Moses Shatika: 'I am proud of CuveWaters'

How was your life before the plants were built?

Moses: 'Life before the plants was not good, because we used to drink unhealthy water. But now after the plant was built, life is good and it is quite healthy.'

What is your personal benefit from the desalination plant?

Moses: 'We are getting clean water, we are healthy, our bodies are clean and look nice. The other thing is that we have the opportunity to get employed in the plant. When we went to the training we benefited a lot. It helped my family, by paying for my children’s school fees, school uniform, school wears, shoes and everything.'

Could you describe what people are doing with the water? 

Moses: 'In general people are just using water for washing, drinking and brewing traditional drinks. Some of them use it also for gardening, because some of the plants are not quite good when you are watering them with salty water. But now some people have guavas, which are quite good with water from CuveWaters and that’s what we are happy for.'

What does CuveWaters mean to you?

Moses: 'When CuveWaters was not here we were suffering, but by now we are having our CuveWaters. I am proud of CuveWaters.' 

Have there been things you did not expect or wondered about?

Moses: 'We did not expect to have good water and quality water, like we are having it now after the CuveWaters project is constructed. And now we are becoming free and we are happy to have CuveWaters here.'

What did you learn during the training? What did you achieve? 

Moses:  'Through the training we learned a lot: How to treat water and also waste water, how to keep the plant working and how to identify the problems.' 

Could you please describe a normal working day?

Moses: 'We use to come at 8 o’clock and knock off at 4 o’clock at our normal days. First I am coming to the plant and I have to check if the plant is okay. Then I have to walk around through the plant premises to see if something is wrong. Then during the day around 12 o’clock I use to take off the lids to see if there is enough water in the plants. If there is no water, I have to fill it up.' 

Just imagine this project would start allover again tomorrow – what could be done better? 

Moses: 'I recommend that especial for the terra water container just to use more than one module. Now we are in a rainy season and sometimes the sky is too cloudy so that one module is not enough.' [the desalination modules are driven by solar power]

What do you wish for in the future?

Moses: 'In the future we plan to have our plant running successfully and have no shortage of water. And also we plan to have better wages when our government takes over this plant.'

Thank you for the interview!

The interview was made by Patrick Rickert