The blog entry below is part of a series written by current Clinton School students working abroad on their International Public Service Projects. This blog was written by current Clinton School student Bolton Kirchner. The original blog entry can be read here.
By Bolton Kirchner
So after a week of orientation and acclimation, and spending last week at a water management conference, I am finally beginning the actual work this week. I still plan on having a separate blog post to explain my project plan, but I want to share some our exciting, although minor accomplishments from the past two days. I plan to write more about my stellar project collaborators, but we’ll jump in for now.
Because we’re still making some decisions about how to move forward with each of our respective, but interconnected projects, we started small this week. We’re still pretty proud of our accomplishments.
Monday morning we all bounded out of the hut ready to take on the day. Our objective was to set up temporary hand washing stations while we develop a long-term solution. Forrest Whitaker, the actor of “The Butler” and “The Last King of Scotland,” has developed a relationship with Hope North. He visits to conduct peace-building workshops with the students, and he will be here this Friday (6.20) and Saturday (6.21). We wanted these set-up for his visit.
We selected two spots, near the kitchen and near the dorms, for our stations. We wanted small drainage areas underneath the faucets to absorb the water. I began digging small pits, and Monday Collins, the art teacher, helped us with a better idea. The hand washing station by the kitchen sits on an old and unused well. Monday broke through the well casing so that the water would drain into the well. Once this was complete, we made about 12 trips to each of the hand washing stations with 5 liter buckets to completely fill each station. I definitely learned how much hard work goes into so many small tasks here – it took us about an hour to fill up each station.
The old well-provided inspiration to develop a more permanent hand washing station. We are hoping to develop an idea that uses the structure of the old well, and can drain into the well to prevent erosion. I’ll keep you updated with our plans. We’re very excited about our possible model.
And today, Tuesday (6.17), Dani thought it would be helpful if we replanted one of Hope North’s many aloe plants for a test. One of Mary Nell’s projects is to beautify the front gate at Hope North, and Dani is developing ways to derive revenue from the many aloe plants. A Dutch NGO donated the plants, and had many ideas about how the plants could be used, the plants have barely been used although.
Dani’s idea was to dig up four plants, immediately replant two, replant the third after 4 hours, and replant the fourth after a day. She is testing to see if the plants could be sold and then survive traveling for many days. I found the project to be very hands on and enjoyable. For different reasons, we have been removed from physical work in some ways, although it’s very prevalent here. We decided all the plants could spruce up the front gate and we replanted there. Many of the photos above are from this work.
While it’s difficult to tell the change, for us it’s a huge impact. Unfortunately, the sign is not all that welcoming and we hope this change welcomes our guests arriving this week.
PS: Two giant moths, the size of small bats, just flew into our hut. Scared us pretty badly. Chivalrously, I killed one with my Chaco while Jackie and Mary screamed. Unfortunately, I think they were harmless – just startling.
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