During the first two weeks we developed the KAP Survey by working back from our final goals of clean drinking water, improved sanitation and hygiene and completed Village Chief Surveys to understand the village level demographics.  Our goal was to gather detailed information on the knowledge, attitudes and practices of the villagers. It was then beta tested among the employees at WFC using IBM tablets.

We then had a day of staff training during which each question was reviewed, carefully translated and discussed.  The consultant was present and made changes in the  19 questionnaire based on the valuable feedback that we got from the surveyors.

She is ID#1 Poor! Three children, and her husband is a migrant worker in Thailand

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday we traveled to the five villages that we chose for our  study.  Choosing the villages was not a random selection process, but rather based on water studies and demographics.  It was a difficult decision to select the villages that we did as they are extremely remote and in somewhat of a hopeless situation…. but who will do it if we don’t?

Her home in Char

The surveyors were extremely diligent … studying during the 2 ½ hour drive in the morning and inputting surveys compiled on paper into the tablets as we drove back each night.  We were able to do five days’ work in three days.

Rainwater catchment system, only good for rainy season

Char’s only water source in the dry season is this river, polluted by villages upstream

Water storage. Please note the dirty water comes from a nearby river as it is no longer possible to catch rainwater

The heat and the seriousness of our work wore us down during the day. However, the last of 108 surveys was conducted with the same care as the first.