So I know that I stole this title from Helen, but it was too good to go without repeating. Our internet data package expired almost immeadiately after the last blog was published, so we do not have much for the rest of our time here (which, luckily is not too long). The EWB-MIT team is back in Kampala with Daphne again. We were picked up this morning by the driver Daphne´s family sent. The private van is an experience as different from our matatu rides as pit latrines from toilets. It was nice to be able to watch the scenery by choice, and not because your face is pressed against the window.
It was definately bittersweet to leave Ddegeya. Bitter, of course, because we are leaving our newfound friends behind, the clinic staff and the minerva fellows and the local kids that chase us down the road shouting, "Hi Kate! Hi Scott! Hi Steven! Hi Leticia!" Sweet, because we know we accomplished the work we came to do. We built our prototypes, talked with the community, and laid the groundwork for implementation.
This afternoon, we met for a little with Dr. Musaazi at Makarere University. We discussed the work we did and talked about the technologies: ferrocement and clay tanks, first flush, and the pump. Dr. Musaazi was very excited about the pump. For the tanks he builds, he says the problem is always the pump. He cannot provide or create a reasonably priced pump. The pump costs $120 (300,000 UGX) and ours cost about 50,000 UGX and is easily made and repaired by the people who use them and with local materials.
A great end to our time in Ddegeya. We head back to the states on Friday, to return on Saturday, another bittersweet departure.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
A Final Meeting
Today was full of showing off our work, the prototypes that we spent our time in Ddegeya constructing. We began the morning with two tasks. Steven, Leticia, Irene, and Lynette, went once again to St. Gertrude´s (the primary school up the road) to try to give another water education presentation. The students have been on vacation for the entirety of our time in Ddegeya so we hoped that they would be back in school. Today was the first day back, but the headmaster suggested returning tomorrow when more of the students would actually be in class. So tomorrow we will give the presentation to the students. Hopefully, they will bring the knowledge of cleaner, safer water back home to share with their families. This part of the EWB team also stopped by the tank built last summer to collect a water sample for testing (we had leftover testing equipment and were curious as the results) and talked to the household where the tank is. From the conversation with the family, water is shared fairly throughout the year, depending on rainy or dry season. The woman we were talking to said that about ten families drew water from the tank. Each household could take a jerrican every day during the rainy season and one jerrican every two days during the dry season. If the tank spills over, each household can take as much as they want. The family claims that the tank has never been empty, though they may say this to appease those who provided the tank. But overall, the feedback concerning that tank has been positive.
While that portion of the EWB team was out and about, Katelyn and Scott conducted tests on the ennhanced inertia pump to determine how long it takes to fill a jerrican. The pump requires moderately paced strokes, approximately one pump per second. If it is pumped faster than this, water flows over the top a little. At the rate of one pump per .9 to 1 seconds (54-60 strokes per minute) the pump produced 5.5L-6.5L per minute. This means a 20L jerrican can be filled in approximately 4 minutes, a very reasonable rate. We conducted three trials of the volume test and all yielded 5.5L to 6.5L per minute.
The entire team spent the rest of the morning preparing for the meeting this afternoon with the waterboard and the households where the tanks will be placed.
The meeting was set for 4PM and the majority of the group was at the clinic by 4:20, excellent by African time. We started by discussing each of our major points. We introduced the two types of tanks we worked on, the ferrocement and clay lined with waterproof cement render. We talked about the pump and the first flush system. We reviewed the cluster requirements (150,000 UGX on our return, maintanence by the household with the tank, and shared water access). We tried to tell them that the household with the tank receives no special privelages or access to the water. They actually rolled their eyes at us and Lynette told us during preparation that they would "laugh mockingly" at the suggestion. However, the sharing of last year´s tank and their common agreement about equal access to water indicates that sharing water should not be an issue. We also talked about water sanitation. We brought up recontamination of clean water in dirty containers, but everyone said they already separted jerricans for boiled water and jerricans for unsanitized water. We demonstrated the use of Waterguard (a chlorine tablet) with the Pathoscreen, changing the black sample (full of choloforms) to yellow by adding the Waterguard. After the discussions, we moved down to the tanks themselves. We demonstrated the pump, the first flush, and both the tanks, which have been successfully holding water since yesterday afternoon.
The big surprise of the meeting was the reaction of the community members to the clay tank. Previously, the members of the water board dismissed the clay tank as dirty and porous. However, when we brought it up today, especially with the addition of the waterproof cement top layer, everyone was incredibly interested. They were asking for direct instructions and ratios of concrete for the bottom. We told them the technical and construction information, but warned them that we only knew that it would work for a few days. We do not know exactly how the clay will hold up after the wet season, if the shrink/swell properties of clay will crack the tank, or how best to create the dimensions. The members of the waterboard gave us the impression that they will try the clay tank, regardless of whether we know if it works or not. We also tried to make it very clear that a top was necessary for the tank, not only to keep the debris out, but for the safety of people and children around the household.
At the end of the meeting, people on both sides, EWB and water board were happy. Technologies were explained and questions answered. A final full day in Ddegeya tomorrow to finish up the little things and cleaning up our little messes until we head back to Kampala with Daphne. We plan to meet with Dr. Musaazi upon our return. He wanted to tell us more about his interlocking brick system and his experience with helping rural villages in Uganda. A good morning, a good day, and a good night. Steven just lost to Eddie while playing chess and is now trying to teach Eddie tic tac toe, perhaps in an attempt to find a game that he can win. Catsgame. But another day awaits.
While that portion of the EWB team was out and about, Katelyn and Scott conducted tests on the ennhanced inertia pump to determine how long it takes to fill a jerrican. The pump requires moderately paced strokes, approximately one pump per second. If it is pumped faster than this, water flows over the top a little. At the rate of one pump per .9 to 1 seconds (54-60 strokes per minute) the pump produced 5.5L-6.5L per minute. This means a 20L jerrican can be filled in approximately 4 minutes, a very reasonable rate. We conducted three trials of the volume test and all yielded 5.5L to 6.5L per minute.
The entire team spent the rest of the morning preparing for the meeting this afternoon with the waterboard and the households where the tanks will be placed.
The meeting was set for 4PM and the majority of the group was at the clinic by 4:20, excellent by African time. We started by discussing each of our major points. We introduced the two types of tanks we worked on, the ferrocement and clay lined with waterproof cement render. We talked about the pump and the first flush system. We reviewed the cluster requirements (150,000 UGX on our return, maintanence by the household with the tank, and shared water access). We tried to tell them that the household with the tank receives no special privelages or access to the water. They actually rolled their eyes at us and Lynette told us during preparation that they would "laugh mockingly" at the suggestion. However, the sharing of last year´s tank and their common agreement about equal access to water indicates that sharing water should not be an issue. We also talked about water sanitation. We brought up recontamination of clean water in dirty containers, but everyone said they already separted jerricans for boiled water and jerricans for unsanitized water. We demonstrated the use of Waterguard (a chlorine tablet) with the Pathoscreen, changing the black sample (full of choloforms) to yellow by adding the Waterguard. After the discussions, we moved down to the tanks themselves. We demonstrated the pump, the first flush, and both the tanks, which have been successfully holding water since yesterday afternoon.
The big surprise of the meeting was the reaction of the community members to the clay tank. Previously, the members of the water board dismissed the clay tank as dirty and porous. However, when we brought it up today, especially with the addition of the waterproof cement top layer, everyone was incredibly interested. They were asking for direct instructions and ratios of concrete for the bottom. We told them the technical and construction information, but warned them that we only knew that it would work for a few days. We do not know exactly how the clay will hold up after the wet season, if the shrink/swell properties of clay will crack the tank, or how best to create the dimensions. The members of the waterboard gave us the impression that they will try the clay tank, regardless of whether we know if it works or not. We also tried to make it very clear that a top was necessary for the tank, not only to keep the debris out, but for the safety of people and children around the household.
At the end of the meeting, people on both sides, EWB and water board were happy. Technologies were explained and questions answered. A final full day in Ddegeya tomorrow to finish up the little things and cleaning up our little messes until we head back to Kampala with Daphne. We plan to meet with Dr. Musaazi upon our return. He wanted to tell us more about his interlocking brick system and his experience with helping rural villages in Uganda. A good morning, a good day, and a good night. Steven just lost to Eddie while playing chess and is now trying to teach Eddie tic tac toe, perhaps in an attempt to find a game that he can win. Catsgame. But another day awaits.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Safari
This weekend, we found ourselves with few tasks to complete, other than waiting for the tank linings to cure. So we decided to wait for them to cure while we went to Queen Elizabeth National Park. While there, we saw lions, elephants, hippos, baboons, monkeys, and birds, among other things. We returned to Ddegeya this afternoon and we planned our final week. The main task in front of us is the presentation of our prototype tanks to the waterboard and the community. While distributing MOU´s, all interested members of the community were invited to come see the tanks and ask questions. We are prepared to make our final push this week and complete our tasks.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Community
Yesterday, Leticia, Irene, Lynette, and Steven went to four of the clusters to distribute MOU´s, explain their purpose and talk to neighbors. The household that the tank is on is responsible for getting the signatures of all the cluster members. On Monday we asked the households and everyone interested in the cluster to visit our tank prototypes. We will load them with water and show them the models and see their opinions and concerns.
Katelyn and Scott worked on creating a Harold pump as another alternative and jerryrigged a charcoal press. The Harold pump worked, though the strokes required to pull water were prohibitively long; we still think the enhanced inertia pump is our best bet. We also conducted a burn of maize cobs, leaves, and stalks. Even though the fire consumed all of the materials, the cobs did not carbonize fully and do not seem to be the best option for us. Of all the materials we have carbonized, banana and matooke leaves are best. The dead leaves are plentiful on the ground and hanging off of trees, burn easily, and created a perfect carbonized "dust."
Around noon, the entire EWB team was walking the village and got caught in a true African rainy season torrential downpour. Most people ducked under a roof or tree to wait it out and one person made a mad dash back to the clinic. Regardless of which choice was made, everyone arrived back soaked.
During the afternoon, Steven and Leticia worked on documentation and the 522 while Katelyn pressed charcoal. Despite the feedback that we had received about matooke and banana peels being used to feed cattle, goats, and pigs, we used matooke peels (scraping the sticky side off) as a binder. Not all households have these animals, and even when the sticky side is scraped off, the peel can still be used as feed. However, the matooke peels are very green and the "sticky" side is actually not that sticky. It can barely hold the briquette toghether. We also tried cutting open not yet ripe jackfruit and using the very sticky syrup as a binder, but the syrup produced was not even enough for one briquette. It seems that jackfruit has only enough stickiness to make your hands stick toghether. The barriers of prohibitive cost of making the charcoal press and the issues with binders means that the implementation of the charcoal project in Ddegeya may be difficult.
In the evening, the EWB team went to Eddie´s cluster to talk about the tanks and receive signature on the MOU. Everyone signed the MOU, but one neighbor (Eddie´s grandmother, in fact) raised some issues. Her home is located halfway between Eddie´s and Muchala Muwanika´s homes and she is elderly and claims to be without children much of the year. Her roof is larger. One option is to build a larger tank at her home for the neighbors of Eddie and Muchala Muwanika. Some members of Ddgeya have raised the issue that Muchala Muwanika does not have many neighbors, in fact her next door neighbor already has an extensive tank system. However, politics plays a huge role in the placement of the tanks. Muchala Mwanika is an outspoken member of the waterboard and has been a great friend to EWB, housing travelers in the past. The tanks must be community driven, and if the residents of Ddegeya and the waterboard are less receptive to the tanks, the implemetation may be more difficult.
Katelyn and Scott worked on creating a Harold pump as another alternative and jerryrigged a charcoal press. The Harold pump worked, though the strokes required to pull water were prohibitively long; we still think the enhanced inertia pump is our best bet. We also conducted a burn of maize cobs, leaves, and stalks. Even though the fire consumed all of the materials, the cobs did not carbonize fully and do not seem to be the best option for us. Of all the materials we have carbonized, banana and matooke leaves are best. The dead leaves are plentiful on the ground and hanging off of trees, burn easily, and created a perfect carbonized "dust."
Around noon, the entire EWB team was walking the village and got caught in a true African rainy season torrential downpour. Most people ducked under a roof or tree to wait it out and one person made a mad dash back to the clinic. Regardless of which choice was made, everyone arrived back soaked.
During the afternoon, Steven and Leticia worked on documentation and the 522 while Katelyn pressed charcoal. Despite the feedback that we had received about matooke and banana peels being used to feed cattle, goats, and pigs, we used matooke peels (scraping the sticky side off) as a binder. Not all households have these animals, and even when the sticky side is scraped off, the peel can still be used as feed. However, the matooke peels are very green and the "sticky" side is actually not that sticky. It can barely hold the briquette toghether. We also tried cutting open not yet ripe jackfruit and using the very sticky syrup as a binder, but the syrup produced was not even enough for one briquette. It seems that jackfruit has only enough stickiness to make your hands stick toghether. The barriers of prohibitive cost of making the charcoal press and the issues with binders means that the implementation of the charcoal project in Ddegeya may be difficult.
In the evening, the EWB team went to Eddie´s cluster to talk about the tanks and receive signature on the MOU. Everyone signed the MOU, but one neighbor (Eddie´s grandmother, in fact) raised some issues. Her home is located halfway between Eddie´s and Muchala Muwanika´s homes and she is elderly and claims to be without children much of the year. Her roof is larger. One option is to build a larger tank at her home for the neighbors of Eddie and Muchala Muwanika. Some members of Ddgeya have raised the issue that Muchala Muwanika does not have many neighbors, in fact her next door neighbor already has an extensive tank system. However, politics plays a huge role in the placement of the tanks. Muchala Mwanika is an outspoken member of the waterboard and has been a great friend to EWB, housing travelers in the past. The tanks must be community driven, and if the residents of Ddegeya and the waterboard are less receptive to the tanks, the implemetation may be more difficult.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Dirty Work
I think tonight we´ll all be enjoying a bucket shower to recover from our work this afternoon. We laid down the thin render of waterproofed cement on the ferrocement tank. We also put a layer of the waterproof cement over the clay tank. Cracks have appeared on the sides and in two spots, the top layer of cement has peeled off a little. We suspect that we did not take enough care during the first few days after we lay the clay to keep it a little wet and covered. The sun was probably too harsh. While the majority of the team worked to mix cement and lay the renders, Katelyn continued burning leaves to make charcoal with.
The first burn happened this morning. We tried banana leaves in our small scale metal bin. The fire took immeadiately and once the smoke ceased, the bin was covered. Upon inspection this afternoon (the rain meant only one burn in the morning), we found that only the bottom half of the banana leaves in the bin had carbonized-- the top half was untouched. However, the leaves that did burn carbonized perfectly. We conducted a second burn with banana leaves, this time with the leaves less densely packed. This time everything burned, but too much oxygen got into the bin and about half of the leaves turned to ash. For the third burn, we found the perfect aim between too little fire and too much air. Instead of banana leaves, we tried mango leaves. Although perfectly dry, the mango leaves resisted fire. We tried with mango leaves sticking out the bottom to light but they wouldn´t catch. And then we tried with banana leaves at the bottom as the fuse to light the mango leaves inside. The banana leaves burned but the mango leaves refused to do so. We finally ended up dropping a match down the chimney to the bottom and covering it with a few leaves. The mango leaves finally caught fire, produced the thick smoke, and once the smoke ceased, the bin was covered and let to sit. The carbonized "dust" from this burn was perfect. However, not all of the mango leaves burned; some leaves were half carbonized, half seemingly untouched by the fire. All in all, good results for the first round of burns.
This morning, while Katelyn and Lynette were cleaning the bin and starting the first burn, Steven, Scott, Leticia, and Irene went with Eddie to see and measure the remaining two clusters. The measurements were made on the last two homes that have been selected to house the rain water catchment system. The group also went to the tank built last summer. We were impressed with the masonry (it had been done by professionals). Our prototypes behind Engeye are functional, but they lack the smooth and professional appearance. We also spoke to a neighbor in the area about how the tank is functioning. Is the water from it shared? Some previous feedback that we had recieved was that the majority of the water was used by the household where the tank was located. This neighbor assured us that everyone shared the water from the tank. There was some frustration during the dry season when the water each household could take from the tank was only 1 jerrican. Perhaps that is where the complaints come from.
Overall a good day. I sign off to scrub the charcoal dust off of my arms and to rest up for another day of work tomorrow.
The first burn happened this morning. We tried banana leaves in our small scale metal bin. The fire took immeadiately and once the smoke ceased, the bin was covered. Upon inspection this afternoon (the rain meant only one burn in the morning), we found that only the bottom half of the banana leaves in the bin had carbonized-- the top half was untouched. However, the leaves that did burn carbonized perfectly. We conducted a second burn with banana leaves, this time with the leaves less densely packed. This time everything burned, but too much oxygen got into the bin and about half of the leaves turned to ash. For the third burn, we found the perfect aim between too little fire and too much air. Instead of banana leaves, we tried mango leaves. Although perfectly dry, the mango leaves resisted fire. We tried with mango leaves sticking out the bottom to light but they wouldn´t catch. And then we tried with banana leaves at the bottom as the fuse to light the mango leaves inside. The banana leaves burned but the mango leaves refused to do so. We finally ended up dropping a match down the chimney to the bottom and covering it with a few leaves. The mango leaves finally caught fire, produced the thick smoke, and once the smoke ceased, the bin was covered and let to sit. The carbonized "dust" from this burn was perfect. However, not all of the mango leaves burned; some leaves were half carbonized, half seemingly untouched by the fire. All in all, good results for the first round of burns.
This morning, while Katelyn and Lynette were cleaning the bin and starting the first burn, Steven, Scott, Leticia, and Irene went with Eddie to see and measure the remaining two clusters. The measurements were made on the last two homes that have been selected to house the rain water catchment system. The group also went to the tank built last summer. We were impressed with the masonry (it had been done by professionals). Our prototypes behind Engeye are functional, but they lack the smooth and professional appearance. We also spoke to a neighbor in the area about how the tank is functioning. Is the water from it shared? Some previous feedback that we had recieved was that the majority of the water was used by the household where the tank was located. This neighbor assured us that everyone shared the water from the tank. There was some frustration during the dry season when the water each household could take from the tank was only 1 jerrican. Perhaps that is where the complaints come from.
Overall a good day. I sign off to scrub the charcoal dust off of my arms and to rest up for another day of work tomorrow.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Progress
The past couple of days have been full of work. On Monday, the team went to the three clusters we´ve already seen and took measurements of where the tanks will be placed. Roof height, ground slope, etc. We also worked on formatting the first flush system with a pipe. Using the pipe to collect roof runoff makes access to clear the runoff easier. A bottle to collect runoff would have to be on a stand that would be built. The bottle would have to be detached from the first flush system and emptied and reattached. A pipe would not require a stand, just some extra support for the weight. And to clear the runoff from the system, the PVC cap at the bottom of the cap would just need to be removed and then reattached.
Yesterday, the travel team accomplished a lot. Yesterday had its ups and downs, but finished very well. In the morning we worked on logistics and laid the chicken mesh in the ferrocement tank and began the second render. Because the chicken mesh available in Masaka is thin and not particularly strong (and because the documents we´ve been working off of do not specify the type of "chicken mesh"), we initially doubled up the chicken mesh. However, this caused the render to bow out a bit, so we cut out the second layer of chicken mesh. We also built an aboveground section of the tank to demonstrate that the tank will be partially aboveground. About two thirds of the tank circumfrence has the above ground portion, 4 bricks tall. In the afternoon, Lynette and Katelyn went into Masaka for (hopefully) the last time and the rest stayed to continue to hard work or laying the second render. In Masaka, we purchased a small metal tin to do charcoal burns in and had a welder burn holes in the bottom. We printed out the MOU´s for the clusters, got more water for the clinic, and on our way back, we stopped in Kinone to buy some more food for the clinic. While in town, we spoke to the welder about making the charcoal press. He understood the design, but demanded 40,000 UGX to make the press, which is way above the estimated cost of $2-5. Luckily, the travel team had already come up with a press without welding.
And at the end of yesterday, after a hard day of work on everyone´s part, we walked up to the shops up the street and got some banana pancakes and finally saw the stars, which were magnificent.
Yesterday, the travel team accomplished a lot. Yesterday had its ups and downs, but finished very well. In the morning we worked on logistics and laid the chicken mesh in the ferrocement tank and began the second render. Because the chicken mesh available in Masaka is thin and not particularly strong (and because the documents we´ve been working off of do not specify the type of "chicken mesh"), we initially doubled up the chicken mesh. However, this caused the render to bow out a bit, so we cut out the second layer of chicken mesh. We also built an aboveground section of the tank to demonstrate that the tank will be partially aboveground. About two thirds of the tank circumfrence has the above ground portion, 4 bricks tall. In the afternoon, Lynette and Katelyn went into Masaka for (hopefully) the last time and the rest stayed to continue to hard work or laying the second render. In Masaka, we purchased a small metal tin to do charcoal burns in and had a welder burn holes in the bottom. We printed out the MOU´s for the clusters, got more water for the clinic, and on our way back, we stopped in Kinone to buy some more food for the clinic. While in town, we spoke to the welder about making the charcoal press. He understood the design, but demanded 40,000 UGX to make the press, which is way above the estimated cost of $2-5. Luckily, the travel team had already come up with a press without welding.
And at the end of yesterday, after a hard day of work on everyone´s part, we walked up to the shops up the street and got some banana pancakes and finally saw the stars, which were magnificent.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Weekend Work
The EWB team spent the weekend doing a mixture of work and play. Yesterday morning, we split into two groups; some lay down the first render on the ferrocement tank and plastered the bottom of the clay tank and the others collected agricultural waste (banana leaves, mango leaves, maize stalks and leaves and cobs) to burn to make charcoal. The day was very hot and the morning was filled with hardwork so we retired to naptime for part of the afternoon and then journeyed to the village up the hill across the valley to watch a football game between the villages. Rain and storm interrupted our travels to the pitch so some of us returned to the clinic and some braved out the rain to watch the game.
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