As I sit
in my room writing this blog, night has fallen and I hear the howls and barks
of dogs in the distance, and much closer, I can hear Zenebech, my compound mom,
companion and friend, rhythmically grinding coffee by hand with a wooden mortar
and metal pestle. The
rhythmical and repetitive sound is soothing, and reflects the start of an
important nightly ritual in Ethiopian households.
These
sounds have become very familiar to me as a part of my daily life in Mezezo. where I have now lived for 7
months (which have flown by!). After being gone for about 3.5 weeks (1 week
Peace Corps training in Bahir Dar in Northern Ethiopia, 2 weeks in the States
with my family, then a few days in Addis for a meeting), it feels so great to
be back. I feel like I have
returned home, with everyone giving me such warm welcomes, a lot of coffee, and
great conversationsJ
This
morning at the Health Center, it being a Monday morning, I needed a little bit
of motivation to get me going for the week and so I decided to mention to a
fellow worker at the Health Center that it would be neat if we could somehow
build a “Tippy Tap” (a hand-washing station made from wood and nails and a jug
of water).
In spite of its vital role
in servicing the area’s wellness needs, the Health Center in Mezezo had
absolutely no place for patients or staff to wash their hands. Bantayehu was
very intrigued and we walked around the Health Center to the back of the
compound, to where the town’s trash pile is located. We carefully navigated up
a rocky hill, taking great care to avoid a green spiky plant called “sama,”
which if touched causes a painful burning and itching sensation that does not quickly
subside. Among the trash we discovered a lot of wood as well as a plastic
jug called a “jerry can.” This is a good example of “one person’s trash is
another person’s treasure!” I wonder if that is even a phrase in Amharic.
I am guessing it might not be, because recycling and repurposing trash is very
common and hardly anything is ever thrown away or wasted! The only
other thing we needed was a saw, which another co-worker said they would bring
after lunch. We went our separate ways for lunch and when we reconvened in the
afternoon, the construction began! As I am every day, I was extremely
impressed with the resourcefulness that surrounded me!
Using a saw, my co-workers cut tree branches to
be the foundation/legs of the tippy tap and another branch to go horizontally
across the top. Instead of using a shovel, the staff used a thick
tree trunk as a hammer to whack the legs of the tippy tap into the ground, and
then used a rock as hammer to put in the nails that held the tippy tap
together. The plastic jug that we found
in the trash pile had no lid, but we found one on the other side of the Health
Center compound, and after some deep cleaning it was ready to be put to good
use! A nail was used to put a hole hear the bottom of the plastic jug, and when
the lid was loosened and the nail was removed, the water flowed nicely in a
thin but steady stream (thanks to some aspect of physics that I do not fully
understand!), ideal for washing hands! Some electrical wire that was
stripped of its outer coating was used to hold up the soap container (which is
the bottom of a plastic jug found in the trash), and some rope also found
in the trash held up the jerry can/plastic jug containing the water.
By the end of that same day, for the first time ever, the
Mezezo Health Center had a place for patients and staff to wash their hands
(history being made!). It felt great to admire the result of our
labor, which provided a great sense of accomplishment, especially because it
demonstrated so clearly the creativity of my Ethiopian co-workers who somehow
took a mere idea and with remarkable speed and ingenuity, transformed it into a
completed tangible reality!
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| Cutting and measuring wood for the base of the tippy tap. Notice the plastic jug in the foreground which will also be used. |
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| "Hammering" in the posts! |
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| Putting the final nails in to hold the foundation together, using a rock as a hammer. |
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| Cutting a plastic jug found in the trash, to use as a soap container! |
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| All smiles after the project is complete! |
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| Proud of the final product! |
If this project had been up to
me to do alone, I would never have even begun, because I would still be hunting
for the proper tools and materials that I thought were required for this
project (and wouldn’t have found them here)! This was a wonderful and
valuable lesson for me, and a reminder of how much I learn from the people I am
surrounded by every day in Mezezo; incredibly strong and inventive people who
have become my family and friends, who I laugh with everyday, and whom I love!
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| A great crew!!! |
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| The final product! (In the background you can see the latrines) |
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| Testing out the newly made handwashing station/tippy tap! |
As I left for the Health
Center for the day on this Monday, five staff members were taking home zucchinis
that were over a foot long a few inches in diameter; HUGE!! Side note: when I
came back from vacation, pumpkins and zucchini had grown in my garden and there
were plenty to share! There was some good conversation that probably was rather
amusing to listen to, as I tried to explain to my coworkers, in Amharic, how to
prepare and eat zucchini, a food they have never heard of, let alone seen!! I’ll be eager to hear their reports J
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| Zucchini from the garden! (Note: they are bigger than they appear in the photo...) |
