A picture of me asking Karishma my question

A picture of where Mombasa is located in Kenya

In recognition of Earth Day this week my science class had a google hangout with Karishma Bhagani. She is currently a student at the New York University, but is from Mombasa Kenya. We contacted her because she has created a water purification system that costs only $10 and provides clean drinking water for a family for a minimum of 18 months! Karishma was inspired to create this because she realized the lack of clean drinking water in Kenya and decided that there needed to be a change. Her project is called “Matone de Chiwit” which means “drops of life”. Karishma hopes to spread the word of her project and make more people aware of other places that have the same problem as Kenya.

I really enjoyed getting to connect with someone outside of my community. Karishma was really nice and… I learned a lot during the short amount of time that we got to talk with her. The one thing that stood out to me the most about the Google hangout was when she talked about how she thinks that Kenya is overlooked in terms of their needs (response below in questions section). It was really inspiring and motivating to see how Karishma’s project can help people, how she is making a change in our world.

What you learned from the chat:

I learned a lot from getting to talk with Karishma, as I stated before. It really opened my eyes to the problems that people in Kenya are facing. One of the coolest things I learned, from a science point of view, is that not all water can be purified the same way. The contents and properties of different types of water make it more difficult/ easier to clean the water and make it suitable for drinking.

Questions:

When you were making the water purification system what problems did you run into?

One of the big problems that they are working on improving right now is how to make the water purification system compatible with water other than boreal and river water. Because of the contents and properties of certain types of water Karishma’s system cannot purify it. This is something that they are working hard to solve because it would open more opportunities for people to get clean drinking water. Her goal is to have a product can be as easily adapted as they would want it to work for any type of water.

How do you feel after you’ve achieved the goal of producing clean drinking water?

“I feel like I’m on top of the world!” – Karishma Bhagani

She felt really happy. But Karishma also knows that there is a long road ahead of her and that there are still a lot of things to get done.

Can you purify salt water (from the ocean)?

Not yet. This question sort of goes with the question before. We are not able to purify salt water because of its contents and properties, it is however something that we are working on.

In your opinion do you think Kenya is overlooked when it comes to countries that need help?

They are overlooked in terms of their needs. A lot of times helping countries will look at a developing country, such as Kenya, and help them based on what they see. It would be more effective for the helping countries to take a “needs assessment” where they research and find out what that particular country actually needs.

What motivates you?

Foremost it is giving back to my community. Since Karishma is from Kenya she understands the needs that they have, more so than another country might. Another thing that motivates her is to stay true to her roots and never forget where she is from. She understands what it is like living there and sees what people have to go through just to get clean drinking water. She wants to make a difference in people’s lives.