Mozambique Email Update #6

Dear family and friends,

Thank you for taking the time to read these letters. I hope that this finds you all healthy and happy. I was reminded this month of a famous story from modern physics. The story goes Einstein was riding a bus to work one morning in Bern, Switzerland. The bus had driven by a clock tower when he began to think of time and speed and light. Specifically, he wondered how the clock would appear to him as the bus approached the speed of light. Einstein had later said “a storm broke in my mind” as the clock tower passed and in that moment he had the first inklings of the relativity of time. He theorized the next day that time changes depending on the speed at which you are moving. Time, it seems, is elastic.

I think I am experiencing such an elasticity of time. I don’t think it’s because my life is so fast here though, because I spend a lot of time in quiet reading. Life is really flying by though and a lot has changed since I last wrote you. In Tete the temperature now drops into the 70s at night and I may even start sleeping under my sheets, which is something I would have never guessed in back in September. On the motorcycle ride to work in the mornings the wind is actually cold. I have running showers in my house, but I went back to bucket showers because I can warm the water in the kettle that way.

Because we only have three construction managers, one flatbed truck, and enough form work for one dam CCM has been working on improving the efficiency of the process between dams. This is important because we want to honor the community’s time as well as stay on schedule. We’ve often discovered that there is a temptation to continue with work though earlier parts of the construction process haven’t been completed. This inevitably takes more time to go back and do right. Our project year ends with August and we are currently pouring our third of ten dams scheduled for completion. There is a lot of work to be done in the four months left.

On the community side, a leader from the village of Chigamanda waited for days at one of our dam sites to meet with CCM staff to request assistance with building a dam. That moment represents an important shift for us, because it means they will be our first community to initiate the project on their own. This act indicates that Chigamanda will likely have more motivation to construct the dam and maintain the dam into the future. We hope to have more communities such as this as news of our work spreads through the district.

In the book of Genesis, the universe that God created in the first six days was good, but on the seventh, the day itself was made holy. Time, not thing nor space, is first in the Bible to be consecrated holy by God. I think that the holiness of time demands that it be shared with others. Einstein’s description of time was maybe incomplete - it is elastic but it is also sacred. What makes my year in Mozambique special, more than the sights and the location, is that I get to share it with the people here. And the time you spend reading my letters and connecting to this country, too, is holy for me. It would be very lonely without you. Thank you again for sharing this experience with me.

Your brother,
Stephen Esaki

I'm probably going to be out most of next week in Mandie taking measurements of all our completed dams from our sister project in the Guro District. This blog is long and might be kinda boring, which is unfortunate because I enjoyed writing it. Oh well. At least, I should be back with some pictures from Mandie soon.

Millennium Development Goal 7, Target 7c, strives to “halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking-water and basic sanitation.” This goal is measured by the use of the following indicators:

• Proportion of population using an improved drinking-water source
• Proportion of population using an improved sanitation facility

Simple enough, but I think both indicators require a bit more definition to make them really understandable. The words “improved” and “using” are probably the most important words for here. Luckily for us, really smart people have spent a lot of time defining them.

An “improved” drinking water is defined as one that, by nature of its construction or through active intervention, is protected from outside contamination, in particular from contamination with fecal matter (UN). The following as improved water sources:

• Piped water into dwelling
• Piped water to yard
• Public tap or standpipe
• Tubewell or borehole
• Protected dug well
• Protected spring
• Rainwater

Unimproved water sources include:

• Unprotected spring
• Unprotected dug well
• Cart with small tank/drum
• Tanker-truck
• Surface water
• Bottled water

An improved sanitation facility is defined as one that hygienically removes human excreta from human contact (UN). The following are considered improved sanitation facilities:

• Pour or flush toilets connected to public sewer or septic system
• Pour-flush latrine connected to public sewer or septic system
• Pit latrine
• Ventilated improved pit latrine
• Composting toilet

Unimproved sanitation facilities include:

• Public latrine
• Latrine shared by more than one family
• Pit latrine without slab
• Bucket
• Hanging toilet or hanging latrine
• No facilities or bush or field
• Latrines that directly discharge to water bodies

Notice that the word “access” isn’t used in the original indicators, which is surprising because it was commonly used for water and sanitation discussion in the past. The word “access” is typically broken down into two categories: reasonable access and sustainable access. Reasonable access is defined as the availability of at least 20 liters per person per day from a source within one kilometer of the user’s dwelling. Sustainable access has two components with respect to water: one stands for environmental sustainability, the other for functional sustainability.

“Use" obviously implies "access," but it also means more than just access. A facility in “use” is one that is the used primarily at home in everyday life. So using a bathroom at an airport, though shared, does not mean you don’t “use” improved sanitation at home.


Sources
WHO, UNICEF. (2010). "WHO / UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation." < http://www.wssinfo.org/ > (Apr. 29, 2011).

UN. (2010). "Goal 7 Ensure Environmental Sustainability." < http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/environ.shtml > (Apr. 29, 2011).

My Work

Here's a map showing the locations of CCM's dams in the Changara District. We're on our third year right now so the blue dots are mostly dams that are planned to be completed before August. The blue dots are also the ones that I'm currently helping with. CCM is planning an expansion of this project that will bring these dams to new provinces and districts throughout the country. Pretty exciting stuff.

Your brother,
Stephen

My Easter

My Easter was great. Here's a picture of my host father confirming Teresa into the church. The family threw a party later that lasted for hours and to which I was invited. I hope your Easter Sunday was just as fulfilling.

Your brother,
Stephen

My Picture from Chimoio

Here's a picture from Chimoio that I took a few weeks ago.

My friend Chris sent me an email a while ago talking about the year he and his wife spent in Cameroon. He mentioned the color of the earth in Africa. More and more since then I've begun to appreciate it. When I first arrived here I compared it to the iron oxide red dirt you find in Hawai'i, which is close but not quite, sort of like a lot of my experiences here. You should see the sunsets though, there is nothing like them.

Your brother,
Stephen

My Quick Update

I miss bicycling. I took this picture because it reminded me of my friends in California. Anyone want to go bicycle touring the Oregon and Washington coasts when I get back? Physical fitness is not a requirement.

Btw, I just came back from a long day in the field. It's gonna be another busy week, so not much time to blog. Work is going well. We have dams popping up all over Tete Province right now. Pictures to come in a few weeks.

Your brother,
Stephen

My Second Picture from Boroma Mission

Some cute kids at Boroma Mission.

Here's some other news: I think I'm realizing that I like to write, like I really enjoy it. I don't think I ever knew that before. This year is kind of special in that I spend a ridiculous amount of time reading here and I write a ton of emails and blogs. So thanks Mozambique! And thanks to you for reading!

Your brother,
Stephen