About this project

The Hospital The Maseno Hospital Project will improve water and power conditions at a 75-bed hospital in Maseno, Kenya. The hospital has an associated AIDS orphanage. Maseno Hospital is located in one of the poorest areas of Kenya, Western Province. Maseno Hospital lacks a reliable, clean water supply, and experiences scheduled and unscheduled power outages daily. The lack of power and water reduces the ability of the hospital to carry out their mission.

http://masenomissions.org/hospital.htm

The Trip

Four engineers and two students will travel in January 2010 for an assessment and will return in late summer 2010 to implement solutions to these problems.

In January, the travel team has the following objectives:

· Meet with community leaders to understand the community impact of directing water to the hospital · Meet with Maseno University professors and students to form a partnership on the public health aspects of this project. · Conduct health survey by interviewing doctors, nurses and patients at the hospital · Test water source for water quality, contaminants and pathogens, utilizing the public health students if possible. · Assess water tanks and formulate initial plan for locations and processes of water treatment. · Survey path for water line, whether it will be from a borehole to the water tanks, or be a new gravity line from the spring. · Trace out electrical system, and take detailed photographs. Develop thorough understanding of the magnitude, location, and frequency of the power needs. · Spend one day of the assessment trip working on the concrete sidewalks at the hospital, evaluating which can be repaired and which need new construction. Prepare hospital or community workers to continue work after we have left.

The Costs A large amount of the project costs are paid for thanks to corporate and rotary club sponsorship. We are raising money now to help lessen the $2,000 travel costs per person. Anything over what's needed to travel will be used to improve the design of the build (i.e. solar panels, higher quality generators,etc)

P.s. I will be filming (and tweeting if possible) the entire trip which you can find HERE starting Jan 6th (the day before we leave)

-Thank You, Jacob Shiach