Friday November 26th.

Well, well well

All good things must come to an end, our adventure in South Africa comes to an end today.

We started early for Secunda for our final meeting, leaving at 06:30. Pam was with us and it was a rough ride, swerving the potholes on the road.

Following we have had a hearty breakfast at Wimpy we convened at the meeting. We should have loyalty cards from Wimpy because since we arrived we have eaten there every day. It gets a bit concerning when you walk in and they ask you if you want your “usual”.

 Anyway back to serious business: the meeting! It went really well and we covered all topics with skill and panache. We have done a good job ,considering the hurdles we have had to deal with, and it has turned out pretty well. The main problem was the fact that there wasn't web access to communicate. We left the South African part of the team (Gert Sibande and Pixley Ka Seme) with the agreement that these problems will be sorted in the coming weeks, making it possible for the MIS system to be active this year.

We were presented with a “Thank You” mug and Pam took some photos for the SSDC Newsletter. Hands were shaken and we parted for the run to Joburg. The pothole swerve was used on many occasions, mainly to upset those of us trying to get some shut-eye in the back. On the other hand, without our driver we would have been nowhere, so many thanks to Marcel.

Mark is waiting for the hard disk of our film debut. The film shows what our goal was in South-Africa and what highlights issues we had to deal with. We are now sitting at Mugg and Bean in OR Tambo writing the blog and killing time. The fact that we can tease each other and have a laugh about things really helped us.
On behalf of all South Africans, Pam would like to express her thanks and gratitude to Imtech and for all the hard work and effort they have put into this project.

We are now saying goodbye to Pam, were flying to Durban in one hour.

That’s All Folks!

Thusday November 25th 2010

Hi Folks,

After only a few weeks of intense planning, the community awareness has risen. Elmarie van der Merwe did an incredible job of planning and implementing the programme as well as organizing the schools competition. She also put together a mini exhibition on the causes of water pollution as well as the conservation of water. Nikki enlightened the children about importance and the function of waste water and clean water treatment plants.

There was some stiff competition but the judges unanimously chose Nkosingiphile Makhubela, a grade 3 pupil from Phembindlela Primary School. Second prize went to Amanda Nhlapho, a grade 7 pupil from Amersfoort Primary. Third place went to Londiwe Nsuntsha of Gunwana. Two of the essays were written in English and one in Zulu. These students come from extremely underprivileged families and were tremendously appreciative of their winnings. The school of the winning student received ZAR 15,000 to help them improve their facilities.

We are busy with completing the business plan and other paperwork, as well as we have to prepare the presentation for tomorrow.


Mark and Christophe have been getting the Training Manual finalised. Christophe went with Marcel to Amersfoort and Volksrust to upload some software into the PLC units. This has now completed their activities. Christophe has also been busy reformatting the documents and getting things printed out ready for the meeting.

Nikki has finished the design documents and now everything is printed out.

Marcel has been trying to sort out the web based communications, but unfortunately we still don't have them! His mood is not great but we reached the stage to believe that it will be okay, we can do little more now.

The good news is that the guys have managed to install wireless internet into the lodge where we are staying. There was a connection with internet before but it was not wireless. Christophe installed a router to make a wireless connection but it was a very weak signal in the main part of the lodge. So, the router that the lodge already owned was taken out and installed to help improve the signal strength. This worked really well and so they now have wireless internet in the main part of the lodge! This has helped us a lot and will help them too as they have a better system for business people.

 We are now pretty much ready for tomorrow and will have an early start to travel to Secunda. Our evening will exist of a nice dinner and of course with some drinks!

Wednesday 24th November 2010

Hello Bloggers,

After breakfast (some of us are eating a lot off eggs) we went to ‘our office’ again and did some work over there.We were filmed and interviewed today by Makwena en Meshak. We went with them to the WwTW of Volksrust. They took some interviews with Nikki, Christophe, Mark, Elmarie, Stean and the plant operators. Maybe after this some of us gonna bee fired, but we did our best.

Marcel has had a meeting with two guys, who would take care of fixed IP adress. At the end of the day it didn’t work so we are back to square one.

Nikki did her best to look nice before the camera and to finish writing the business plan. This is not easy for an old witch with a hooked nose, warts and a bat for a best friend!

Christophe rounded up the manual of installing the hardware of the MIS.

 Tonight, we will have a nice dinner and a good night sleep!

We’ll be back tomorrow!

Wednesday November 24th 2010

Hello All you Loyal Blog Followers,

This is a late posting as we were all a bit busy yesterday!
We are nearing the completion of the project and have 3 days to go. Today (Wednesday) we are due to have some more filming, this time at Volksrust Wastewater Treatment Plant. The camera crew will travel from Johannesburg, to come here this morning.

The rest of the project is slowly coming together and we are compiling the presentation for Friday. There are still a lot of loose ends to tie up and it will be good to get them sorted.

Pam is coming over tonight so that she can join us at the Awareness event at Vukuzakhe tomorrow. There will be lots of exhibitions about water and the importance of good sanitation. The event is meant for local school children from eleven schools. Yesterday there was a judging of an essay competition where some of the children had written about water. Prizes for the essays will be presented at the event.

We still do not have 3G access and so the web based communications cannot be achieved. This is a real problem for the project. Marcel has been exploring every avenue to solve this and to reroute the communications in another way, no stone has been unturned!!

Christophe has been busy making a training manual for the MIS installation and he is currently drawing out the wiring schemes. He has done a great job. (even Nikki understands what he has done, which means they must be excellent!!!)

Mark has been working with Nikki to sort out the presentation for Friday and he is also getting costs together for the installation of the MIS hardware on the sites. Nikki is still working on the business plan, operational manuals and other documents that need to be completed before Friday.

We will say “Au Revoir” for now and we will inform you about our next exciting installment as soon as we can!

 

Monday November 22nd

Yo Ho Ho,

We’re bad, we’re mad and we’re back with another round of challenge and problem solving!

Team 2, weary from their expedition were back in the office with a fresh new outlook. The demands of the project were reassed and plans made to deliver the remainder of the tasks with flair and determination.  That may be easier said than done but hey, we have no option.

Anyway, we have made some progress with the business plan and the training documentation. This has kept Nikki, Christophe and Mark tied up in the office all day. Marcel has been busy sourcing other options for delivering the web based communications. He has to go to Newcastle tomorrow to test the system with a dealer in wireless systems.

His hair is gradually growing back as he is finding some new ways forward.

This week will be busy and will soon be gone. Tomorrow Mark and Chrsitophe will go to Amersfoort to complete the installation and testing of the system over there. They will then be finished and unable to progress further until the web based coms are in.

Nikki will be trying to complete the reports and business planning documentation, as well as planning out the structure for the final presentation.
We have the film crew coming over on Wednesday and Pam will be joining us Wednesday night, ready for the Awareness day on Thursday.

It’s all starting to get very interesting.

Ciao for Now.

Sunday November 21st 2010.

Evening Bloggers,

Well we are back from Kruger and have had a great weekend. Yesterday we left our guesthouse at 0630 and arrived at the Numbi gate around 1230. The journey was pretty good but peppered with delays due to the road building activites on the N11.

After booking into our bungalows at Pretoriuskop, we decided to take a little trip out to see what wildlife might be in the neighbourhood. It started badly with very little showing itself. However, we ended up having an really good experience. We saw loads of rhinocerous, zebra, elephants, giraffe, impala, dung rolling beetles, tortoise and other interesting animals as well as lots of birds.

This morning we started out from our camp at 0430. This mornings expedition was not as successful as last nights but we saw wildebeast, impala (loads), giraffe, buffalo, warthogs and hyena. One female hyena was lying by the road with her two cubs, which was lovely to see. There were also some Hippos in a pool and lots of birds about. We didn’t see anymore Elephant or Rhino but we saw other animals instead.

We journeyed back through Swaziland, which was beautiful. Much greener and more mountainous than the parts of Mpumulanga that we have seen. Coming back to the guesthouse we took the road to Amsterdam to avoid the delays on the N11 and came through some wonderful countryside. Very green with rolling hills and lots of tree plantations for the local sawmills and paper mills.

Arriving back at 1630 we then made some work plans and had a pizza!! The sun has shone all the time and now we have been watching a lightning display in the clouds. Perhaps we will have a thunderstorm tonight.

Tomorrow we are back to the office to crack on with the outstanding issues. We have many and the web based communication problem is now getting serious.

Well I guess we had better go and find some beer!!

“ That’s All Folks”

Friday November 19th 2010

Hi dear bloggers!

The end of the first week and we have achieved a lot but still have a long way to go!!!

Mark and Christophe installed the equipent at Amersfoort Water Treatment Works and have been able to prove the communications between the pumps and the PLC. At this site we have taken signals from two large water pumps feeding the Daggakraal community reservoir.

We are also hoping to take the signal from the flow meter from the dam. However, to do this we need to understand the wiring and this is something we will have to find out. We have not been able to take the signals from the dosing pumps as originally planned.

Marcel has spent the day in Secunda sorting out the communications problems and trying to find a way around the obstacles that we have. Time is getting short now. It is important that we get the web based communications going otherwise the systems we have installed will not be able to communicate with the main computer in Secunda and the whole point of the MIS will be missed.

Luckily Marcel was able to get some communications of the citec system updated and connected to the MIS without a remote network. We still do not have a fixed IP address and the municipality and the district have still not been able to deliver the web based communications facility.

Nikki accompanied Mark and Christophe to Amersfoort. She was working on the business plan with one of the PCs. This does not seem as exciting as drilling and fixing!

We have been able to get some accommodation in Kruger Park for tomorrow night and so we will travel over early tomorrow morning. Unfortunately we only booked it this morning and so there was not a lot left – it will be a bit of a mystery until we get there!!

See you next time!

Thursday November 18th

Hi People,

Today has been an interesting and productive day but also frustrating.  Christophe and Mark have fitted the cabinet and plc assemblies at Volksrust.  They have also tested the communications and they have signals being sent from the equipment they have chosen.  Their work there is complete.

 

Christophe has been teaching the local electricians how to do the work and they are really pleased with the way he has taught them, they said he is the best teacher they have ever had. 

Mark was busy most of the morning getting the cabinets ready for Amersfoort.  We are planning to go there tomorrow to get that system installed.  He was also out buying some more supplies so that we have enough wiring and cabling.

Marcel has had a very difficult day as he was supposed to travel to Newcastle to get some essential communication equipment.  This did not happen and his mood was not good!!!  (He has even less hair than yesterday). Luckily later in the day Stean came by with some guys who were able to help with the 3G connection.  They bought a router with them and are now going to set up the fixed IP address. This will take a few days though, time we do not have.

Nikki spent most of the day writing up parts of the business plan and getting an outline design done for a rebuild of Volksrust when Vukuzakhe is sent there.  She also went around the process at Volksrust and had a look at how things were running.  The percolating filters were still turning well and the stones were now nicely wetted.  Hopefully some bacteria will start to grow and their effluent will get better treatment.  She is now writing a short document to give them some ideas how they may improve the effluent quality.

Ilse left to go back to the Netherlands today, so now we are the Three Musketeers and D’Artagnon!!

“All for One and One for All”

We will update you on progress tomorrow.

Bye.

Wednesday November 17th 2010.

Hi Bloggers,

Yesterday evening we put our shoe next to the fire. We all put something in our shoe for the horse of Sinterklaas.  This morning we all found a chocolate letter in our shoe.  We are all amazed by this, especially as we did not have a proper chimney!!!!

The team are still here doing the the job in less sunny South Africa.  The Mark and Christophe have been busy altering boxes in order to house the PLC units were are installing for the MIS.

Work on site has been rather disrupted today as we still have a communication problem with the web and this makes a problem for us.  Marcel is tearing his hair out with the lack of progress on the communications front.

Nikki and Mark visited Amersfoort Water Treatment Plant with Ilse today, to get an idea what signals we will be able to pick up and how we will install the MIS system there.  We have found that to take the pump run signals from the pumps feeding the Daggakraal community and also the flow signals from the pumps dosing the coagulant, will be the simplest approach.  This is due to the location of the equipment and the ease of getting the hardware connected and installed into the buildings.

Stean gave us a guided tour of the wonderful countryside on his farm.  We saw some beautiful hills, valleys and fields and it was a good experience to drive off road in this lovely environment.

Later we had a great meal as it was Ilse’s last evening today.  She will be flying home tomorrow.  We are having a great time here even though it is hard work and difficult at times.  No doubt we will learn a lot from our experiences here.  We will also have some good memories and friends.

We will update you further tomorrow after we have had some more beer!!

Ciao!

(Look also at : http://picasaweb.google.com/100114188742779984425)

Tuesday November 16th 2010

Hello Bloggers,

Today we have some more updates for you.

We have been at Volksrust Waste water Treatment W0rks (WwTW) most of the day and Mark, Marcel and Christophe have been working very hard to get the hardware for the MIS installed.  We had a problem as there were no cable runs in place, and the guys on site had to dig two trenches with pick axes and shovels.  The trenches were completed and we were able to get the cables installed.  We even have a picture of Christophe shoveling some dirt – he was doing real work that time!!!

Nikki spent a lot of time going around the site and looking at the process.  The percolating filters had blocked holes and so she was clearing them out – she was also doing some proper work too! You can see that on the picture where she is cleaning the rubbish the guys made. She also visited Wakkerstroom WwTW with Stean, also to look at the process.  They have some problems at many sites, some that need a lot of money to fix and some that need a small amount and some operational effort.  It is difficult to get all the people together to understand a way forward, this will take time.

Marcel was busy with the communications.  He bought a new phone to help him out and then dropped the plc on it and broke it.  You can see that we have all been having fun and doing our work.

Mark is also having a good time and is making sure that we are all putting out our shoes tonight for Sinterklaas and zwarte piet.  We have also left sweets for their horse.

We have a nice place to stay and have also found a good place to eat. The ducks and other animals are good to look at and also make us laugh.  We are feeling a lot more positive and there is a good vibe and energy to the team. 

See you later.

Sinterklaas and zwarte piet

Monday 15 November 2010

Hello to all you blog readers,

Team 2 are now in South Africa and busy getting going with their part of the project.  We arrived on Saturday night and after travelling to Volksrust on Sunday, we have started today with a meeting with the rest of the South African part of the team in the local government buildings.

We have a lot to do and have started to configure the laptops ready to be taken out to the Volksrust wastewater treatment works and Amersfoort water treatment works in the next couple of days.  The team are all getting together and the South African team members are all on board with cracking on with the tasks ahead.

Luckily the weather is a lot better than when we were here last and we have seen some sunshine!!  We are looking forward to getting to Volksrust WwTW tomorrow.

Christophe, Mark and Marcel will be sorting out the installation of the MIS communications system.  This will mean wiring up the connections and making sure that the internet communication works OK.  If not, we will have a big problem.  We have all our fingers crossed.

Nikki Will be out on the site looking at the treatment process again.  This will be important for the incorporation into the business plan. She will then go to Wakkerstroom with Stean to look at that plant as well.

We have a nice guesthouse and Mark, Ilse and Christophe will be going running with the Indian running ducks!! 

Bye for Now!!

Social Awarness Programme

Imtech in conjuction with the Pixley ka Sema Municipality will be hosting an water awarness campaign on the 25 November.  Elmarie van der Merwe, the Environmental Health Practitioner for the municipality has put together a very informative programme.  Imtech has sponsored ZAR30000.00 for the awareness programme.  Part of the awarness programme is a schools essay competition.  The first school will get ZAR15000.00, half of this must be used in some way to conserve or improve the water infrastructure of the school.  The other half will be for the school.  The first sudent will get ZAR2000.00, second prize - R1000.00 and the third prize - R500.00.



Pupils of Ethembeni Primary School (one of the school's in Daggerskraal participating in the competition)



Monday, 18 October 2010

On Saturday there was a sad farewell because team two was going back to the Netherlands.  They will be back on the 14/11/2010.
 
After a relaxing weekend it was time to get into the actual planning of the project.  Simone created a comprehensive communications plan. While Carlo & Alexander had a very informative meeting with Michael Wells from the municipality about the MIS.
We also welcomed Jan Prinsen from Water Schap Vallei & Eem from Holland.  The next few days is going to be very busy with Pam & Simone identifying potential funders for the project. 

From the left: Marcel Rep (Imtech Infra), Jan Prinsen (Water Schap Vallei & Eem) De Vos (Dutch Embassador to South Africa) & Pauline Woolthuis (Dutch Embassy in South Africa)

Friday 15 October 2010

Friday, 15 October 2010

Our morning started of by a very informative presentation by Nikkie Alexander on our trip to the water works yesterday.  Nikki’s presentation quite clearly outlined the waste / clean water process.

The second part of the morning took us to the offices of the Gert Sibande District Municipality.  Michael Wells the director of Water & Sanitation briefly outlined the municipal functions, role & responsibilities.

The meeting was also attended by Deon Nel from a the company Waterworks who is also a consultant to the Netherlands Embassy, Henry Chetty from the Department of Water as well as Mpho Mokhoabane a senior technician from the Gert Sibande District.

In the afternoon a task list was outlined by the team, giving us now a very definite outlook on this project.

Thursday 14-10-2010

This morning we left early, at 5:30 from Johannesburg to Secunda. Secunda lies in the Gert Sibande District. The Gert Sibande District Municipality is one of the three district municipalities in Mpumalanga province. We met there our contact person Michael Wells and then drove on to a place called Pixley Ka Seme.
Michael Wells is the director of Water & Sanitation from the Gert Sibande District Municipality.

After the meeting we left with Michael to take a look at some sewage treatmant plants and water treatmant plants. We drove all day to see all the plants from the District. We did see the plants from Amersfoort, Volksrust, Vukuzakhe, Perdekop and Wakkerstroom.

Today we could see with our own eyes what the problems are and what to expect. The team learned a lot this day from the knowledge of Nikki.
After a long day we had a lovely dinner in a Swiss restaurant. A little bit of Europe after all.

Sign our petition to bring clean, safe water to millions

Wednesday, 13 October 2010

Day four, was a day filled with meetings in the beautiful part of Rosebank, Johannesburg. We can see why this area is called Rosebank, see photo below.

The first meeting was at Khulisa.  Khulisa is an organisation which provides education, training & personal development in communities, schools, places of safety and correctional facilities.  Khulisa tackles crime holistically, working at all levels of the crime cycle – preventing crime, diverting youth from the criminal justice system, providing alternatives to imprisonment, fostering personal transformation for those who are in prison, and assisting with their transition back into society.  Khulisa helps families and communities to support victims who need healing and offenders who want to make a difference.

We also visited their training center where they teach past offenders to make items out of recycled products, eg: paper, pipes etc.

Pam Naidoo & Alexander van Berne

Bench made from a recycled water pipe

 The second part of today was spent at the offices of Kessels & Smit, the learning company.  Here we were briefed on the Gert Sibande District Municipality.  There is alot of work involved & I know that our team will enjoy this challenge.

We have to have an early night as we are leaving at 05H30 to Secunda which is about two hours away from Johannesburg.

The fabulous Imtech team from the left:
Christophe van den Bossche, Simone Lining, Pam Naidoo, Carlo Abbing, Nikki Alexander, Mark van Erp & Alexander van Berne



Tuesday, 12 October 2010

„Speeded up a team“

Staying here in South Africa since 3 days we’ve gotten so much impressions about the “South African way of living”: poor-rich-middle.

With the background of this little view on people’s daily life, generally concerning the water situation, we started today in the morning from Pretoria to Johannesburg and it should be

the start in a day which can describe as a “journey back to your own”.

After a renewed discussion about the presentation of the Prof of the University of Pretoria everybody has given a statement what contribution in helping people can be personally.

One great step for growing together as a team is “lived tolerance” and respect for all opinions without condemn anyone. If we want to be tolerant and also respect the culture of the South African people we had to start by ourselves. Already on Sunday Mark told us in Pretoria about the “Heroic Journey” based on an idea of Nelson Mandela and he gave us the assignment preparing our individually “Heroic Journey”for today as a flip-chart drawing:



Home – Quest – Test – Shift – Gift


Later we’ve visited the “Constitution Court” as a symbolic building overcoming the Apartheid and installing democracy structures. The architecture of the courtyard building has shown this in an impressive way: Some old building parts as a symbol of the passed history existing together with a new modern and inviting architecture. While visiting this we’ve made another important step growing together in a time by interviewing a partner of his talent and what he’s proud on it. In that last meeting of an impressive and intense way you get an insight for a short small moment on everybody’s self-understanding.Hearing from each other their “Heroic Journey” and speaking of his own was a very intense moment. In explaining the drawing it was a great opening of himself or herself, cause the way automatically has reflected of what you’ve done or what has gone wrong and what you learned from this passed situation. The essence of them could be the gift, a gift also to South Africa, not only to your own way of life.

Coming out and will be further on open minded in and for a group of foreign people is one of the most successful way “growing together in a team” in a short time.

Monday 11th October 2010

This morning we started out for a visit around the area to meet a number of different people living in various places.  The object of the day was to see how people living in different situations were able to have water and dispose of their waste water.

The first place we visited was a township. This was followed by a visit to a shanty town and a high status area.  Following this we visited a middle class area and had a look around the houses.

When looking at the upper and middle class the water supply and sanitation appears to be comparable to the European standard with proper water supply and flushing toilets.  However when you visit the less fortunate the situation is entirely different.  On visiting the shacks one realises that our standards should not be taken for granted.

There was a refreshing determination at the shack area.  The people had all settled there illegally and they had nowhere else to go.  However they had cleared areas for their houses, a park, an area to grow crops and a place for animals to live.  They had a borehole installed for their water supply and this pumped water to some tanks high on the hill.  It then flowed under gravity to some taps in the area.  There where pit latrines for most houses and they were in a clean condition.

The other township areas were also kept clean and tidy around the houses.  There was a problem with refuse though, and this was collected in big piles which were then set on fire.  This was not good for the environment and the waste blew into nearby rivers and streams.
The more expensive housing had more European type facilities and they appeared to have a refuse collection as their houses were better kept.  This was probably a function of financial status.

The rich community was visited by another part of the group. And, although they had swimming pools and better facilities, they were well aware of the problems encountered by others for their water supply and sanitation.

Arrival Saturday & Sunday

Yesterday we started our mission in Amsterdam.  The Boost Teams had two different flights: one flight went directly to Johannesburg, the other flight via Nairobi to Johannesburg.  A taxi took us to our guesthouse in Pretoria.  The last group members arrived at 2:00AM.

This morning we had breakfast at our neighbor, the Coffee House. We sat on a very nice terrace with a beautiful garden. The breakfast existed out of cornflakes, muesli, yoghurt, eggs, bacon and bread. Very nice start of the day, especially for our British team members ;-)

After our breakfast Marc introduced us to the program for the week to come. In the afternoon, we did a exciting session "in the field": interviewing South Africans to learn about their experiences with, and view on climate, water treatment, environment, safety and education. We’ve learned a lot about South Africa and its issues. One thing became clear: there is a lot of work to do on these topics.

Please do keep an eye on our blog. I’ll finish this story with some pictures.