Wednesday, August 10, 2011

August 7

Jambo, raffiki!

Our formal instruction in water issues began today, with Professor Wright outlining water problems that affect developing communities, both global and local to Mpala. We began with a discussion of a World Bank project in the Dead Sea that is attempting to mitigate the dropping water levels in that area, where the economy centers around tourism. The dropping water levels are having a negative impact on the community, so importing vast amounts of water from areas like the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

Then, we moved our focus to Mpala. Water is gathered from the Ewaso Ngiro river, which is becoming increasingly scarce and polluted; water is also gathered through a borehole, but it is high in flouride and unsuitable for drinking; and from rain water catchment from the roofs of buildings. Current demand is greater than supply, and demand is projected to increase while supply is projected to decrease.

We also heard a lecture from Bilal about political ecology, and had a debate on whether our preconceived notions of Africa's "wild" and "natural" landscape are accurate, and the effects of cattle herding in East Africa.

After this lecture, we went on a game drive and saw many different species of plants and animals, it was so exciting! After dinner we celebrated Bridget's birthday, and our Kenyan friends taught us how to sing happy birthday and some Kenyan games as we all sat around the camp fire.

So far everything has been great, we hope all is well at home and with our friends in London. We hope to be able to blog more regularly about our experiences from now on.

Have a great day!

Derek

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