Malawi-bound: Monitoring the work of Water For People
October 28, 2009
By Joe Goodwill
Well, packing is finished and I’m ready to head to the airport. It’s raining here in Philadelphia; I hope it doesn’t delay my flight, causing me to miss my connection to Johannesburg.
I’m excited to embark on my second assignment with the Water For People World Water Corps©. I will be leading a monitoring and assessment team in Blantyre, Malawi. It will be a challenging trip with the ultimate goal of assessing the effectiveness of the Water For People work in the rural area of Chikwawa.
I have a great team this year. It’s a small and diverse group, a physician from Florida, a water resources engineer from Colorado, and I’m an environmental engineer from Philadelphia. The team will spend most of our time surveying and auditing wells, hand pumps, latrines and hygiene facilities in Chikwawa, which is about 50 km southwest of Blantyre. Our examinations will include interviews with hundreds of people who use systems funded by Water For People and other partners.
Our team will be in Malawi for 14 days, visiting dozens of villages and interacting with community members. We will have a small amount of time to hang out and enjoy our new surroundings.
I am going to blog throughout my trip to Malawi, providing updates and summaries of our experiences. I hope you enjoy reading them, and find them informative. Keep your fingers crossed that I make all of my flights! Joe
What do you think?
