Well I have one of those too.
In a few of my posts I talked about the need for a smaller bottle that is a better fit for children to carry rather than a 5 gallon bottle. So today Kofi, Jim, Kwadro(?) from Immanuel Medina (see earlier post of our visit there) and I met at a bottle factory on the outskirts of Accra.
We walked in to the office and the lady (Tracy) asked what we needed. We told Tracy (Ghanian) what we needed and the dialogue started to drift into nowhere, i.e. we can't do it, here is what we got, etc.
We then told her that we were missionaries, a reverend, and an elder and she asked again why we were there - this time we told her the full story of clean water, the children, and so on AND she stopped and said step into her husband's office.
We entered the second office where we met Walid (Lebanese). From the minute we all got on the same page, the page grew and grew. Quickly, both Tracy and Walid said they want to help - both Tracy and Walid are Catholics.
So I won't go into all the details, but here are a few:
1) First we negotiated a new (lower) price for the 5 gallon
2) They gave us 2 cases of hand pumps that fit on the 5 gallon bottles
3) They gave Kwadro 20 5 liter bottles and 20 8 liter bottles to take to Immanuel Medina and test for the "right" size.
4) Walid wants to really develop a new bottle that is exactly the right size with maybe a handle to make it easier to carry. We are going to work with Walid long distance to figure this out.
I am not sure all the reasons I was on the trip. I know that I probably frustrated many at times with my pragmatic views and desire to raise the level and service of the clean water mission, but I today I think I was there to support Kofi, Jim, & Kwadro in the quest for the right bottle solutions for the users of the clean water systems.
So today, 4 Presbyterian men, 2 American and 2 Ghanians, walked into a factory and sat down with 2 Catholics, 1 Ghanian and 1 Lebanese, and....
No comments:
Post a Comment