More Projects

So far the main project I've been working on is education about the benefits of using compost. This has worked out very well so far, but between my visits to schools I've had extra time. In this time I've been looking into two other projects. The first is a water sanitation project. RASD has two clay pot filters that are very effective at removing bacteria and particulates from a water supply. Many people in town get their water from 'protected springs' which contain E. Coli bacteria and other things you don't want in your body. I hope to create the facilities at RASD to create more of these sanitation devices.



The second project I've been looking into is to create a solar cooker. The idea behind this is that the sun produces a lot of energy that can be used to heat food the same way a stove does. All you need to do is to concentrate this energy on the food you want to cook. This can be done by using reflectors in the shape of a parabolic cone (same shape as a satellite dish), with the pot of food at the focal point. Ideally the solar cooker would be mobile, so you can adjust its angle according to where the sun is in the sky, but my prototype is stationary. Right now I only have the supports in place, making it look like a little Stonehenge.



While I've been dabbling in these new projects, Lauren has continued to make charcoal briquettes from coffee husks. Recently we tried to make the husks turn to charcoal more evenly by adding a column of wire in the center of the barrel to increase airflow and heat distribution. This seemed like a great idea, because the previous batches of charcoal had been overdone on the sides and underdone in the middle.
About half an hour after we sealed poured husks into the barrel and sealed it with mud, smoke began pouring out through the smallest holes imaginable, and through thick layers of the mud itself. It seemed that the extra airflow had turned the barrel into an uncontrollable smoking monster. The barrel finally stopped smoking on its own accord. Hopefully this batch turns out well. You can tell when it turns out well because the briquettes look something like enormous Oreo cookies. Yum!




On the topic of delicious treats, Shari runs a little operation producing ginger candy. She buys raw ginger in bulk at the city, then has the small girls that she teaches help her to cook the ginger. As a bonus she has them calculate how much profit she will get from selling the ginger at different prices. We affectionately call this her little sweatshop. One thing I've learned here is that food seems to taste so much better when it's freshly homemade instead of from some far-away factory, and this ginger is no exception.