Engi-nerding

Above: The director of RUDEC's family, kids and I in the village, the ETHOS group, our co-worker Gabriel, and members of the village after a survey.

The past week or so we have been working hard in the office on reports for the villages we have surveyed. We have finished 3 and have sent them back to the villages for them to look at. We are now planning to go back and discuss with the water committees the options we laid out. There have been some interesting things from an engineering standpoint. We have been forced to do some research on the feritilizers the village farmers use on their cocoa trees and their infiltration into the water table. We have looked at the effectiveness of biosand filters to treat this. We have also designed a system that requires a pump. We did much investigating of water pumps and previous systems which required a pump. It has been very interesting and taught me a lot. Very fun enginerding.

We have enjoyed many meals with families in Kumba. Everyone insists on either taking us out for dinner or having us over. They take a lot of pride in their hospitality. It is incredible how welcome people make you feel. It is especially overwhelming when people who do not have much take such pride in their small compounds and offer up a wonderful meal. We have eaten at the director of RUDEC's house twice and both have been very nice. It is fun trying all of the different versions of each African dish.

The UD immersion group arrived yesterday in Kumba. This is a group of 18 students who stay in cameroon for 1 month and do lots of travelling. Dr Amin (the chair of the history department at UD) is from Kumba and brings the group every year and leads them. We went to the reception for them and helped serve their meal. It was fun to share the things we have learned about Cameroon so far. We will interact with them throughout the month and do some travelling.