Class Description
One of our Kiswahili lessons introducing greetings
I participated in the Sustainable and Resilient Tanzanian Community education abroad program in May 2017 which sought to collaborate with international partners to implement a water treatment system for the village of Marwa in Same, Tanzania. The Kilimanjaro Hope Organization (KiHO) and the University of Dodoma have been instrumental partners in making this project a reality. Part of our preparation for the trip was enrolling in the pre-departure course ENR 5790.11. This was a three-credit hour class designed to introduce a background in international development theories, the rich cultural history of Tanzania including its political system and the Maasai people, and a beginner’s Kiswahili vocabulary. The class also integrated the identification and exploration of critical issues and how they impacted a community’s ability or inability to address food, water, energy, and health development needs and aspirations. Cross-cultural communication was also heavily emphasized, as it was extremely important when maneuvering the language barrier. Kiswahili is the official language of Tanzania, and students from UDOM were extremely helpful in interpreting, but the Maasai tribe speaks a variation of Kiswahili known as Maa, which made communication challenging but not impossible.
A unique aspect of this pre-departure class was its union with civil engineer Capstone students (CEGE) who were working on developing the blueprints for the water treatment system that will in the future be implemented in the Marwa village. A portion of the class was dedicated to collaborating with CEGE students to work on the water treatment system blueprints as well as discuss implementation challenges and solutions such as the responsibility and upkeep of the water system after it is built. There were multiple different groups allocated to different parts of the project such as documentation of work, the inlet, the treatment system, the distribution system, and the women’s development group. I was on the water treatment team that developed blueprints for the actual treatment system as well as researching and conducting the appropriate water quality tests to assess what water treatments were needed to adequately treat the water so that meets EPA and WHO standards.
The 2017 SRTC Team
Class Reflection
This class was incredibly thorough in its preparation for the trip. What I appreciated most was learning about the Maasai history and community dynamics, as well as the the international development theories because they helped me to better understand their current way of life , what the goal of our project was, and how those two influence each other.
Women use donkeys to help carry water jugs and laundry to and from the Pangani River
For example, currently women are walking four to eight hours each day to collect water from the Pangani River for their families to use for cooking, cleaning, and drinking. This is a very labor-intensive task and is also very time-consuming for the women. A picture below demonstrates what the Pangani river water looks like that the women are collecting. As you can see, it resembles coffee or tea in that it is much more opaque and colored than the drinking water Americans consume.
Drinking Water in Pateli Subvillage
The implementation of the water treatment system will bring numerous benefits for the Marwa village including access to more time. This is a vital component in developing long-term, sustainable solutions that can facilitate communal growth and economic infrastructure for the Marwa village. Education and expanding market diversity are two long-term growth goals for the community. It was incredibly humbling when we asked the women how the water treatment system will change their lives. Their response was, “we will be able to work longer and harder in the fields, so that our children can go to school“. This highlights one of our main goals for the project – sustainability. The SRTC project goal and hope for the Marwa village is to help create and foster an environment that allows for the community to grow independently. The women’s statement about working harder in the fields so that their children can go to school is a testament to the growing opportunities that will become more and more accessible to the Marwa community as they are able to allocate their division of labor more effectively. Another example of opportunities that will be the result of accessible water is market diversity. Currently, the women sell their handcrafted jewelry at the market, but when asked what other types of skills they’d like to learn, their responses included butter and honey.
What I found most helpful from this class was learning about sustainable development and all the different factors that contributed to a community’s long-term growth. There are countless programs, projects, and trips aimed at making a difference in developing countries, but so many of them fail to be successful in the long run. The cause is mostly due to lack of community buy-in, meaning that the community fails to see the benefit in continuing the project/program after a service group leaves. Well-intended organizations like TOMS who give free pairs of shoes end can actually hurt the local shoe economy. Another factor that contributes to a community’s long-term sustainability is how development practices are implemented. There are top-to-bottom approaches, and bottom-to-top approaches, but as we learned in class, there is no correct and perfect method. In part, this is due to the circumstances of each, unique community. Top-to-bottom approaches are more aggressive and forward, whereas bottom-to-top approaches are much more passive and rely on the community being able to assert and implement its goals. Our project in Tanzania combined the top-to-bottom approach with the bottom-to-top approach. A water treatment system was designed, but by no means were the plans permanent. A major portion of our time in-country was spent presenting our plans and then discussing with the community as to what they thought would work well and what wouldn’t. This combined approach actively involved the community, which emphasized the value of the community’s input, and gave meaning and purpose to the project to aid in the long-term success of the project.