Engineers Without Borders Placement Cameroon: Presentation #1

It seems like ages since I posted anything but times have been hectic!

Presentation day 1:

The first presentation was at the milky way hotel, this was for the Bambui community. This presentation was especially important to us as these were the people the project was intended for and we really wanted to showcase what we had done in the time we had been here. After the initial worry we just got right down to it. We had around 100 people with lots of the committees and HRH the Fon of Bambui in attendance.

Chris was feeling a bit unwell so I took lead on the presentation. After an initial prayer by Teresa and an introduction by the Chairman of BAWA it was up to me to talk through the agenda.

Firstly we wanted to explain what engineers without borders was and who we were and how this fitted into reignites goals for the community.

I then went into my findings from the water balance which was, Bambui has lots of water but people waste too much of it.

Chris then talked about his sanitation project which was very extensive and highlighted some very important issues. I particularly liked when he talked about London in the 1830's and how it took an outbreak of cholera to push people into changing. How they had installed a sewer system and how it had now become one of the most important cities in the world. I think this was really interesting to show that we had to go through the same thing and how in the long run it was really useful.

We had a quick break then it was time for me to talk about my irrigation project, I felt very comfortable speaking to everyone and hopefully I made sense. I really wanted to highlight the stakeholder management as it was an area where there could be the potential for conflict.

I also wanted to try and introduce the idea of drip irrigation, which I think would work really well here.

We had final questions then it was time for Mariana to talk about what happens next. Then it was the usual protocall of doing all our thanks. I also got the chance to do something special for one of my favourite Bambui men, Antony. We called him up and gave him my EWB badge as he had been such a great help to us and without him my project wouldn't have been the same. He also had bonded with us socially when he invited us to his house to meet his family and we even visited his childhood house where we met his dad and 3 mothers!