Today was our first day in the community of Nkagula, and it was jam-packed! We started the day with a community mapping activity. The community gathered and drew a giant map in the sand, using fire ash to delineate roads, crushed bricks to highlight rivers, twigs to mark graveyards, and cups to show the borehole wells. The community then showed us on the map where the greatest need for water is, and the team inspected those area to devise a plan for hydrogeology testing. When the community saw that we will be spending our time looking for water in areas where the need is great, they erupted into song and dance. All the lady EWB-er’s got pulled into the dance circle to show off their moves!

Next, the team and several Nkagula members walked the boundaries of the village to collect GPS data and imagery using the DJI drone. Along the path, we snacked on pigeon peas and were able to overcome the language barrier to build relationships. We had an amazingly short lunch at Kip’s (a Malawian restaurant that normally takes over an hour to be served) and were back on our way to the village!

In the afternoon, we broke into 3 teams to perform household surveys in Nkagula. These surveys allow us to better understand how the community uses water, where they obtain it from, and what challenges they face. Equiped with a VIP translator and community member, each team was able to collect valuable survey information in a region of Nkagula and we completed all the Nkagula household surveys! We ended the day with a very competitive game of tag with the local children, much to everybody’s delight!

We headed home to Namang’azi Farm tired from a long but productive day. At the farm, our work is not complete, as we spent the evening logging GPS and survey data into our laptop and performing more water quality tests, all to the sweet sounds of Travis’ playlist. We are excited to visit Liti and to begin resistivity testing in the morning.

Tionana,

Jordan