Hello iSEED! It is officially the final week of my iSEED program and I’m starting to get so sad that I have to leave at the end of this week. Last week may have been my most jam-packed week so far. Throughout these weeks we’ve been working with and looking at water. Our focus has been on water quality, water use/availability, and how to treat water. Previously we mainly discussed these, but last week we were able to actually put water treatment to practice.
I was in about 3 groups: one for manufacturing assembly, one for getting feedback on a product, and one for water purification. For the first group our task was to get assigned a water filter and then create an assembly process/document for the device by first disassembling it. My group was given a Puralytics Solarbag, which was actually a purifier. We were able to learn about the materials, assume a manufacturing process, and also learn about how the purifier actually works. For the next group we were given a few products that were designed and/or utilized for people working with infants with cleft-lips. My group specifically received different spoon holders that we were supposed to present to an organization called Tseinan. This was to help us learn how to ask appropriate questions to receive the appropriate feedback to determine the appropriate needs for a specific group. Through this experience we actually learned that the organization wasn’t actually looking for a spoon holder after feeding but actually for something that could help the feeding process especially when infants are in movement.
Yanelli and I working on taking pictures for our manufacturing project using the Puralytics Solarbag
Without directly talking with the organization we would have never known that we were not even addressing the actual needs which is something we have been learning a lot about through all of the organizations we have met with these past few weeks. For the third group our task was to collect water from a local lagoon and do water purification. Our main goals were to test for coliforms, particularly E.Coli, as well as reduce the turbidity of the water to make the water “safe enough” for consumption. This was such a long and strenuous process with so much testing btu I actually found it really fun and productive. This is mainly because this same week we were also sent back to Cantaro Azul to visit their lab where they do a ton of testing. This was also my first introduction to the potent smell of E.Coli (P….U…). Although we did not use the same materials as we followed a more natural approach during our testing we were able to get a general basis of how scientists do their testing.
Lagoon water collection with team TBD for water treatment
From all of this work and people we have seen it has truly changed my mindset and my perspective of the availability of water. I definitely knew that there were people without access to clean water. But I guess I never fully considered how much this affects every aspect of their living. For instance one might have to factor in the time necessary to source water before they are able to go to work and the absence of this water may mean that they can’t be clean before going to work, can’t eat before, etc. which could all change how their coworkers view and interact with them. Also it can be extremely difficult to just have access to water safe enough to do daily tasks with, let alone drink it.
In addition to the work we did in class I was able to do some fun things with the group! Other than our frequent cafe trips to work on our projects/assignments we visited some cool spots. On Saturday we went to cañon del sumidero and this was honestly the highlight of my trip. Not only were the sights amazing but the monkeys and alligators were real cute too (trust not that bad). Then on Sunday we went to El Acotete which had a really cool cave. Although it was raining a lot we were able to go and enjoy the caves since there wasn’t any rain on the inside. Honestly I was having a lot of fun…until… Right when we got out of the cave and were going down some wet steps, I ended up slipping and as I slipped my phone jumped up real high and fell over the railing into a small waterfall making my phone gone and never to be seen again. This is why you all are not blessed enough to see the great pics I took on this trip. But um, everything happens for a reason right?