Surveying and Fitting Together

25 May 2010

Today, the three essential design teams continued to work hard on their projects. Kerri, Graham, Jeff, and Min headed to the CYEC early this morning to do some manual labor, while Chris, Liz, and Mike split off to do some more community surveying. Contrary to the past five mornings, the weather early today was overcast and dense with humidity. Fortunately, the sun broke through the clouds around noon,burning off some of the mugginess and making for another heat intensive work day. Despite the long hours and air of exhaustion, everyone made good progress.

Yesterday, the majority of the materials were gathered from Nyeri and Nairobi for each team. The Anaerobic Digester team finally received the 1500 and 2000 liter tanks needed for prototype construction. Due to their size, it was no surprise that they attracted the attention of most of the CYEC kids. The Drip Irrigation and High Tunnel teams laughed when they saw swarms of kids climbing into the tanks and frantically struggling to get back out. Because the tanks were upright, the kids had to make chains and pull each other out of the opening. During surveying, Liz, Chris, and Mike got another opportunity to take some funny pictures with the animals of the families being interviewed; Liz and Chris got one with a woman holding an outstretched baby goat, while Mike got one with a chicken.

At the CYEC, the Drip Irrigation team started out preparations for the day by hiring three local workers using the integrative Wishvast system. They sent messages for laborers, and got good luck with those who responded to the call. Using the Wishvast rating system, Graham rated each of the workers a 9 on a scale of 10. Graham, Kerri, and the workers were able to complete digging for three beds on the drip field. Also, the team used the rest of the waste oil from the first container to coat the wood for protection from termites and the elements. These wooden pieces will be used to guard against soil erosion. Lastly, the team cut the black polyethylene piping from the previous year’s high tunnel into end pieces for the beds. Overall, the team made great progress today.

The High Tunnel team had an equally as fulfuilling day. Although no workers were hired for the physical labor, Jeff and Min had a good handle on things. They started by cutting the thick green PVC they purchased yestereday into 1 foot sections. These were cut to equal heights, and were used as couplers to connect the structural hoops to the bottom frame of the high tunnel. Even though the old hoops were sawed off, the posts of the foundation were left intact; the new hoops were attached to these base posts using the new green PVC couplers. The biggest accomplishment of the day was construction of the hoop supports. Each hoop was 27 feet in length, and bent into shape using three separate 9 foot pieces. The team made a fire in order to use the heat to fit the three 9 foot sections together, melding them together with a smaller piece of PVC pipe. All in all, the team built 8 of the 9 hoops – a pretty successful day.

The Anaerobic Digester team ventured through the town of Nyeri with their three CYEC champions – Paul, Joseph, and Jackson. The village visited was home to Joseph and Jackson, who are cousins. As they told the team, it is nearly impossible to interview community members without some prior knowledge or introduction. As a result, the team was grateful to have the boys on board. Liz and Chris split off with Jackson, while Mike went with with Paul and Joseph. Each group took a different route to survey village members. It was very helpful to have the translational abilities of the CYEC boys when explaining concepts about biogas technology to rural households. Additionally, the boys have an amazing understanding of the science behind biogas, as well as its environmental, financial, ans social implications. This was another great benefit reaped by the Anaerobic Digester team. Liz, Chris, and Jackson went to three households to talk to families about the feasibility of investing in a digester. Also, they encountered a few interested people in the street. The most promising visit involved chatting with a local group focusing on managing the national forests. The group talked to a couple of very influential people, in addition to meeting a bunch of others. One was a school teacher interested in a digester for his school, and the other was a member concerned with the capital cost affordability of digesters. Both contacts were recorded, and the group will, after doing some fianancial analysis and consulting with professors, meet with these folks to discuss things further. Mike’s group got about five interviews, including one really important encounter. The group met with a moderately well off farmer who kept a variety of animals, and even had electricity on his farm. Despite this technological advancement, the farmer still expressed interest in using animal waste to feed a digester. Maybe a subsidy or local sponsorship for biogas systems is a solution to the financial problem?

Overall, a lot was learned and done today by each team; everyone is really looking forward to the safari!

Grounded

It’s another evening at CYEC.  Skies are mostly blue, a few cumulus clouds forming.  Maybe tonight it might rain, maybe it won’t.  It hasn’t rained since we got here.  A cool tropical breeze is over the Nyeri plains, birds chirping, happy laughter of kids in the field playing (as they should always), a few “muthungus” getting their hair braided, and all in all, a good day for both CYEC and the Penn State delegation.

I wander over to a group of kids, who curiously instead of crowding around the Penn State students like they usually do seem to be around a Kenyan boy aged around 9 or 10.  It’s mostly girls around him, and one of them seems to be translating for the rest of the group.  They seem to pepper him with a lot of questions.  I get from the conversation that he just arrived today at the center, a stranger apparently dropped him off.  The circumstances around his arrival at the center are so heart-wrenching.  I’m fighting back to hold it together, soon enough I can’t hold it much longer. I pull the hood on my sweatshirt over my head, slowly retreat, and find a corner and let it all out.

I won’t repeat the boy’s circumstances.  Nor do I want to tell the world another sad story from Africa – actually let me be specific and call it Kenya since the continent is big.  Rather, it is stories like his that truly give us the opportunity to reflect and get grounded.  The problems people face come in all forms and it’s no use trying to decide who has the biggest one.  Our focus is and should be on doing something about it (directly or indirectly).  As Penn State students and citizens of the world, a trip like this affords us that opportunity to do something and I’m thankful to each and every person that has in one way or another contributed to our presence here.   Long after we leave, I hope that what we have done here offers that kid who arrived here today a platform for a new start full of hope and great promise.  So go out there and just do something, “pay it forward.”

And now what the essential design teams were up to today:

Drip Irrigation:
All today was geared toward getting the first raised bed completed.  The tropical sun on you as you work the fields definitely gives a heavy workout – move over P90x, Tony you couldn’t handle this! We had a great collaboration with WishVast as we officially hired two people from the local community through the system. Tomorrow we hope to finalize the first bed, and move on to the second.  There will be nine in total.

The first raised bed, Kerri busy adding manure on top of banna leaves.

Anaerobic Digester
This team today spent the day digging.  Heavily soiled, gallons of sweat, and a few blisters later the team had a 5 ft deep hole, and 3.5 feet in diameter.  This is the most critical part of the system as it will be used to hold the digester tank, which by the way arrived today.  Tomorrow the plan is to return to the same local community as yesterday and conduct many more surveys as the final materials arive from Nairobi and Nyeri.  Wednesday building will commence.

All in a day's work

High Tunnel
Good day for the high tunnel.  Jeff spent the day as a hands-on project manager, primarily working with all the other essential design teams procuring wood from an old structure, and later spending the rest of the day treating the wood with used car oil.  Min split off to take his turn tracking down the supplies in town for all the essential design projects.  Ofcourse we didn’t let him wander off alone into Nyeri town, could you imagine all the autograph requests with people thinking he’s Jet Li?  He was accompanied by Andrew, who has been a ton of help to all the teams.  I’m amazed at how much he does, from logistical issues, to having a firm grasp on the technical details of all the projects….and BTW, he’s got one of those accents that make you want him to keep talking.  The high tunnel team will spend their Tuesday trying to set up the skeletal structure of the tunnel using manual drills.

Jeff and his project team, treated wood in the foreground

Graham.

Rabbit, No Hat

Today was planned to be a day of rest.  However, there was much work to be done and, aside from sleeping in, it was busy as usual for most of the essential design team.  Also, today was not a CYEC day.  The majority of work was done “in the field” in the form of surveys and data collection.  Members from the Essential Design, Wishvast, and Mashavu teams all conducted surveys today to supplement our implementation efforts.  Today was also a day of planning for the week ahead and, for some, a day of worship.

For those who went out into various communities for surveys, this was the most intimate experience of Kenya to date.  Within Essential Design, the Anaerobic Digestion (biogas) team has the most stake in collecting data from surveys.  The data will allow the team to adjust their existing design in order to ensure that the technology is appropriate in terms of affordability, useability, and desirability.  The team also wishes to ensure that the digester is designed to utilize the most readily available organic waste materials.  Data is also being collected on current cooking practices and costs.

The best Essential Design story of the day stems from the biogas team’s surveying adventure.  After a lengthy travel by foot, to just beyond Nyeri, the surveyors reached a rural Kenyan community.  Surveyors included Michael Shreve, Liz Bell, and Chris Ferdik.  Two intertrepters from the CYEC and one observer (Kerri Smith of Drip Irrigation).

The picture at the end of this bloc shows one of the most interesting experiences of the day.  At the second household, upon asking tho take pictures, we were urged to “come see the rabbit.”  This actually meant come hold the rabbit by the ears, as you can see.  We took turns holding the rabbit the “Kenyan way” and there was much laughter, mostly at us.  It was all in good fun though – a moment that helped to bridge the gap between our culture and theirs.

In the end only two surveys were conducted by the biogas team.  However, those two surveys allowed for the careful omission of questions that were deemed unnecessary.  Many observations of the Kenyan countryside were also made, and Penn State’s presence in the community was announced.  The team intends to return to the same community (hopefully Tuesday) to continue surveying.

The drip irrigation and high tunnel teams spent the day at the Ivory Hotel (our home base), but still made progress.  The Drip Irrigation team was excited to find hired labor to help with their ground preparation (constructing raised beds).  This labor was coordinated using the Wishvast system, a huge step for both teams, which highlights the interdisciplinary nature of our efforts here.  Negotiations were intense between Graham Gaya of Drip Irrigation and Chanakya Mehta of Wishvast.  In the end, Wishvast’s budget covered 70% of the labor costs in return for the opportunity to use their system in coordination with Essential Design.  The Drip Irrigation team also prepared instructions for the hired workers and planned out the rest of the week (stay tuned).

The High Tunnel team first met with Andrew, the CYEC’s materials and logistics guru, and subsequently planned out the up coming week.  Min Pack conducted some research and found a very promising rate of return using the current price of tomatoes (the most profitable cash crop right now in the area).  Finally, a chance meeting with local farmer led to the arrangement of a site survey visit the his farm and an informal focus group with other farmers in the same social network.

Overall, it was a productive day, for a Sunday, and all of Essential Design is beginning the new week feeling confident in the pr0ject and proud of the accomplishments to date.  From Africa, Kwaheri.

Engineering and Culture

Like every day at CYEC, we exchanged ideas and culture with the students there. We are getting to know each other more daily, building relationships with both the students on our team and, during our free time, with the other kids as well. Today, Min, Jeff, and some of the students on their team constructed a football with a cucumber, foam, and duct tape. The students actually have several homemade balls of scraps like plastic bags. The football turned out to be pretty good and we had fun having a catch with the students. Despite the lack of American football in Kenya, Simon already throws a better spiral than I do.

The anaerobic digestion team started out their day by calculating the water, manure, and gas needs of the digester for different sized families. This took them a significant amount of time. Next, they worked with the CYEC students on their team to prepare for surveying the community tomorrow. They hope to determine the market for anaerobic digesters. They taught the students about their survey until they understood enough to be able to translate if necessary. They continue to exchange more anaerobic digestion information and culture with their students. The team is really excited about their students’ enthusiasm for biogas and the digester. They already learned and understand so much and are eager for more.

The high tunnel team make progress in figuring out structural issues with PVC. One problem they faced was how to connect the pieces of PVC without couplers. They decided that they would purchase two different sizes and fit one into the other. They realized that the tendency of PVC to get brittle under the sun should not be too problematic because it only snaps with considerable force bending it, which it should not experience in the high tunnel. The high tunnel team also continued teaching their students, who can now explain why certain parts are necessary in a high tunnel and the benefits of the structure. They are really excited that their students are opening up and sharing everyday conversations.

On the drip irrigation team, we are also working on educating the students partnering with us about the system. Today we reviewed the concepts we presented yesterday and had professors Jesinta and Denis teach us about field preparation and the drip irrigation system. Our goal is to have them explain what work we need done to the people we will hire through Wishvast. The workers will come on Monday to prepare the raised beds. We also removed the stump in the field and filled in the hole. They CYEC kids had a good laugh at my attempts to help dig. Next, we placed stakes to mark the corners of each bed. The students mostly took charge of this- we love seeing when they can make progress without us.

In the evening, we went to the Banana Leaf for a delicious buffet dinner. They even had a DJ and we enjoyed dancing and taking an enjoyable break. We are all looking forward to the arrival of our supplies next week and the construction of our designs.

CYEC kids playing with the homemade football

Graham working with CYEC students to layout the raised beds

Tomayto, Tomahto

Today was one of most productive days for the Essential Design team yet. At least in terms of starting some physical work on the projects, it was extremely successful.
The team started the day at the CYEC by meeting together with Andrew to discuss materials and final designs for each project. After this point, each team (Digestor, High Tunnel, and Drip) split off to take care of specific business for the rest of the day.

High Tunnel
The high tunnel team settled on a design to refurbish last year’s high tunnel. Every other polyethylene hoop will be replaced by an equal length of PVC pipe. This will add structural support to the high tunnel while minimizing costs as much as possible. In order to be prepared for buying materials later on in the day, the team walked down to the high tunnel to recheck measurements and verify that every material necessary to purchase was accounted for. Once this was accomplished, the team split up with Jeff and Amy rewriting the bill of materials for the Nyeri materials trip and Min taking the students into a classroom to educate them on the purpose of the high tunnel. He was able to connect with them, get them comfortable opening up, and sharing their opinions. This has been a struggle for all the teams to this point. It seems that they don’t want to be disrespectful by speaking up or criticizing the designs which is something that is very much welcomed. Also, they refuse to speak up for fear of possibly being wrong. It is still key that each team addresses them as peers and lets them know that their input is integral to the success of the projects.
After lunch, the team rounded up the students to do some of the initial work on the high tunnel. There were two jobs taken care of the rest of the day. They removed the plastic to start. The girls put prior knowledge of dress-making to use by cutting the plastic much like they would a piece of fabric.The boys cleared large weeds from around the high tunnel with machete-like tools the Penn State students realized quickly were difficult to use. Min’s golf swing tactic inspired some laughs from the Kenyan students who them corrected him. It was good to see that they were not afraid to try and teach us Americans a thing or two.  This took another two hours. The students got involved in this and were much more enthusiastic than previously.

Digestor
The disgestor team also met with Andrew at the beginning of the day to straighten out their final design and get him on the same page. They made a great deal of progress with the students afterwards by giving them information on biogas production. Around this time, Mike went with Khanjan, Andrew, Gill, and Kabu on a trip to buy materials in Nyeri. The purpose of the trip was to get price estimations for the essential design projects. Chris and Liz dug the outline of the digester as well. Because they didn’t have materials to continue the project further, they helped the drip and high tunnel teams later.

Drip Irrigation
Like the other teams, the drip team met with Andrew to get him up to speed with their design and material needs. They took the students out to the fields and separated them into groups according to their interest in either the high tunnel or drip projects. Kerri and Graham then led their students to a classroom to educate them on why drip irrigation is something that can be valuable to Kenyans and why their specific design is the best one to fit the context here. The students were very engaged in this exercise. One student in particular showed particular interest by taking over the task of designing the water tank platform for them. He actually modified the drip team’s idea to make it better. With his background in carpentry, this will not be of any concern to the team. They then proceeded to the fields to stake out the boundaries of the area and the corners of the beds. With the help of the students they cleared the field also in about two hours.
As the teams work more and more with the students, they are noticing that the students are completely capable of completing any task asked of them. All they need is the proper guidance at the outset and they will take it from there. They work extremely hard, never complaining or asking for breaks; they actually get bored if you don’t give them anything to do.

When Mike returned from his trip he met with Kerri and Jeff to discuss what materials could be found in Nyeri and which ones would need ot be ordered from Nairobi. Also, they were able to come up with a fairly accurate total price for all the essential design projects. This came out to about 90,000 Kenyan Shillings, 40,000 Shillings within the budget for the team. All the essential design teams will continue their work tomorrow as necessary. Sawa sawa.

Introductions

Today was the kickoff day for all of our projects and the first day we were at the CYEC. For the high tunnel team, we got to survey the state of the existing high tunnel which was built last year. It was still intact and we came to the conclusion that due to the polyethylene pipes warping under intense heat during the hot seasons we needed a better viable option. Since our plan was to use PVC pipes in the first place we decided to mix our plans built up in the semester and use some of the materials from the existing high tunnel. Similar things were done by the drip irrigation team and the biogas team. The drip irrigation team surveyed the plot of land next to the high tunnel and began to decide on which exact materials to obtain for the project. The biogas team decided it would be best to keep the digester somewhat near the kitchen area so that the gas can be piped to the kitchen. One of the things we will be doing is we will be comparing how tomato plants grow on the irrigation fields versus how it grows in the high tunnels. Each team also began to introduce the projects to the children at CYEC that were interested in the project. Finally, everyone came up with material lists and made modifications on their original designs to fit the constraints we were faced with at the CYEC. (i.e. budget constraint, weaker materials, different dimensions in materials and on). We also let the students choose which projects they would like to work on for the next 20 days.

Chicken Tickles?

Last night, in the gentle tropical breeze and shivering palm tree shadow, we arrived in Nairobi, Kenya. The first night was peaceful and everyone got here safe and sound. This morning, we had breakfast at two local restaurants and experienced for the first time the Kenyan concept of time. What would take the Waffle Shop in State College 10 minutes took almost an hour here. After that, we went to visit the Giraffe Park and the Animal Orphanage. Many of us “made out” with the two beautiful giraffes. Don’t worry – their saliva is anti-bacteria. In the Animal Orphanage, a girl on our team experienced an epic scene – a monkey who escaped out of the cage saw her banana and robbed it! We saw many other animals that star in “Lion King”, including a sleeping lion, cheetahs, ostrich, warthogs, and leopards. We continued on our journey, and arrived in the “Ivory Resort” in Nyeri. This is where we will be staying for the next three weeks. Tonight, we had several meetings to discuss the big picture and specific plans for our time here. The busy night foreshadows our hard work and crazy schedule ahead.

A local hang-out by our hotel in Nairobi

Giraffe’s kiss

Wishvast

Jumbo from Nyeri, Kenya. We arrived in Nyeri at about 7:00PM and while waiting to get the debriefing, the team sat down and got both WishVast systems operational. Laptops are ready, cell-phones loaded! WE ARE READY TO FIRE!!!

Penn State students are hard at work on the different projects here, with a group of nearly 40 students, faculty, and staff in total.  While we will be demonstrating and operating the system within the context, the first thing is to get all cell-phone users from the Penn State teams on WishVast, so that we have a nice ready to use communication channel within the group.  We’ll be making recommendations and demonstrations to the entire group soon as to how WishVast can be used to help with coordination and logistics while here in Kenya. In the grand scheme of things, a major priority is to identify partners at the CYEC tomorrow and begin sharing our projects with the local community.

Aside from testing and implementing the projects, the teams will be taking additional steps to increase learning and development opportunities.  For instance, we will be actively documenting issues that arise around ethics and cultural sensitivities.  As we will be working closely with local children from the CYEC to market our ideas and seek help in navigating this region of Kenya, it is difficult to speculate on the specific issues that may arise.  Regardless, we have a process in place to systematically document all ethical issues and how they are resolved.

Alongside the WishVast implementation, we will also be conducting IRB approved interviews to understand the common practices within the working communities in and around Nyeri, and East Africa in general. We will be meeting with Mary, the nurse at the clinic at CYEC, who will be helping us identify specific communities and individuals.

Essential Design

For our teams in Essential Design (EDSGN), the trip has been eye opening!  Shengnan told about our adventures in the trip so far above. Besides these fun observations, we also came across more “real” observations of everyday life, even pertaining to our projects.  FOr the High Tunnel team, they saw large scale greenhouses, much like their own project; the Irrigation Drip team saw many farms and uses of the tanks in the area; the tanks were also important to the Anaerobic Digester team, since it will be a crucial material for us.  bananas. Also for our team, we saw people lugging firewood and charcoal to their homes, which are problems we are trying to address.  These observations helped to inspire me more in that we saw what we have been studying all semester.
When we got to our hotel, we immediately settled in and buckled down with group and Khanjan debriefings.  It is important for us to get a solid gameplan in order to run smoothly.  In our team meeting, we began thinking of ice breakers and activites to initiate fun relationships with the kids we are working with. Then we started to develop a way to teach the kids about the problems and how our solutions/projects will address them.  Then, we sat down with Khanjan and Andrew (our technical guru from the CYEC) and developed budgeting and financial plans.  Tomorrow should be a crazy day for Essential Design!

Mashavu

Nairobi is a big city thriving with businesses. There are many huge billboards. Surprisingly, many are in English. English is an official language of Kenya, alongside Kiswahili. Children start learning English in Primary school. This makes the communication process of Mashavu easier.

This morning, we met with Ryan Tinker, a website developer from Chicago working for the CYEC for the next three weeks. He told us that currently, there is no way for the health administrators and CYEC administrators to know what the epidemiology or health trends are in the country. All the health data is compiled in paper. He has already developed a digital data collection system similar to the medical history survey that Mashavu uses in the beginning of an encounter. His responsibility is to teach the nurses in the CYEC clinic how to use the system. With the data system, the health administrators will be able to add some solid data in their reports and make decisions such as what medicine to purchase based on the database. We saw that Mashavu could potentially be a good addition to the database, since we will be able to collect the vital health measurements. Tomorrow, Ryan will meet with Mary and CYEC kids to discuss about what are essential to include in the database. He will update us on that.
Tonight in a series of debriefings, we laid out the big picture for the next three weeks. Our three clinics will be spread out in three weeks. This Saturday, we will hold the first one in CYEC. Next Saturday, a clinic will be held in Mweiga, a small town 45 minutes away. The “Big Bang” demo will potentially happen in the UNIDO energy kiosk in Ngong. For the time between our clinics, Mashavu team will be seperated into the following teams: Focus group survey, social science survey, “fun” survey, website team, and Samir will take the lead on a study combining social entrepreneurship and life principles. The plan for tomorrow is to meet with CYEC kids and make them understand the concept and operation of Mashavu.

Blog Authors this round:

Shengnan Chen (Mashavu)

Chris LoRusso (WishVast)

Liz Bell (Essential Design)

Anaerobic Digestion – Video 2

Greg Lackey and Mike Shreve give us their goals and design for the digester in this video:

Anaerobic Digestion – Video 1

This video is done by Chris Ferdik and Liz Bell from the Anaerobic Digestion Team. Enjoy & Learn!