Reflections on a water tank

Last week, another volunteer came to my site and, along with his team of masons and construction workers, built an ISSB (interlocking stabilized soil) water tank. These tanks are cheaper, more environmentally friendly, and more long lasting than the standard plastic or brick ones usually used. My part was to write and account for the grant, ensure things went well with my site and the construction, and monitor the follow-up gutters and final touches.
For those of you build in the US; this was done with two hoes, two spades, one pick (excavation), one wheelbarrow, and two hammers. The rest, from ladders to cement smoothers, were done by hand. Oh yes, to break up the hardcore, we borrowed a mallet. Water was fetched from a nearby source one jerry can at a time. When we say manual labor, hon, it doesn't get any more manual than this!
Did my site need me for this tank? No, there are plenty of other tanks and even other ISSB projects around. All they needed was the money, and if they didn't get it from my grant, they would have gotten it from another somewhere else.
During these last few months, I realize that I was right about a few things when I first decided to come. First of all, that I could not change the world, or Uganda, or my community. That they didn't need me, BUT that I needed them. I needed this experience to grow and learn and try to "become the change that I want to see in the world."
On the other hand, my community did not use a different ISSB project, they trusted the Peace Corps more. They also did not get a grant for a water tank from anywhere else. My local contractor- friend did not know about this new method until he visited our building site and the girls did not know the importance of drinking water until they saw me -- relatively healthy and well hydrated and able to outrun and outlift (with water jerry cans) them.
I have often said that my community has to have it's meal. They are the matooke and chicken and posho and greens. I am only a bit of salt. I am only a little nudge. They are the boulder that has to run downhill.