It's been a while

It's been a while since I wrote last actually a little bit over two years. In this period I had some ups and downs in this subject (sustainability of water projects in rural sub-Saharan Africa – "SSA") I am writing about and how I deal with it. The down was that waterways was not picking up as much as I would have liked it to and although the many contacts we have made we were not able to bring it up to the recognition level we had intended, maybe we are premature, maybe we did not market it well I am not sure, but I came up with two conclusions: first, There is definitely an interest here and need, everyone we talked to felt that something needs to be done and that sustainability or rather lack of sustainability in  water projects is a big problem and second, I need to learn more on the subject and develop an expertise in it. And here comes the upside from 2014 I started to write a Ph.D. dissertation on the subject, in Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Since then I learning everyday a new thing and enjoying every minute of it.

The start of my research was to understand as much as I can about the history of Africa, now many of you might say, Africa is so diverse and there are 54 countries, how can you still talk about "Africa" in this day and age. I totally agree, it is wrong to do so, but curiously enough, from my work in the last 5 years and my visits to several African countries and my talks with different professionals from different countries, it seems at least in the beginning of my research that the problems are very similar. So I will proceed to talk about the African continent, but obviously my examples and case studies will be of particular areas and project themes.

Going back to history, there is no doubt that historical developments have played a very significant role in the lead up to the present-day severe water situation in rural "SSA". And if so, I chose Colonialism as the era of interest due to two issues: the first colonialism although only a short period of time, around 80 years was probably the most transforming period of Africa and its people, the second, is that it seems that up to colonial times and in the colonial period, there was not a big issue with water. Water started to become an issue and major challenge of Africa, after colonialism and currently. It is therefore important to find out what happened in that period that had impact on this change.  

So this is where I am at back to school.....and what I have been doing. This new section of the blog will document my research, writing process, insights and voyages I take to better understand the phenomena of non-sustainable water projects in rural SSA.