Is she ultraviolet?

Things have come full circle, it was 10 years ago when I was in Haiti working on UV water disinfection. And now in Nairobi we finally got a water purifier (filtration + UV disinfection). It only took 10 months for two water engineers to sort this out. Here is our fancy new purifier:

Paul cannot wait to get some of the great water! 

     


And, it has a music button and plays 'it's a small world.' Such a happy water filter.

(Also, not sure if anyone got this, but 'is she ultraviolet' is from a green day song .... which I admit I only know because of chemistry class reference.) 

It is beginning to get dark and big spots of rain are beginning to fall. I am trudging barefoot through  ankle deep sticky clay mud, following the feint outline of my colleague Fidel ahead. For a brief moment the sky is illuminated by a bolt of lightning and I can't help by smile.

We should have been back at base by now but the route was worse than expected and after 20 mins of skidding though the countryside in our 4x4 we finally had to leave it and go the last km on foot. I went gingerly at first trying to keep my feet and my shoes dry before building up and inch of clay on my shoes and deciding to join my colleagues and discarding footwear entirely, plunging my feet into the cool mud and enjoying the cool thick clay satisfyingly squelching beneath my feet and between my toes.

A quick visit to the clinic we thought, assess their water and sanitation needs, turn around and come back. Someone forgot to tell the local chief though. Many handshakes, lots of introductions in arabic, a lot of requests and a lot of other arabic conversation I could not even remotely follow. I won't say it was a waste of time, since we can only work there with his permission, but let's just say it would not be dark now and it would not be raining if we had not been delayed by 45 mins. I will also confess that in the back of my mind I know this is the only pair of trousers and the only shirt I have with me since most of my luggage did not fit in the plane.

So... I'm not entirely happy about the situation. But I can't help but smile! Isn't this part of the reason I decided to give up my desk job in London, isn't this the kind of adventure I wanted?

Welcome to Tchad

On Wednesday I considered writing my first Chad blog but other than arriving in Chad, going to the office and spending a night in a hotel there was not much to report.

Thursday, however, was a different matter. My day started with a flight to Mongo. At the airport I was surprised by a strictly enforced 8kg limit (Including hand luggage) and had to leave most of my things behind. It all became clear why though when I saw the plane. A 6 seater plane that was exactly that, A plane with just 6 very small seats, no room for luggage and barely any room for our legs.

Photo to follow

The plane ride was fantastic! A flight over beautiful green plains dotted with tree, sparsely populated with very few signs of life from the air. On nearing Mongo the flat landscape suddenly isolated rocky hills began poking out of the plains. As they began to get more frequent we buzzed low over the airstrip to see our car on the ground to clearing it of cows and  before safely landing on the dirt airstrip of Mongo.

Video to follow?

From the airstip we headed straight to the local hospital where my organization is working to provide care to malnourished children. The centre hospital acts as a reference centre from the surrounding area for severely malnourished children also suffering from another disease, malaria, diarrhea of respiratory infections mainly. It’s rare for me but I was shocked! I was not just shocked by some of the severely malnourished children I saw but by the numbers. The centre receives 400-600 cases a month and there were around 100 in the centre as we visited. A recent study of the area had just shown that diarrhea (and therefore water, sanitation and hygiene) was a major underlying cause of malnutrition here and so it was a stark reminder of why the work my organization does is so important for so many people. With tears in my eyes I wondered if our planned program to make water and sanitation improvements really would help reduce these numbers. 

A guide to cycling in nairobi

1. Get a helmet
You'll understand when you read further on

2. Get a smog mask
Sure it make it harder to breath which is already hard given we are at 1800m (just under 6000ft) but Nairobi clearly has no emission laws! I do not want to think what the thick black smoke pouring out the back of many cars, Matatu's, trucks and busses would do to my lungs without one. And of course since many vehicles are imported and other have had some interesting modifications many of the exhaust pipes pump right at you rather than the centre of the road.

3. Get some glasses
Because it's so sunny I hear you say? No, because no-one has cleaned the roads in nairobi since...since...well probably never. As such there is more dust and dirt than you can imagine for vehicles to kick up into your eyes.

4. Get some puncture proof tyres (or tires). 
As I mentioned the roads are a mess covered in dirt and stone. Also given the high accident rate and inability of driver to secure their loads it is also littered with glass, metal and other sharp objects. Without them I was averaging a puncture every week at least!

5. Expect the unexpected
As a friend of our once said, "Kenyan's use their indicators to try and fool you!". They're not wrong.  Cars indicating left are as likely to take a right turn or go straight on as they are to go left. Driving on the pavement (sidewalk), no problem for Matatu's (informal minivan busses). Overtake you and then turn right in front of you so you have to stop, completely the norm. Pull out in front of you when you're just a a few metres away, the norm. I can guarantee at least 5 times during my ride to work I think of the worst thing the driver in front or beside me can so and they do it! if you don't expect it, you're probably going to be in trouble.

6. Watch out for pedestrians
It's not just cars you have to watch out for, the dozens of pedestrians streaming to and from work are also a major hazard, as are traders selling products to drivers stuck in jams. Expect then to step into the road without looking for a bike, expect them to appear from in front or behind a parked car. Perhaps I need to get a big bike horn.

7. Know your route
You may be used to clear road markings, lane markers, give way signs, traffic lights. Even in the few places where they exist in Nairobi they are ignored. The only way to know if you have right of way, how many lanes there are and where you should be is to watch and learn. Oh and be careful as it will change depending on the time and how many vehicles there are.

7. Have an escape route
Since the unexpected is going to happen and it's going to happen quick you need escape route, since the driver causing the problem isn't going to change what he is doing. The mud track at the side of the road works well so pick a route where there is one, a ditch as an escape routs is just not going to work.

8. Learn some local signals!!
You're riding down the street when you come face to face with a car on the wrong side of the road leaving you no space, what do you do? Raise your arm in a twisting, questioning motion. The equivalent to shouting "What are you doing you crazy idiot!"