Beautiful Teams

Chapter 14. Saving Lives

Trevor Field

There are a lot of charities out there, and no shortage of places for you to donate money. But few organizations are as effective or innovative as PlayPumps International. It's hard to imagine a better use of money than bringing clean drinking water to people in villages in sub-Saharan Africa who desperately need it. And PlayPumps does it in a unique way: by driving the pumps with merry-go-rounds or roundabouts, which the children in the village play on. Not only does this give clean water—which both nourishes the people and prevents water-borne disease—but it also frees up women, who in many villages have to literally spend their entire day fetching water, often from polluted sources. Trevor Field, the founder of PlayPumps, inspires us not just because he does great work, but because he does it through great innovation, engineering, and teamwork, which is why part of the proceeds from every copy of Beautiful Teams sold will be donated to PlayPumps International. We had the privilege of speaking to Trevor about his organization.

Andrew: So first of all, thank you so much for talking to me. Jenny and I are really impressed with everything you guys have done. Since this whole book is about engineering teams and how to make them work better, it occurred to us that you had put together more than just an organization that does really good things in the world; really, it amounts to a major civil engineering effort. We wanted to talk to you about ...