First community meeting at Mziza

We held a community meeting at Mziza this morning, an introduction to the activities we hope to carry out this year. In true African stile, the Blessings Malamba and I were sat in fancy chairs beside the chief, the men on the ground to our right, the women to our left.

We discussed the idea of planting about 30 water pumps in their various gardens. *applause* We told them what we would require of them: to provide all trees and planks for the pump, to produce 1 ton of compost, to plant half their garden with indiginous vegetables, and to attend all meetings for the project. *applause* They really appreciated that we would not let anyone float by without doing the work. There is far more jealousy when someone gets something they didn't work for than when someone is exclude for failure to work.

I also tested their water source with this kit from 3M. The community are eager to see the results, which we explained would show not only the presence or absence of E. coli, but also the concentration of the bacteria.

It was a promising meeting, promising as much hard work ahead as anything. Blessings and I left optimistic that at least some of the people present would really use the pump technology to improve their health, home and community.