I can't believe I'm at the one month mark already!! Time is flying by lately (like it always seems to do).
So, I updated you all when I got back from the field last weekend, and guess what?! I'm leaving for the field again tomorrow! :) The last week has been a whirlwind of class, interim presentations, and preparations for the next round of data collection.
My team and I have had meeting after meeting with our academic and NGO mentors to try and figure out how we can incorporate what we've already learned with something measurable (after last weeks test results didn't leave us any direction to go forward with). We finally decided to try and link waterborne disease to high health expenditures. We heard during many of our focus group discussions that health issues like diarrhea and vomitting are common during the monsoon and summer seasons. I will have much more concrete information after this next round of questionaries, so I will be sure to share the numbers with you all.
The question is what can we do about it? We are planning to conduct very basic demand assessments of a few water treatment options that we might be able to implement in the community. The trick here is to make the options sustainable, so that the community can take on whatever project we suggest with very little assistance from Seva Mandir. We are hoping to work with the women's groups and gauge interest in a business initiative where they could possibly construct the filtration devices and sell them for income. We know they have the capacity to make the clay tiles that they put on their roofs and they also make big clay water containers, so we are thinking some clay filters could be a good recommendation that could be locally sourced. I highly recommend you all check out Potters for Peace if you are interested in learning more about what I am referring to by as a clay filter (Google: Potters for Peace Clay Filter Project).
Anyways, we've gotten really great feedback from all of our mentors and we did very well on our presentation. I am feeling good going into these final weeks that we can come out of this with a solid project report and recommendation for our NGO!
Other than that I have had some free time to enjoy the company of new friends and a few chapters from my latest book (I'm reading the Outlander series and loving it!). We have spent quite a few of the past nights watching the World Cup games. Unfortunately we get a bit screwed over with some of the times being 10 hours ahead of Brazil, but we can usually catch the 9:30pm games. Speaking of that ... GOOOO CHILE!!!! They play Brazil tonight :)
Sorry I don't have much more to say ... my week has been relatively boring compared to past weeks.
I hope you all are well! Will update soon with reflections from my final field visit.
So, I updated you all when I got back from the field last weekend, and guess what?! I'm leaving for the field again tomorrow! :) The last week has been a whirlwind of class, interim presentations, and preparations for the next round of data collection.
My team and I have had meeting after meeting with our academic and NGO mentors to try and figure out how we can incorporate what we've already learned with something measurable (after last weeks test results didn't leave us any direction to go forward with). We finally decided to try and link waterborne disease to high health expenditures. We heard during many of our focus group discussions that health issues like diarrhea and vomitting are common during the monsoon and summer seasons. I will have much more concrete information after this next round of questionaries, so I will be sure to share the numbers with you all.
The question is what can we do about it? We are planning to conduct very basic demand assessments of a few water treatment options that we might be able to implement in the community. The trick here is to make the options sustainable, so that the community can take on whatever project we suggest with very little assistance from Seva Mandir. We are hoping to work with the women's groups and gauge interest in a business initiative where they could possibly construct the filtration devices and sell them for income. We know they have the capacity to make the clay tiles that they put on their roofs and they also make big clay water containers, so we are thinking some clay filters could be a good recommendation that could be locally sourced. I highly recommend you all check out Potters for Peace if you are interested in learning more about what I am referring to by as a clay filter (Google: Potters for Peace Clay Filter Project).
Anyways, we've gotten really great feedback from all of our mentors and we did very well on our presentation. I am feeling good going into these final weeks that we can come out of this with a solid project report and recommendation for our NGO!
Other than that I have had some free time to enjoy the company of new friends and a few chapters from my latest book (I'm reading the Outlander series and loving it!). We have spent quite a few of the past nights watching the World Cup games. Unfortunately we get a bit screwed over with some of the times being 10 hours ahead of Brazil, but we can usually catch the 9:30pm games. Speaking of that ... GOOOO CHILE!!!! They play Brazil tonight :)
Sorry I don't have much more to say ... my week has been relatively boring compared to past weeks.
I hope you all are well! Will update soon with reflections from my final field visit.
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