Project Summary, April 2010

By popular demand, here is a full summary of our current Phase I project status. Even the project teams are amazed at what we accomplished in such a short time!

Project Summary:
Phase I: Water, Solar, & Sanitation for 6 schools, which includes:

1. Pipeline to bring closest clean water source to a new tap stand positioned next to the school, which enables hand washing and sanitation programs for students.
2. Solar lights in every classroom, which enables after school studies and reading, higher test scores, and adult learning classes; as well as improved safety and security. We also learned how helpful the lights have been during the days, particularly sand storm afternoons (see photo below), now the teachers can close the heavy wind shutters to keep out the sand and heat and still have light to continue classes.
3. Latrine repairs, maintenance program, and proper use training.
4. School yard enclosure, which keeps out the encroaching sand dunes, animals and their dung!
5. Financial sustainability programs: a copy center and a millet grinding center, which enable each school to generate income for maintenance costs for all of the above.

Funding Status:
RI Matching Grant for $59,000 and NomadHope private donations of $5,000
 >>> Results: Two Schools finishing up this summer

RI Grant for $27,000 and NomadHope private donations of $5,000
>>>  Results: Third school starting this summer

$5000 private donation + $5000 Rotary Club match = $10,000
>>> Plan pending for additional millet grinding centers, one at each of 5 more schools

Accomplishments Summary

 Student Sanitation & Hygiene programs in place:

• Installed 2 Water Pipelines (170 & 270 meters)
• Installed 2 Tap Stands (6 taps & a soak pit ea.)
• Repaired 2 Pit Latrines (6 Stalls, doors, & roofs)
• “Laver Les Mains” (Wash the Hands) program
• Clean hands for daily school meals
• Started Cleaning & Appropriate Use program
• Increased attendance and student illness reduction
• Access to clean & safe pit latrine

2 Schools, all classrooms have lights, inside and out!

• Installed Solar Lights (6 classrooms & 2 office buildings)
• Trained 6 Men for Solar maintenance & repairs
• Evening Classroom programs in place:
• More study & reading hours each day
• More frequent changes of blackboard curriculum
• Less use of kerosene, lower respiratory risks
• Community evening meeting facilities
• Women’s evening education classes
• Safety for overnight students

Financial Sustainability programs operational:

• 
  
  Installed 1 Millet Grinding Ctr. (room, floor, tools)
• Trained 1 Machine Operator (10 days)
• Facilitated Price Setting & Quality Tests
• Trained 3 School Cooks on Solar Oven Use
• Facilitated 3 Solar Oven Meal Tests

• Installed 1 Copy, Print, & Photo Center
• Trained 1 Operator
• Researched & Established pricing
• Marketed to other communities (resident photo ID cards, academic reports, tourist services
• School guardians maintaining solar and tap stands
• School cooks maintaining latrines
• Millet & Copy Centers generating school income for maintenance & repair costs
• Memo of Understanding signed, ownership transfer
• Other Benefits:
• School Director out of pocket costs reduced
• New skills & employment opportunities
• Reduced time, effort, & injuries to prepare meals

2009 Implementation Teams

Photo: See Farach school out in the distance.

NomadHope:
- Keely McGeehan, Lead Project Mgr., 2009 Travel team
- Fatimata Abdoulaye, Cultural Liaison

Engineers Without Borders (EWB) - LA Professional Chapter:
- Tony Haske – Solar Expert / Lead, 2009 Travel team
- Steve Factor - Solar Expert
- Ed Andrews - Water Expert / Lead
- Alan Kwan – Water Team, 2009 Travel team
- Michelle Tuchscher - Project Manager
- Michael Hamilton - EWB Mentor

Adjmor - Hamadi Abba, Mali Project Mgr., 2009 Travel team

Photo: Keely getting Mayor's approval to work in region.

Rotary Club Members:
- Gordon Roedding, Bamako - host and advisor
- Malick Niang, Bamako - travel assistance
- Donn Ennis, Manhattan Bch – grant administration
- Aliyah Levin, Manhattan Bch - grant administration

School PTA (‘CGS’) & Community Members:
- M. Mohamed Ahmed Ag Mohamed Aly - Farach School Director
- M. Mohamed Assaleh Ag Moctar - Farach President Comité de gestion scolaire
- M. Alassane Ag Rhaly - Zouera School Director
- M. Mohamed Ag Insoudiaye - Zouera President Comité de gestion scolaire

Local Product & Services Partners:
- Local masons (water)
- AfriquePower (solar)
- GeekCorps Mali (copy centers)
- M. Tijani (millet centers)

WOW, right?

Water flowing in Zouera!

Just got word that the water is now flowing in Zouera, to the school hand washing tap stand! and latrine repairs are done.  Hamadi's camera was attacked by a sand storm, so he sent photos from his cell phone instead.

He said it was a difficult trip, but they got the job done, I can imagine what that means, really! The only time I lost my cool was in Zouera one late night on a sand dune, right after Hamadi threatened to rip out the tap stand and move it to Tissikoreye, and I fantasized about taking the 4x4 and running away, LOL... long story. (I still haven't posted the 'funny' stories of our trip in December. promise to do that, with photos, soon)

Anyway, we are close to finishing the loose ends for Phase I in Farach and Zouera. Lights are on, and kids can wash thier hands and use the latrines, millet machine a big hit, and cyber cafe up and running, yippee! Just need to get the school campus wall / enclosure up now to keep the animals out.

Latrines here now have doors back on and roof repaired. The high winds and lack of use had the school latrines in disrepair. The students were afraid to use them without the roof and the girls wouldn't go in without a door. All in workign order now. Director promised to put a large can for water and tea pots for washing in each stall, will have to call and remind him now  :-)

The mason had to remove the existing pipe into the reservoir and replace it with a T and shut off valve, to feed both the animal watering pipeline and the new school tap stand. Looks like it took some strength to remove the old pipes.

 Sand storms kicked in while they were working, which likely wasn't much fun!

And Voila, enough water to wash and drink, but not enough to encourage a queue of women, donkeys, and jerry cans, just as planned!

Here's a photo of the main reservoir tapstand, where the women queue up each morning to beat the man that shuts it off and turns on the hose for the aniamsl, they usually get stuck and have to wait for the animals pipeline to be shut down to fill up thier cans, lots of chaos and shouting there usually.

Sending mason for final fix to Zouera pipeline

Adjmor, our Timbuktu NGO partner, sent us a reasonable bid to send the technician and mason from the local hydraulic firm out to Zouera to change the pipeline connection to the reservoir. This we believe will allow water to flow to our new tapstand at the school! Cross your fingers.

They didn't connect this way originally because they were afraid to move the existing rusty pipe (see here) and were not prepared for installing a new segment. Farach was connected this way and all is fine there, but they don't have the kind of rust Zouera does. See how clean Farach is here >>>

Back in the USA, and flu season!

Well, I am back in the USA now, actually for a few weeks, but was down with the flu for 3 weeks and now seem to have some other kind of "bug", LOL, but really not so funny. I am up and down with whatever this is............

Hamadi was pretty sick when we left and just getting his legs back now too. He is back in Farach and Zouera this week to check on everything, should hear an update soon and will pass it on. He and I are continuing to work through the final implementation tasks we agreed to before I left there. We are closing in on final bids and plan from fencing / campus enclosures. He has sent us a plan and bid for a hydraulic engineer to visit Zouera and give us the root cause of the slow water to the tap stand and some recommended solutions. I reviewed the initial trip results with the EWB team here on Sunday and have another meeting scheduled with our water lead next week. We will collaborate with the Mali engineer to finish the hand washing solution there. More on both of those efforts soon.

I will be posting trip photos soon, which I know everyone is waiting for. Just haven't been well enough for long enough to get to it yet. Sorry. Here's just two
to tease you...
More soon, including fun stories of our journey!

From the field in Mali, Dec 21

Final update here from Mali; the team is back in Timbuktu (TB2) now doing final debriefs; project has gone very well, just a few problems to sort out; villages and school directors are very happy and look forward to working with us all again next year.

One quote we received "most NGO's just send money and leave us to solve all the problems with their projects, NomadHope, Adjmor, & Rotary came with an 'army' to help us!"

Farach had a small party for us yesterday, to celebrate our success there. the pipeline and tapstand are done and the children began using it yesterday. The soak pit is almost finished, should be done tomorrow. The lights are all working in every classroom and the school Director's office too. And finally the Cyber Copy Center is all up and running, just waiting on the internet key to arrive from Bamako and the Director will get some more training onsite in a week or two. The application everyone seems to be excited about there is the photo ID cards everyone must have, which before the Farach copy center required all to pay for transport to Goundam or TB2 to have ID's made, until now!

The school fencing is still being planned, and very important; Adjmor and I are getting bids today.
Zouera classroom lights are all working too, but the tapstand is not producing water yet, it arrives just to the tapstand and stops; we have some engineers discussing options with us here and will push to solve this soon. Could be the pressure at the source or a stoppage in the pipeline. This is very dissappointing to everyone, but we committed to find a solution soon.

The Millet grinding machine is a big hit in Zouera and the first women arrived yesterday to pay for using it ! Some are paying in millet and sorghum if they have no money, which the school will sell at market for cash, but many are able to pay cash. The only problem there is the lack of confidence the operator has in being left alone with the machine, which we believe he will overcome with time working alone. We agreed to have Adjmor go back in a month to check on him and see if more training is needed.

We leave tomorrow for a short break before going home, I am very sad to leave, as always.

From the field in Mali, Dec 14th

Still waiting for the solar equipment to arrive, been 5 days since they left Bamako and think they crossed the river today; have our fingers crossed for an arrival tonight.

Tony, Alan & I took a day off and were tourists in Timbuktu today; lovely city with lots of history and beautiful architecture, libraries, and museums. Lots of Obama Tshirts in town, very funny.

Tonight we may be loading equipment on trucks!

Good news is that the pipeline test today was a success in Farach, so they just wait for us to finish the cement on the tapstand; Zouera is moving the tapstand to the location I proporsed a week ago, LOL.

Tony met with AfriquePower yesterday and observed the training of the village guardians who will maintain the systems; he felt the training was very thorough and is collaborating with the vendor on a photo maintenance manual.

Alan is missing his friends in Mopti, but has been practicing his Bombara in TB2 with Hamadi's family and anyone we come across; all are very impressed with his fluency.

Tony and Alan are fitting right in, drinking tea daily with the Tuaregs, and looking forward to visiting the schools tomorrow, Insh'allah.

Sorry no photos, too slow.

From the field in Mali, Dec 13

Hello again from Mali! A quick update from Timbuktu on our progress. The copy center in Farach is done, we are trying to find an internet connection solution for it and organize some PC training for the school Director, and someone to run it a few hours a day; the millet machine in Zouera required us to move the machine a bit; (which of course had been cemented into the ground), which has been done and the first technician let go and a more competant one hired to complete the install and training; it should be up and running when we get back there in a few days; the village women are excited and waiting to use it! the pipelines are done in both Farach and Zouera, quite an amazing thing to watch being done; a few cell phone calls from the President of the Zouera PTA and 21 men showed up with pick axes to dig the 250 meter trench; the tap stands are being done now next to each school, lots of confusion about the design and how it should be done, but with Hamadi's help I think we straightened it out; we hope to see them working when we return; The 2 Engineers without Borders volunteers, Alan & Tony arrived yesterday and are getting used to everyone and everything; The solar trining started yesterday and really got going today, with 3 trainees from Zouera and 3 from Farach in town for this; Our solar partner told me today that the team is very intelligent and picking it up quickly; As soon as the truck with all the solar equipment arrives, we move everyone to Farach to being the install there first, no easy task as this entails loving 2 truck loads of equipment and about 15 people via 4x4 to the schools, where there are no roads; more next time, internet connections have been tough.

From the field in Mali, Dec. 2nd

hello, all good from field today; (excuse french keyboard)

here in bamako (bko) still; planning implementations;

geekcorp left bko this am for timbuku(tb2) with small team and equipment for copy ctr;

solar company is looking for bus today for his team; we are planning pre-training in tb2 ; then install, then more training; needs more thought;

hamadi in zouera today for planning; i should be in tb2 tomorrow; everyone there very excited; calling every day to see when i will arrive;

bko rotary meeting was good; president of club having us for dinner dec 27 for a project overview and photos; rotary in usa submitted second grant final paperwork yesterday; so should have money about march;

need to pick another school for solar, for now, maybe; tissikoreye building collapsed; school going on in the dirt now;

met last night with head of our schools; new director now in farach and also new one in emimalane; in october they conducted a hand washing program at all schools in mali, so she thinks our timing is good; we laughed about this program without water now; she introduced me to the head of the CAP, which does all teacher training up there and oversees daily the schools;

a few problems in the north east and west as you may have heard; all very far from tb2 luckily; i am keeping tabs closely and have lots of people helping me; all good;

until next time! keely

Implementation Updates!

We are soooooo excited to report such significant progress to our donors and volunteers. Check us out........we have an incredible team!

• All our local partners have signed extensive agreements with us and Rotary, to assure expectations are understood and designs specified by Engineers without Borders (EWB) are adhered to.
• I am on my way there in a couple of weeks and will be followed by 2 EWB engineers, Tony Haske and Alan Kwan.
• We are installing the millet grinding machine at the school in Zouera this week. - this will be used by the school cook to prepare the daily meal for the students, in a couple of hours, rather than an entire day! While it is not being used by the school, the local women will pay to grind their millet to prepare breads and other more products to take to market. They will now be able to make and sell a much higher volume of products in the same amount of time, and not incur the aches and pains of using the heavy pestle that has been the norm for centuries. The revenue that the school will generate from this machine will pay for the required parts and maintenance for the solar lighting and water tap stand! This machine is being sold, delivered by a local business man from neighboring Timbuktu. He will also provide the training and support. Sustainability at its best. Here's a photo of their machine, in the crate still:
• The copy and print center is scheduled to go into the school at Farach on December 4th. A local non-profit, Geekcorps, is building, delivering, installing, training, and supporting this center. This center will draw locals from all around, and tourists and media that attend the annual festivals in the area. The funds generated will pay for the required parts and maintenance for the solar lighting and water tap stand! Without local access to a copy and print center, the local school directors must pay for transportation to go all the way to Goundam to type, print, and copy all their census paperwork and students diplomas etc. Now this money can stay in the community. I'll be there for the installation and training, can't wait! As some of you may know, the Farach School Director died tragically this year and this copy center was his brain child. So Rotary has produced a plaque to put on the desk at the center, in his memory. I know the community will be touched by this heartfelt gesture.
• The solar lighting and water pipeline and hand washing station will be constructed in mid December while Tony and Alan , our volunteer Engineers are onsite. These are the most complicated aspects of the project, so wish us luck and pray for no unforseen issues. (LOL, in the Sahara desert, right!). the kids are waiting for us!

I will be posting photos here as I can throughout the month of December and expect a big update in January when I return. Think of us ... dirty... tired... sleeping on the ground...dreaming of a cold coca cola... when you are curled up in your jammies opening up your Christmas gifts! LOL

$$$$$$$$ Funding arrives! $$$$$$$$$$

Our Rotary Grant for Farach & Zouera has been FUNDED! Now we can sign agreements with our partners in Mali, schedule the work, and plan our trip with the Engineers to oversee the work. WOOHOO, (can you see me dancing?)

Design Approval, Vendor Agreements, and Scheduling, August '09

We are making a lot of progress and maneuvering our way through several final design and scheduling issues now.

First, I want to share some great news with you.

• We have a donor who has contributed in the past and was so impressed with our partnership with Rotary and our ability to turn a few dollars into a large project, that they have promised another $5K if we can find a matching donor! Let us know if you have any ideas for this.
• Also, we won a Rotary International President's Award, for Most Cooperative Project! This was presented to the Rotary Clubs of Manhattan Beach and Bamako. Once we have the certificate, I will post it here!
• We are now up to $64,700 in funds for this phase, see the new thermometer volunteer Bob Kasai added to our website and BLOG margin to track this! , Thanks Bob!~And volunteer Jeanne Beesley got us prepared for the upcoming fund raising opportunities, with posters and brochures, Thanks Jeanne!~

The topics we have been spending most of our time on are: final designs and EWB approval, vendor agreements, community MOUs, project management structure and tools, funding paperwork, marketing materials, and project budgets. I'll share some details with you here on each............

We just completed our EWB-LA and EWB-USA design reviews last week and got some great feedback from many expert engineers, both in our local chapter of EWB and the national team. Thanks EWB!~ Some of the items they encouraged us to work through, which were all pretty minor, are:

• 
  
  including concrete mix specs for tap stand, topo drawings for the pipeline, converting to metric measures for translations
• 
  
  connection detail for solar panels to the roof, and correction of a solar side view diagram.
• the most significant issue, which we were already aware of, is the available head from the reservoir for flow to the tap stand. The local engineers did not get the same height calculation our engineers did during our assessment trip, so there is a chance we will have to lift one or both of the reservoirs. We have funding for this, but are hoping it is unnecessary, as the school fencing is turning out to be much more than planned. We will start in Zouera which has the best chance for water flow success, based on our measurements, and put a contingency plan in place if water does not flow. The planning for raising the reservoir will take some time and care, so this will not happen on the first implementation trip. We will plan to do a detailed assessment for this while there. Fatima and Hamadi were very helpful in ironing this out with the local Mali engineers, to assure we are all on the same page, Thanks Fatima and Hamadi!~
• Clearly our lesson learned is to plan for elevation survey equipment on our next assessment trip.

Volunteers Ed Andrews, Alan Kwan, and Tony Haske are leading the charge to finalize all designs and include them in our vendor agreements. Thanks Ed, Alan, and Tony!~
The vendors that have been selected are all experienced in the area, and come with good references, they are:

1. Project component: Farach & Zouera Hand Washing Stations (Water Pipeline + tap stand)
   ENTREPRISE DE CONSTRUCTION MOBILE AU SAHEL (E.C.M.S.)
2. Project component: Farach & Zouera Solar Lighting
   AFRIQ POWER
3. Project component: Farach Solar Copy / Print Center
   IESC Geekcorps Mali
4. Project component: Zouera Millet Grinding Machine
   Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Tijani
5. Project component: Farach & Zouera Project Management / Status Reporting
   Adjmor / ONG
6. Project component: Farach & Zouera Raising reservoir (ON HOLD)
   Direction de l'Hydraulique Timbuktu

We are in process of finalizing the vendor agreements and translating them to be signed.
Hamadi is in Farach and Zouera this week to have meet with each community and update them on our progress, as well as to have the MOU's signed. Thanks Hamadi!~
We have settled on a hosted version of Sharepoint for our project management tool and document storage, and Skype and DimDim for our web conferencing tools. We are getting very organized! Our team got together for brunch two weeks ago, to meet everyone face to face and get to know the team more personally, we will do more of these I hope! Seems I make a mean frittata! Michelle has taken over our project management and coordination, and is helping us make better use of the Sharepoint site, Thanks Michelle!~
Aliyah Levin and Donn Ennis, our Rotary Club of Manhattan Beach sponsors, submitted all the necessary Rotary funding paperwork and all the Rotary Club contributions, so the project account should be funded in a few weeks now. Thanks Aliyah and Donn!~
All for now.................

Finishing Design and Vendor Selection, June 2009

 Sorry it has been some time since we blogged here. Lots of happenings, so let me catch you up.

The big news is that our Rotary International Matching Grant request was approved! WOOHOO.

NomadHope and our partners will begin installing solar lighting and hand washing stations at the schools in Farach and Zouera this summer. These two (2) schools have been chosen as for our pilot, to be followed by four (4) more schools when funding is available. Between the generous Rotary International matching grant and our own fund raising efforts, NomadHope now has $64,000 toward our $180,000 goal for the water, sanitation and solar electricity improvements at all six (6) community schools in northern Mali. This is enough to complete the first two schools!

Designs are being reviewed by the EWB-LA team, and will soon be finalized for the following solutions:
· Water pipeline from the community reservoir to the school buildings
· A six spigot drinking and hand washing station with appropriate run-off
· A solar system for every classroom and school building
· An enclosure to surround the school buildings
· A printing, photo, and copy center for Farach (sustainability project)
· A millet grinding and solar oven center for Zouera (sustainability project)

In parallel, final vendor selections are underway for the water, solar, copy center, and millet machine components of the project.

This has been a challenging phase, as we are doing things a bit differently than most, of course! In order to be most successful and assure the projects are sustainable, we are sourcing all materials and all professional labor locally. Typically EWB sends volunteers to do the engineering designs and skilled engineering tasks and sources unskilled labor locally. NomadHope challenged the team to find all labor locally, seeking professional water and solar companies in Mali to do the water and solar work and designs.

With much help from Hamadi (of Adjmor, our local NGO partner), the Rotary Club of Bamako, and the local community leaders, we have at least 3 bids for each project component and have at least one locally experienced and recommended vendor in each area.

We have not had much luck with the engineering design drawings though, getting them in a format we require / expect here in the USA. So, EWB-LA is reverse engineering the drawings and calculations we need from each vendor’s bid and parts list. Each vendor did send detailed bids with parts lists etc., but asking for drawings is something we abandoned and have decided to do ourselves, satisfying our structured EWB-driven approval process. You can’t win them all! We will send our design drawings back to the selected vendor for approval, concurrence.

We had several serious issues and risks to contend with along the way, of course, including the potential need to raise each existing water reservoir. Luckily we moved past that and all engineers, in LA and Mali, now concur that we DO NOT need to raise the reservoirs to get the water flow we need for student drinking and hand washing at each of school. We had to fund a small trip for a few hydraulic engineers from Timbuktu to go to the school sites and validate our EWB-LA assessment calculations! I suppose knowing that the local engineers wanted to see for themselves should give us comfort that they are paying attention to detail. Next time I’ll pick them up on the way, LOL!

Regarding the sustainability programs, we have been working with GeekCorps Mali on the copy center in Farach. They have experience in the area and with these types of revenue generating centers, so they make for an excellent partner. The solar powered copy center will provide income to the school and also provide convenient access for the school’s printing and copying needs. The school Director currently pays for a roundtrip ride to Goundam, then pays for typing, printing, and copying to develop his required census reports, diplomas, and other copies. Farach is also on a well travelled route for tourists and media.

EWB-LA volunteers Tony Haske and Ed Andrews are developing a business plan for the copy center, and a millet grinding - solar oven center in the Zouera community that local women could pay to use, enabling them to produce the baked goods they sell at market in greater quantities and generating more income for their families. This equipment will be owned by the Zouera community school and also used to prepare the daily meal for all the students. We are struggling to find a viable vendor to purchase our millet grinding machine from ….of all things that should be simple ……… not!

Fencing enclosures for the school are another issue we are working to resolve now. The bids for fencing are just too costly, so we are providing local vendors with alternatives to consider now. The community told us that the traditional gathered wood enclosers thay they use for their individual nomadic family enclosures won't work in a large community, they eventually are taken for firewood! We need a solution to keep the animals out and the equipment in!

Implementation of the projects is tentatively scheduled to begin in August, after the hot season ends in Mali. The team is planning a return trip to Mali later this year, to assess the progress of the projects and the communities’ satisfaction.

There is a lot of work ahead for us and $116,000 is still needed to complete the remaining four (4) schools!

Please see our website www.NomadHope.org to make a donation!

Mali November 2008 Trip Summary

Since I was unable to post here while I was travelling this time, I am writing a trip report summary here to give The Friends of NomadHope some insight to the engineering site assessment trip we just completed in November. Enjoy!

The mission of this NomadHope project in Mali is to provide water, sanitation, and solar lighting to six rural community schools. It is a joint project of NomadHope, U.S. and Mali Rotary Clubs, Engineers Without Borders (EWB), Adjmor (Mali NGO), and the leadership of the six communities.

The Objectives of this month long trip was as follows:

• Establish the necessary partnerships for a successful project, in particular our local Rotary partner and local NGO.
• Conduct engineering assessments (with Engineers Without Borders - EWB) of all 6 schools, including water quality/quantity, sanitation & hygiene, and solar electricity placement.
• Meet with each community and parent organization to assure we understand their needs and obtain their commitment for project sustainability.
• Establish transportation partnerships, i.e. good car, driver, cook for future trips.
• Take photos and video for marketing and fund raising.
• Source suppliers for the project materials and labor, start the bid process.

Needless to say, we had a full plate!

Geographic Orientation:

We are working is the Region of Timbuktu. Mali is divided into eight regions. The regions are subdivided into 49 cercles (circles). The circles are subdivided into communes. The schools that have asked for our help are in six villages within the commune of Essakane: Farach, Zuera, Essakane, Tissikoreye, Bancor, and Emimalane. All within 3-4 hours from the city of Timbuktu, by 4x4! This is about a 17 hour or 2 day drive from Bamako, the capital of Mali.

My first few days in Mali were spent running errands in Bamako, preparing for the trip north, and meeting with several potential partners.

Fatima Abdoulaye is an EWB member from NYC as well as a volunteer for NomadHope and has been a tremendous asset to our efforts since I met her last year. She is from Mali and her family opened their house to us while we were in Bamako. Bamako was hot and crowded, as big cities are, but Fatima's family welcomed me and I have been adopted as a daughter. "Keely (Zeïnabou) Walet Abdoulaye"!

I met twice with our new Rotary partner, the Bamako Doyen RC. They agreed to work with the Manhattan Beach and Long Beach Rotary Clubs, our U.S. partners, and assigned a Senior Project Coordinator to work directly with us. Malick Niang, the Bamako RC President, and I did the official RC flag exchange to begin our long term relationship. We established several other good contacts in Bamako, including the Chief of the Section of Community and Nomad Schools, and AfriqPower, the solar panel manufacturer we hope to do business with.

After a few long, hot days running all over the city (Bamako is a big, broad city), and many home cooked family meals, Fatima and I left for Timbuktu by plane.

Once in Timbuktu, we picked up our 4x4, driver, cook and supplies and drove the 3 hours to Farach with Hamadi (of Adjmor, our local NGO partner). In Farach we had our first community meeting. Each community is organized with a PTA, School Director, community leaders and a chief. Some of these meetings were small and intimate while others were large and very interactive.

I have to say that without Fatima (EWB) and Hamadi (Adjmor) we could not have accomplished all that we did in such a short time. Hamadi proved to be an excellent partner for us and is well respected in each community. The meetings were started by me in English and some French, then Fatima would translate into French, then Hamadi into Tamasheq. Then sometimes a community member would translate again, just to be sure!

The meetings were great and the leaders and parents are very interested in having lighting in their schools, as well as better access to clean water and sanitation programs for the students. They came up with some great ideas for sustainability programs and are very committed to make this a success. We found only one of the six communities to be unorganized when it comes to programs for their school, so we will meet with them again in a year to see how they have progressed.

The second week, Hamadi and I picked up our two EWB volunteers, Michael and Tamar, to begin the Water / Sanitation and Solar Assessments for each school. Back again to all six, setting up camp each night and visiting 2 schools each day.

Michael and Hamadi collected the water samples from each water point, while Tamar and I took the solar photos and measurements for each school room and building. Then Tamar and Michael did the water quality analysis, while I surveyed the latrines and Hamadi ran down answers to our open questions and prepared for the next village stop.

These were long, yet very productive days; and we made for an excellent team!

We gathered all the necessary data for a full water and solar assessment in each village! In summary, the communities reported four water points to have quality issues, but we found only one or two to have issues that present health risks. I will wait to see Michael's full report to give details. All six villages have large reservoirs being filled by a bore hole well with a solar pump (forage). Each also has one or several manual open wells (puis). Each water point has some issues, some minor like broken taps and others with leaks and insufficient taps for human and animal herds' needs.

Each village has a school building, two of them are in pretty bad shape while the others are fairly new. Each also has one or two pit latrine buildings near the school, but none are really in use. Some reasons are the lack of a nearby water point, unfinished structures and roofs, no guardian and process for cleaning and maintenance. None of the schools have a hand washing program for the students because the water point is too far away.

Each school has a meal program, with millet provided by PAM, another NGO. One school does not have a school cook, so the millet is given to nearby families to cook for the children at noon, while the others prepare the meal on campus for the students. The meal takes about 4 hours to prepare, gathering firewood and water, pounding millet, stoking the fire and making porridge. (see a short video of a school cook)

As for the sustainability of this project, I made it very clear that we want each community to come up with a "sustainability program" that enables them to generate new income for the school that will pay for the solar and water guardian, maintenance, and replacement parts that they will need year after year. Most of the projects in these communities to date have depended on the families paying a monthly fee to sustain them. That in itself is not sustainable! They already pay for water from the forage, the forage guardian, the school cook, and the teachers as well... how much more can they be expected to pay without a plan to generate new income.

It took some prodding, but Hamadi was able to get the community leadership group to come up with some creative ideas for this. For example, Zuera is a marketplace for the nearby communities and the women are producing products like cheese, bread, and other baked goods to sell at market. They would like to have a large solar oven and solar millet grinding machine for the school (see a video here of one I found in a larger town)

, which they would be willing to pay to use. This would enable them to make more market product faster and generate additional income for each family. This would also generate income for the school! Farach is on the route that brings tourists during the festival and many locals pass by. They want to establish an Internet, printing & copying center to generate income for the school. The equipment would also benefit the school when reports are due, as currently the Director must drive to Goundam and pay for printing and copying. Maybe with GeekCorp we can help make this happen! Lots of good ideas came forth in these meetings, to ensure project ongoing success.

While I was in Timbuktu and then again in Bamako, I met with GeekCorp who has some very creative projects in the area with computers made to withstand the dust and heat here. We also visited a nearby village that has a solar program to install one solar light, one battery, and one solar lantern in homes that can pay a small monthly fee. The women doing the installation and maintenance were trained in India at the Barefoot College. Lots of ideas for projects here! Focus, focus...

Hamadi and I also met with the local hydraulic and sanitation companies in Timbuktu, to see what they recommend for our water and sanitation needs for each school.

Finally, Michael (EWB Water & Sanitation expert), the Adjmor staff and I met to review all our data and notes. We prioritized each school based on Rotary and NomadHope project criteria and agreed on the solutions we will all work up designs and bids for. Was a very productive trip with fabulous teamwork!

Our next steps now are to get the bids & designs for each of the solutions, and complete the fund raising for our Pilot, which we hope will be 2-3 schools. We will submit our Rotary International grant application by early January, but still need 2-3 more clubs to participate or some additional private donations! Please see our website www.NomadHope.org to make a donation!
Thank you to:

Rotary International
Engineers Without Borders
and Adjmor