For his Internship with Horizon International, an NGO based at Yale University, Zakaria focused on WASH, seeking stories to film from trash polluting city waterways serving as drinking water for local communities to the struggles to find potable water in rural communities. It was this search which lead him to the Ivory Coast.
In the Sahelian countries, the semi-arid regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, severe deforestation and desertification are taking a great toll in loss of natural resources, livelihoods and health, and there are few socially acceptable activities where women can earn their own money.