Think your job commute is bad? We are pretty sure it isn’t anything like that of our AEP Manager Noufé Sanzan. What’s AEP? It’s the French acronym for a potable water supply network. Noufé coordinates the construction of the solar array, water storage tanks and piped distribution network for each of our systems.

Noufé resides in the country of Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) with his lovely, school teacher wife, and his two daughters, ages 7 and 11. He is expected to spend around nine months in the Central African Republic,  divided between three to four visits. During his free time, he enjoys preparing breakfast for his girls and watching soccer games.

Noufé recently joined our team in 2019 and is a water, hygiene and sanitation engineer. His skillset is vital to our operations as we implement 15 new solar-powered pump systems in 2021. He has helped us pilot this initiative and oversaw the installation of our four existing systems, which is already providing thousands of gallons of water to needy communities.

The new solar-powered pump system can provide as much water as 10 handpumps, but they also come with a new set of challenges. Noufé and his team are tasked with bringing up water from around 250 feet below the earth, pumping it into a reservoir and then sending it through a gravity-fed pipe system to the households. 

As you can imagine, the long periods of time away from his family are difficult, but the moments when the villagers show their gratitude to the whole team for clean water are priceless. We are thankful to have Noufé spearheading this large project and will continue to keep you updated on the progress of these systems.