The 7 or 8 days (depending on how you look at it) have been almost as productive as the week before, it would have been as or even more productive as the weeks before this last week except that my back and left leg were complaining that I had been bending over and favoring my right side too much and so I didn’t do any more double digging or composting (although I was approached as to whether someone wanted them to help clear the field of weeds [for a fee of k20,000 for the large side, k15,000 for the small side of course] and they did what would have taken me probably a couple of weeks in a couple of days so I have plenty to compost when I return to the village).I did however make another go at banachar which I got many other villagers interested in and I think it was a success.That is of course contingent on the charballs that the villagers made sure were perfectly spherical burn better then the last ones I made but I think they will.Yesterday I successfully got a taxi to Chipata on the first try and they were only around 40 minutes late!
Tuesday was somewhat of a relax veg out day and I stated up too late watching movies (an ok movie about a Egyptian born engineer married to an American who gets kidnapped by the CIA and tortured because of a terrorist act he did not commit and Fight Club from beginning to end without being interrupted by the pesky parental party).Today I found an ingenious idea for a means of generating power using a small temperature variant.Basically the way it works is you have a bunch of tanks containing a fluid that easily converts into a gas arranged in a circle in such a way as to look like a big watermill (the circle turns). The opposing tanks are joined by a pipe and there is a source of heat in the bottom and something cooler on the top.When the liquid in the bottom is heated and turns to a gas, it rises up to the tube on the top.The tank on the top is cooler however and so the gas converts back to a liquid causing the tank on the top to spin downward towards the bottom and the tank on the top to spin upwards.Although the whole thing does not spin that fast, if you have a large enough circular structure, the torque is enough to give off a descent amount of energy.I am definitely going to build one, the only problem is finding a liquid that changes to a gas easily but is not supper flammable or toxic or both and not really rare.Most of the fluids I have found in that people are using are at least one of the above mentioned heal risks.I would use mercury I think if I was in the states and designing it for a large scale production but to put such a toxin in a place that A. there are almost as many iwe’s (children) as there are udzudzu (mosquitoes) this time of year B. most people have an innate need to take things apart and tinker with things C. there is a remarkable lack of mercury in Dovu village and lastly D. that probably most villagers have never seen mercury or have any idea what it is.Therefore I am in search of a fluid that meets the required specifications and is not dangerous or rare in Zambia.This challenge aside, I think the project has great potential to power villages all across Zambia for next to nothing in parts.
All for now, I’m still wondering why this inventive idea is not more widely known and utilized.
This last week, in all has been a slightly productive week. I planted some more peas, spinach and broccoli, made a Solar Cooker and was going to try it out on Saturday to cook beans but the day was cloudy. I also started a compost pile using the plentiful supply of cattle manure and made a test run of some “banachar” using mashed banana peels, charcoal dust and a little bit of sand. The test bio-charcoal should be ready in a few more days as they are not dry yet. Yesterday I spent aprox. 7 hours working on hoeing my big garden of weeds to get it ready for planting when either I get an irrigation system set up or the rains come. It will be a big process as I only got a small fraction of the field clear, the soil when dry is very hard clay and there is crab grass throughout most of it. Today I am in da BOMA using the internet and hopefully meeting with my forestry counterpart to talk about setting up two projects. One is collection of plastic bottles for use in drip irrigation and the other is clearing fields using biochar instead of open air burning that is very harmful to the environment and people’s health.
Finally made it back to site a day late because my taxi didn’t go to Chadiza the day I was intending it to leave. I feel like I have been trapped in my village for the past week because I don’t have a bicycle and my ankle has still been hurting me. I did a thorough cleaning of the “kitchen/living room” part of my hut and finished building my table. It looks really nice and is really solid; the only thing is it is really tall. I also did my first attempt at a solar stove but because I didn’t have the proper glue I had to use duct tape and couldn’t get it to be flat enough to reflect the rays all in the direction of the pot. I also began making a bed using the “double digging” method that I we had learned before. I planted a few peas and will plant some spinach and broccoli probably tomorrow. Wednesday I will hopefully make it to the Zingalume basic school where I am trying to work with the JETS program on the umbrella solar cooker as well as some other projects.
Sunday I felt better. The taxi came a little after 8:00 and we said good bye to my Zam-Fam and flew as fast as a small sedan loaded with luggage and people can go over bumpy dirt roads back to Chipata.The day was rather uneventful because it was Sunday and just about everything was closed but we bought food at Shopright and I loaded things onto my new mp3 player my family had brought.
Monday we took the bus that does usually leave on time and got to Lusaka about 1500.There we took a taxi to the same guest house we had stayed in the last time we were there and after buying some cloths detergent headed to the Mahak Indian restaurant where they have a really good meal that has free refills.
Tuesday we toured several organizations that make adaptive equipment.We went to APTERS (Appropriate Paper Technology) where they make chairs not that different in concept from the ones my father makes as well as office supplies like the pen holders my family bought.We also went to DisoCare, the wheelchair and general design company that is building my cycle.I came expecting the cycle to be well under way but they were still waiting for payment which was frustrating.The last stop we went on was the Ubuntu office which looked like an office.We bought a shirt made by the wife of the person who was bringing us to all the places who does clothing fabrication and after seeing the house he lives in went to a craft market run by orphans to get some things to bring back as gifts.Then we quickly headed back to the Peace Corps HQ to deal with the cycle issue.We also were going to meet with my APCD but he had gone to northwestern on site prep.Having dinner at Black Night, the really good bread & pizza restaurant, we found a good bus company to Livingston that leaves when it is scheduled to, flagged a taxi and got ready for the next leg of our travels.
We woke up really early again, packed and then waited for the taxi to show up.We were shooting to leave at 5:00 but apparently he had overslept and so shoed up at around 5:40ish.We still were able to get a ticket and this time the bus left almost exactly when it said it would.I really wish this company had a route to Chipata.We got into Livingston at about 13:30 and walked to Faulty Towers lodge where we dropped our luggage and had a lazy rest of the day.
Thursday morning we had breakfast at the guest house and got ready to go see the falls.The falls are very impressive and the climate directly adjacent to them is kind of like a mini rainforest.Like a rainforest, it is very, very wet – it made me think we were in the middle of the rainy season again.My right foot was really rolling over and I decided I needed new boots – and the fact that the ones I was wearing were waterproof did little to prevent my feet from squeezing out water when I walked by the end of the walk.We went back and had a late lunch and walked to a Chinese restaurant for dinner where we met another PCV and her friend visiting from the States.
Friday we had a hurried breakfast and my Dad and I headed out to go on a microlight flight while my Mom and sister were headed to a horse back ride.Although expensive, the flight was wonderful.It definitely reinvigorated my desire to take up flying when I get back to the states… and have the money and time.We got back around 10:00 and waited for the other family faction to arrive.Their excursion was equally enjoyable.We went to the Livingston Shopright and bought a few things for lunch and breakfast Saturday morning, then headed back.For dinner we tried the pizza place there.It wasn’t as good as the one at Black Night but was still not bad.
Saturday we got up somewhat early, ate a quick breakfast and headed to the bus stop.When I got there I realized I didn’t have my water bottle.Against my families concerns I ran back, found it, and took a taxi back to the terminal with 10 minuets to spare.Unfortunately, because I was wearing my water shoes that had less support, I strained my inner ankle in the run back.We made about as good time as in coming to the city and got back to Lusaka at about 1500.First we dropped our stuff at the guest house, and then we went to the PCZHQ to download the photos from my sister’s computer.We forgot my Dad’s which sucked but at least we got my sisters pictures from her semi professional camera.We then took a taxi that was supposed to be headed to the same Mahak Indian Restaurant that we went to last time we were in Lusaka, however none of us could remember how to get there.We finally got directions, but they were for the other Mahak eatery in Kabulonga that didn’t have the same all-you-can-eat dish.
Sunday we regretfully said good buy early because I needed to go to Manda Hill to get shoes and they needed to head to the bus stop.We walked to the end of the road together, and then we headed our separate ways.I think it was a good trip in all.I was successful in finding shoes that fit, although the pair I bought were some of the only ones in the store big enough.Zambians must have small feet.After getting some things from Shopright I took a taxi back to the PCZHQ and started trying to get windows working again on my laptop.I was actually successful in finding the solution to my problem and finally, after 4 months, had it working again.I got to bed really late though and only got about 4 hours of sleep.
Monday I had a few more things to do on my laptop, I needed to check in on the progress of the cycle which of course no one knew what the status of it was, and I tried to get a new mosquito net but apparently they only have the exact number of ones that there are volunteers and they are shipped from Washington so they were not available.I finally got everything packed and got to the bus around 1500.Fortunately, or unfortunately it took an hour before it finally left but I didn’t get there until after midnight meaning another 4 hours night sleep.To make maters worse, I got sick on the bus and just barely made it to the window to through up a couple times.Luckily I was feeling a bit better by the time I got to the house.
Tuesday we had our provincial meeting which was somewhat standard and then in the afternoon there were some workshops for project ideas.By the end of the day I was incredibly tired and I got to sleep before 2100.There was no power or water for most of Tuesday which was sindibwino because I wanted to begin writing this blog.
Wednesday the power came back on and I began writing this epic blog and scanning my laptop for viruses but didn’t do much else because my ankle still hurt.
Thursday, today, I am hopefully going back to my site finally for a good long stay.
The last two weeks or so have been a whirlwind. This time a week ago I was in Lusaka although it seems like a month ago. I got some x-rays of my neck because that was where the discomfort had been and there was nothing out of order. However I stayed in Lusaka until Thursday because PC was finally going to work on my cycle to make one which was ridable. Last Friday I went back to site for the weekend and set up a jury rigged “irrigation” system that basically consisted of 25′ of hose connected to the 200L barrel I bought a while back. The kids were eager to help and filled up the tank several times and watered what was in the range of the hose. On Monday I went back to Chipata to investigate possible bicycle engineers in the area to work with on the creation of a ridable cycle, however this was in vain. Although there is probably the biggest bicycle plant in Zambia here, they didn’t want to deviate from the standard cycle ridden by practically every Zambian. Another engineer was more interested, however he didn’t really have the resources to work on the complexities of designing a three-wheeled cycle using local materials. All this means that it is back to the same designers in Lusaka in May. Monday afternoon I went to the Msekera Conservation Farming Center because I found out that they have low cost irrigation systems for farmers in the area as well as training in their use. They were going to come to my site on Friday the 24th, however since then they have said that their schedule is too tight and it will have to be sometime in May. The one thing I was able to get is a rhizome of bamboo to plant in my Village as the closest place to find bamboo in Chadiza that I or my villagers know of is in Mozambique. I tried to go back to site Wednesday the 22nd but the taxi didn’t come until after 1700 and I didn’t really want to get to bed at 2300 hours so I didn’t take it and will go today hopefully around noon. Although I would have liked to set up an irrigation system this week (next 7 days), I’ve set one of my goals for before I go to Lusaka for the midterm conference is to get a working brick oven. I made one a while back but I have yet to try it out. I also got an innovative way of making a solar oven that uses an umbrella turned upside down. I also plan on making that in the next week. All for now.