Barak Bruerd

Drilling Deeper

Posted on September 05, 2009 by Barak in Africa | No Comments

Julias Mpepa, one of Seeds of Hope’s lead drillers, is setting up to add another section of drill stem. This well in Misaka will probably hit the 50 meter mark. While shallow groundwater exists in this region, high population densities cause rapid contamination, necessitating the drilling of deeper boreholes. Depending on the rig and geology, this process can take a few days to a few weeks.

Well Drilling

Posted on September 05, 2009 by Barak in Africa | No Comments

Misaka is a small peri-urban community outside Ndola Zambia with about 8,000 people, a few hand dug wells, and a muddy river. A government run school with 3 unpaid teachers provide education to 350 of the community’s children, grades 1-5. 3 wells have just been drilled in the past few weeks. This will be the 4th. A hand pump may not appear much in a landscape as harsh as this, but one smiling man shook my hand and said “our land is fertile and this water brings us hope.”

Hand Dug Well

Posted on September 05, 2009 by Barak in Africa | No Comments

In areas with shallow (and sometimes not so shallow) ground water, hand dug wells are a an access technology that dates back to the dawn of man.  But as ancient and quaint as they may seem, hand dug wells are more or less disease-in-a-pit, especially when dry season concentrates the pathogens living in the well (kind of like reducing a soup to concentrate the flavor).  Latrine proximity is also a significant issue – not only because of leeching human waste, but because too often, the pits are dug all the way down to the water table (hey, if you’re going to go to the effort, dig once really big right?).  Hand dug wells like this also presents a significant safety issue b/c they are unlined and uncapped.  Stories of animals and even children falling down wells are far from uncommon, and well-collapse has caused more than one death.

Mt. Kenya: Rugged Paradise

Posted on June 10, 2009 by Barak in Africa | No Comments

Technically I didn’t take this photo so it really shouldn’t be listed up here.  But its me in the picture, it’s a great photo, and those two things rarely come together.  So I’m posting it anyway with credit to Paul Wagner for shooting it, and credit to me for the artistic touches (tinting, textures, etc).  One of my best trips in a long time – three days, two nights on the side of Mt, Kenya fly fishing.  Caught three nice size trout and ate them along with a huge slab of Gouda and whiskey which sustained us through two freezing wet nights on the mountain.  The hammock is my own design – a bolt of heavy Thai silk with loops on the end that convert it from a sleeping bag liner to a hammock.  Warm nights and lazy-day lounging.

Chameleon-On-Gouda

Posted on June 09, 2009 by Barak in Africa | No Comments

Sounds like some kind of post-modern art…  This was the hunk of Gouda we lugged up Mt. Kenya and this is the chameleon that graced our table the first morning.  Chameleons are fascinating and hold a certain nostalgia from my childhood days in West Africa.  When going to Daystar University in Kenya, I use to keep one in my mosquito net and feed it moths at night.  There are actually about 160 species of chameleon.  All of them have eyes that rotate independently, prehensile tails, and tongues that extend out 1 1/2 times their body length.  They change colors through specialized skin cells called chromatophores, and more than just camouflage, color reflects emotion and temperature.  There is an old tribal story in Sierra Leone of how a race was held by all the jungle animals to determine who would rule them.  The chameleon being wise, jumped on the cheetah’s tail.  When the cheetah reached the throne and turned to sit down, the chameleon jumped off and thus became the King of the Jungle.

Like Obama

Posted on February 28, 2009 by Barak in Africa | No Comments

I’m famous now.  I don’t even bother to avoid the inevitable. I just introduce myself as “Barak… like Obama” and make cheesy jokes about being his white brother.  Doesn’t matter – people love it and I make instant friends.  These women were absolutely priceless – from Obama’s nearby village and all three living out incredible stories as they battle AIDS in their community and in themselves.  Stepping into their homes (behind me in the photo) I could only sit in awe of what they struggle with daily, and yet their hope is self-evident.  If only I could bottle it and bring it home with me.  We need it here desperately.

AIDS Kills

Posted on February 27, 2009 by Barak in Africa | No Comments

This was a sign nailed to a tree at the entrance of a school nestled between three slums in Nakuru Kenya.  AIDS in Kenya is at an all time high of 8% and rates are typically higher than this in urban areas, especially where poverty has a stronghold on the population.  In stark contrast to the sobering message, this school and the others that I visited where bubbling with excited children.  I pray their future is as vibrant as their laughter.

School Yard

Posted on February 27, 2009 by Barak in Africa | No Comments

Nomadic Pastoralist, Marsabit

Posted on February 24, 2009 by Barak in Africa | 1 Comment

Oasis in Marsabit

Posted on February 24, 2009 by Barak in Africa | No Comments

Its hard to describe what it’s like to stand in a wasteland, surrounded on all sides by scorched earth as far as the eye can see.  Even more so, its hard to describe what water means to a place like this.  Camels numbering in the thousands surround this place and men wade knee deep in the green water lifting bucket after bucket to the watering trough.  It is a place that is at once both treacherous and beautiful.