Thanks to ArchTam’s Blueprint Travel Grant, I was able to take part in an outreach project in Uganda — a project near and dear to my heart because I am South African by birth and Ugandan by descent. With five other ArchTam employees, I joined the WeDev NPO team to help an orphanage on the remote Zinga Islands collect, analyze and purify drinking water. The orphanage was one of five sites we visited during the service trip.

According to Drop 4 Drop, a global charity dedicated to alleviating the world’s water crisis, “Almost a quarter of people across Uganda do not have access to clean water and over 80 percent do not have adequate sanitation. Using and drinking unsafe water is one of the leading causes of death and disease across Uganda with 4,500 children dying every year due to having no other option but to drink this unsafe water.” This is a critical issue that the people of Uganda are facing.

Our team set out to tackle water sanitation-related issues in the most needy and remote areas of Uganda by using local, simple methods. Our goal was to build systems that could be used continuously and easily by the community. Our professional backgrounds ranged from hydrogeology and environmental technicians to cost, hydraulic and civil engineers. Our understanding of infrastructure, its workings and the associated costs helped us ascertain the best and least expensive solutions to the problems faced in the community. Teaching one another aspects of our jobs helped our collective effort to get as much done in the little time we had.

Over the course of two weeks we traveled by car, boat and even in the back of a small loading truck to five sites that included orphanages, schools and a home. Our group visited and analyzed these sites to create simple solutions for each unique situation. For example, to reduce the walking distance required to fetch water, we installed a pump into a well, set up gutters to collect rain water and added pipes so that water from springs would run into tanks. We also tested the water to ascertain the types of bacteria picked up in water pre- and post-purification using homemade chlorine. We helped provide a community with the resources needed to collect a basic necessity for themselves by:

• Connecting spring water to a tank using a gradient
• Making chlorine from salt with a solar powered battery to clean water from tanks and other water sources
• Connecting a pump to an 11-meter-deep borehole to ease the process of obtaining water

This eye-opening process highlighted the magnitude of challenges Ugandan communities face in accessing clean drinking water. Even if you can access and transport the water, it still needs to be purified in order to avoid contracting cholera and typhoid, which are deadly illnesses that impact residents and surrounding communities.

This experience was inspiring, but seeing my people in Uganda suffering was not easy. I’m fortunate to work for a company that empowers us to make a meaningful impact on people’s lives around the world through these types of projects. The response from the communities in the form of love, appreciation and keenness to learn and participate gave every one of the volunteers the feeling of being home. We call it “eka” in our language. Simple systems and a few hands go a long way, and this principle can be applied in so many areas of our lives.

In a world full of political unrest, social injustice and environmental depletion, this project inspired hope, not just to the people of Uganda, but to our team as well. We can make a difference — no matter how big or small — to the lives of others in the most beautiful way. I walked away from this experience with a new outlook on life and an appreciation for the humble, happy people and children of Uganda.

A massive thank you to Michael Ottensmann and the WeDev NPO team who allowed me to be a part of this wonderful trip.

“Webale Nnyo.”

The post Purifying drinking water on the Zinga Islands of Uganda appeared first on Blog.

Located in the KwaZulu-Natal Kingdom north of Durban, South Africa, LIV Village not only ensures children’s physical needs are met, but also provides a loving and nurturing environment, education and a whole range of health and wellness activities. LIV believes that if these children are equipped with essential values and life skills, they’ll grow up to be a generation that will influence positive change within South Africa, the African continent and the world.

Always looking to improve their facilities, which currently include a school, medical centre and multi-purpose sports hall, I learned that LIV wanted to reconstruct the dam that had once been on the land with the goal of providing an educational and recreational area for the children. This seemed like a perfect opportunity for the ArchTam office in Durban to get involved, so I reached out to my colleagues in the UK and in Durban to make the connections, and the effort began.

The ArchTam team undertook the design of the project, encompassing the dam embankment, spillway and outlet works, as well as materials investigations and a detailed geotechnical survey of the land. The dam area was designed with the children in mind and includes a jetty, braai station (BBQ for the non-South Africans amongst us) and a boat shed. Once full, the dam will hold 12 million litres of water and, in addition to the recreational benefits, the lake will provide irrigation for the aquaponics farm, which provides both food and income for the village.

With the design of the project complete, I applied to the ‘ArchTam Foundation’ for the funding to build the project, and I am happy to say, the funding was approved. As the construction works were nearing completion, LIV invited the whole ArchTam team to the village for an opening ceremony. I was delighted to attend the ceremony and also have the opportunity to work with the LIV maintenance team (including members of the local community) on the construction of the jetty; further demonstrating the ripple effect of this project on the community and surrounding area.

Speaking about this amazing effort, ArchTam’s Jonathan Schroder, who served as project director in South Africa, said:
“This has been a journey of connecting people and resources to make it happen, with support from ArchTam to pursue the project and invest in LIV’s vision. Apart from personal satisfaction and growth, it’s been a great opportunity for many of our employees who had a role in the project, including Cameron Fraser, an up-and-coming dam engineer, Rannel Naidoo, an engineering geologist, and our two senior dam specialists, Deon van de Merwe and Danie Badenhorst. This project represents an investment in a bigger future for the community and LIV.”

The completion of the dam for LIV is a result of one of ArchTam’s core values — collaborate — and of our commitment to corporate responsibility. The project was undertaken at no cost to LIV and is a project ArchTam and LIV Village can be immensely proud of. Not only will the children of the village benefit directly from the reservoir, the project has provided much needed work for local people and businesses, and will leave a lasting legacy.

You can watch a short, 30 second video taken on the day of the ceremony here.

I’m excited to return to LIV Village in July for my next project… working with the local LIV team to replace their aging IT infrastructure. You can bet I will join the village children at the new swimming hole!

The post When an expanded scope is a good thing appeared first on Blog.