going well though and people are very excited about clean water. i have seen what they drink out of the stream and it is not pretty...
i don't know when i can post again - we are in a different city right now..
we plan to start pouring the filters today - sift more rock and sand -
have a great day!
alida

17 minutes

do you ever get impatient with the slowness of your computer?
let me give you some perspective.... it just took me 17 minutes to get into my blogger account and now i have 12 minutes to try to type up a message and actually get it posted. wish me luck..

i arrived safely with the team, we again had no problem in customs which is always miraculous. i was supposed to go to adoka yesterday but due to mechanical problems with the pickup truck i am going tomorrow morning. it actually worked out very well because i was able to see several friends this morning and distribute some asked for items (LED flashlights are popular).

This morning i saw the lady with the huge goiter lined up for surgery. so gilbert, wendy and family, she will likely have it tomorrow and i will make sure the other team members take photos. when she saw me she screamed with delight and gave me a huge hug! it was a joy to see her, she has an amazing joyful spirit that exudes out of her pores!
i went on rounds this morning - already have seen some interesting things - another child with burkitts lymphoma - a pediatric, african cancer. so i may use some sponsor money to help with chemotherapy. it is easily curable if treated early.

i am heading to adoka tomorrow to start on the water filters. the doctor, dr. aba, is so excited! he wants to drag a 300 pound filter around to communities to demonstrate it - i think we may have to bring the people to a filter rather than haul it around. but it is going to be interesting. he has a young woman who is a mechanical engineer lined up to learn about it, and as water is a "womans's job" here is is really aiming to get all the women on board (first convince the men it is a good thing, then implement with the women..
i gotta go, my time is almost up!!

i'm off to clean some water

i am off again to nigeria from january 10-feb 3 on a different mission of sorts. i am going to a village called adoka to "teach the teachers" about a biosand water filtration program. we already have the steel mold built and test poured a filter - so that is ready to be up and running.

i will be teaching through the manual i used in the course i took - splitting time between theory and talking to building and testing water filters. i really just want the potential program managers to have a very good hold on the filter, understanding how it works, trouble shooting, setting it up etc. It will be up to them then, to implement the program in the surrounding communities. I will be working with people from a local nigerian organization called peace house - they have already acheived incredible things in other ventures. i am quite confident that this program will be carried out effectively. Dr. Aba, who runs a small mission hospital, is so excited i am sure he will be the motivating factor in getting the program off the ground.

i am a little nervous as i have never done this before and don't have "concrete" (sorry for the pun) plans in place. but i see this as a total "God thing" as my visa was renewed in a miraculous way, funding has come in without me really asking for it, it is now getting really cold the day i leave (so that i can roast in 40 degree celcius) :-) But i know God will work through me - it is not of my own doing!

I don't know how often i will be able to access the internet there as i will be in a smaller village... but i will try to keep you updated as often as possible..

Have a wonderful month - see you in february!

for more information about the water filter go to www.cawst.org
it was even featured in the calgary herald last week!