Labeja Joins ILF

March 15^th 2010 at 9:00am was my first day to start work with ILF as the  Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Program Manager in Lira Uganda.

I entered into office and there was no one to hand the program over to me.  I did not know anybody and I did not have anything to start with but suddenly a lady entered my office with some files and said: “How are you Michael?!”  She introduced herself as Alison, the Program Manager for the fuel–efficient stove program and introduced me to others in the office.  Before she left she gave me instructions for the work that I was to be doing.

The file she gave me was full of applications for drilling team recruitment and with instructions from the former Country Director to shortlist and interview for the new drilling team.  I said woo!  Is that the situation?  I was excited to have that kind of responsibility.  I put myself down to work and managed the shortlist. Now I have found that it was a very good thing to find and hire a new team to work with because a new manager with a new drilling team brings new thinking.

 Uganda Country Director Amandine Desaunay, Deputy Director Vahid Jahangiri,

and members of Labeja's recruited drilling team conducting a pump test on a borehole.

Ho! I tell you, I later realized that the team that I had recruited is the best! They are very hard working, experienced, motivated and results oriented.  I was happy to have my team but I was frustrated by the numbers of wells to drill.  We were supposed to have 28 wells completed within three months; I couldn’t believe how much work we had cut out for us!  At the time it was a nightmare but in four months 32 wells were drilled and completed.

 Community members with one of the 32 completed boreholes.

ILF is a very interesting organization to work with, I am free to plan and decide on my own for my program and I am very happy. If you are a manager in ILF, you are not a manager only by title who waits for someone to direct you or take over everything; you have to have initiative and creativity.  I think I have made the right decision to join ILF and I have no regrets.

Long live ILF, Long live Dan and all staff of ILF elsewhere in the world. 

Michael Labeja

WASH PM

Lira, Uganda

The Joy and Beauty of Clean Water

Take the time to watch this truly moving and beautiful video from ILF's Brian Martin.  In it you will see firsthand the process, and ultimate joy, of providing access to a clean water source in Northern Uganda.  Brian first began his work with ILF in Uganda and is currently in Haiti designing a new stove prototype for ILF's household fuel-efficient stove program.  Read his latest blog from the field here.  It is so easy in our busy day-to-day lives to lose sight of what brings us joy and what is really important in this world.  This video serves as a wonderful reminder.

Article in Good Magazine

ILF is extremely excited to be featured in Good Magazine's series about energy and the environment!  You can find the article here.  Please feel free to tweet, blog, facebook, e-mail, and generally share this great article with your friends, family, and coworkers.  More information about our work in Haiti, Kenya, and Uganda can be found at our website http://www.lifelinefund.org.

One of Lifeline's stoves in action.  Notice the traditional stove 

next to it, unused and unloved!