Sustainable Water Proposal

Written on July 15, 2011 by in MGK, Water Source

MGK is striving to provide Mozambicans living in the northern province of Niassa with access to improved water and sanitation. There are over 200,000 people living in and around the city of Lichinga, the provincial capital, and only a small percentage of them have access to clean water and sanitation. Our neighbors sometimes walk up to 7 miles to unclean streams that are used for bathing, clothes washing and latrines. The sicknesses that are created from this situation are innumerable .

Since there are no bore-hole drilling machines (government or private) based within the province, the price of improved water has been set at over $200 USD a meter. This is done through temporarily importing a machine from the neighboring country of Malawi which is difficult for the average Mozambican living on an average of $55.00 USD a month.

The objective of our proposal is to acquire a well drilling machine capable of suppling water to thousands of people living within and surrounding the provincial capital city, Lichinga. Our goal is to train a team of 8 men who can operate and maintain a diesel mud-drill rotary rig. We are committed to helping drill 2 non-profit wells per month for the communities in which we work. This would require the community to raise money amongst themselves to provide the Afri-dev hand pump which costs around $500 USD. This guarantees that the community is not receiving a hand out but invested in the future of their source of water. During the rest of the month the team will drill “for-profit” wells at a just price of $50 USD per meter that will go toward maintenance of the rig and salaries for the drill team.

We have seen measurable success with our sanitation program and have drilled water wells previously with a manual percussion drill that takes up to two weeks for a shallow well. So now it is our desire to expand to drill more wells to reach more people with a drilling project that can sustain itself for years to come.

We are trying to raise a remaining $19,000 of the total $35,217 needed to obtain the drilling rig, equipment, and training necessary to begin drilling wells for the Niassa province of Mozambique. We appreciate your interest and consideration in partnering with us to bring water to those who live without.

Thank you. Please contact me for more information.

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Sunset Malo Ga Kujilana

Written on July 15, 2011 by in MGK


A couple of Television, Radio, and Film students from Syracuse University ran across the Nomba farm recently. You can read about their visit here. They compiled the video above as well.

Josh and Mike are currently making a documentary about Feliciano dos Santos and his band Massukos.

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Bananas and Bodas

Written on July 11, 2011 by in Interns, Source Cafe

(L-R) Lindsay Rosenfeld and Hannah Nemer find some bit of “refuge” at the Souce Café in Jinja, Uganda in their first week.

Over the past two days, the Source Café has proven to be much more than simply the source of coffee, lemongrass tilapia, and some of the best banana bread I have experienced to date (which is quite a tall order considering how much fabulous banana bread I have been blessed to taste over the years). Yes, a source of all things pleasurable to the palate, this café has been our primary “working” place, internet haven, and social space since our arrival on Tuesday. Situated on Jinja’s main road- appropriately named Main Street- the Source Café was created with the intention of fostering positive connections between Jinja’s locals and foreigners over wonderful wonderful food and drink, contains the first lending library in Uganda, and has a beautiful craft shop.  It also houses the Kibo Group, one of the three organizations Hannah and I will be working with this summer. While I cannot confidently claim that I completely understand the mission and structure of the Kibo Group, it is no exaggeration to say that I have been blown away by the group’s local American team, Bobby and Candice Garner, and current intern/Rochester College soon-to-be-senior/born and raised Ugandan, Tom. The three have gone above and beyond in making us feel welcome and I hope, as time progresses, that we can continue to learn of their lives and loves. Born out of the Kibo Group by one of the founders, Mark Moore, MANA (Mother Administered Nutritive Aid) is the second organization we’re documenting this summer. Developed as a relief response to severe acute malnutrition, MANA’s fortified peanut butter packet will HOPEFULLY make its way into the hands of mothers and, thus, children who struggle with malnutrition over the next few weeks. Life moves significantly slower here so we’re not entirely sure when distribution can begin. Last but certainly not least, we’ll be working with Silent Images in creating images to represent the work of the Kibo Group, MANA, and other individuals/groups/experiences that we find moving. We’ll be sure to keep you updated on the progress of our projects.

A few particularly noteworthy moments (David Letterman style minus 6-10):

5. The bananas are much sweeter here than in the states. Not an overwhelming sweetness and definitely still banana… just a little kick of something… like Countrytime lemonade when you mess up the water to powdery-mix ratio. They’re very good though… interesting but good.

4. I’ve loved riding the boda-bodas- bicycle or motorcycle taxis- and am pleased to report that all of our drivers have been slow, safe, and incredibly kind. Originally used in the 60s and 70s for crossing the Kenyan-Ugandan border, drivers would shout “border border” to prospective customers. R’s are hard to pronounce so it was shortened to “boda boda.”

3. As mentioned earlier, time is conceptualized differently here—In the United States “time is money,” “the early bird gets the worm…” Life is so fast paced that if you cannot efficiently utilize your time, you’ll be left behind. Survival of the quickest. A race to the finish. We’re constantly trying to manipulate our individually allotted twenty-four hours so that we can be more productive, make more money, clock more hours, visit more people, etc. etc. that we all must be weary of flipping into auto-pilot in order to complete task after task after task. In Uganda, 2:00 actually means 3:50 or maybe even 4:30… twenty minutes is more like forty-five… and something that may take an hour or two in the U.S. could take days or weeks. To be honest, it’s a bit relieving.

2. (a) People do not say “give birth” here. Instead, they say “produce.”
(b) Yesterday, Bobby headed to the hospital to see Ida (woman who does some women’s empowerment work in Jinja and the village) and her newborn baby girl and ended up picking up Ronald’s very pregnant wife on the way. Long story short, the wife produced in the back seat of Bobby’s truck. Also, while at the hospital, Bobby ran into Irene (an employee at the Source Café) who was in the “maternity ward” because her sister had just produced. June is a good month for popping out the babies!

1. Undoubtedly my favorite aspect of Ugandan culture so far pertains to greetings. Unlike the United States where you hardly acknowledge those around you, Ugandan greetings seem to be long, personal, and distributed with a smile. Hello, How are you?, How was the night?, etc. etc.; Hug/handshake/pat on the back.

Read on…

In bananas and boda-bodas,

Lindsay

This post was originally posted by Lindsay at Silent Images.

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Speeding through Uganda

Written on July 10, 2011 by in Interns

On Wednesday I arrived in Uganda, and so far little here has shocked me more than the roads, which seem governed by little more than the whim of some very speedy drivers. While the roads are marked as two-ways, drivers treat them as one-ways with far more lanes than originally intended. On our drive from Kampala to Jinja I quickly grew to expect that we would more often than not find ourselves face-to-face with another car and side-to-side with several boda bodas (essentially motorcycle-taxis).

There is a definite art to driving in Uganda; the swoops and stops, while terrifying, are so masterful you would think that they were choreographed in advance. Though after my initial awe at the mastery (and shear nerve) of the drivers, I was able to focus on something beyond the steering wheel.

The two-hour drive from Kampala to Jinja was a window into the diversity of lifestyles within Uganda. Kampala is a larger city, bustling with storefronts and traffic jams. But as we moved away from Kampala, we passed an entirely different scene – rural villages marked by goats tied to small wooden structures, boys carrying wooden sticks while herding cattle, and women balancing wood-woven baskets on their heads. Further still, we passed through the Mabira Forest, lush with greens and purples. Our final destination, Jinja, finds a balance in its size and personality. It lacks the speed of Kampala, but maintains some of the sense of urgency that comes with being a commercial hub. But that urgency becomes an upbeat meander as soon as you move away from the main market and into one of the smaller shops that line the road.

One of the smaller shops – the Source Café – was my source of calm throughout our first day in Jinja. A coffee shop that seeks to promote an ethical business model, the Source Café is the perfect spot to enjoy delicious food and welcomed air conditioning; it’s also the perfect spot to sit back and do a healthy amount of people watching. I watched passersby demonstrate the correct way to ride a boda boda (and learned that I had failed miserably at boda boda etiquette earlier in the day). I saw women in the most colorful garments walking beside muted, rusty trucks. And I heard enough Luganda to learn the word for “my salt” (for that, hats off to the little boy who loved playing with the Source’s salt shakers).

I will spend much of the week this way – sitting back and getting to know the locals. While it is easy to want to jump in and immediately pull out the cameras, we made the decision to slow down the process – hoping to connect with our surroundings before trying to capture them on film.

But with over two months to go in Jinja, we have time to discover how best to capture and connect.

 

This article was originally posted by Hannah on her blog.

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Simple?

Written on July 10, 2011 by in Water Source

I have a simple philosophy: Fill what’s empty. Empty what’s full. Scratch where it itches.  Alice Roosevelt Longworth

Most of my life experiences have confirmed what my mother has always said, the simpler the better. I’m quickly learning that this is rarely the case in Uganda… especially when considering water. Throughout the past week, Hannah and I have joined Kibo Group twice to visit villages that work with Water Source. It seems like a no brainer… If 60% of Uganda does not have access to clean drinking water, give them clean water. Dig a well… and walla! No more parasites, no more thirst, no more walking two miles and back to get water from the closest stream! Clean, accessible water for all… Right?

What happens when the well stops working? When a kid swings on the handle and it bends? Or someone accidentally drops something in? Or it has just expired from one too many uses? (Not to mention the dozens of other problems that may, and often do, rear their ugly heads…)

One particularly awesome component of Water Source’s well installation and maintenance model is the village water committee. Before agreeing to drill, a Water Source staff member travels to the village, sits down with as many community members as possible (young and old, male and female), and (among other things) asks the village to nominate a water committee with a variety of positions. While each individual has a different role, altogether they are responsible for informing a repairperson and/or Water Source if there is a problem with the well, collecting money to pay for repairs, implementing good health and hygiene practices, and much more. When specifically considering the repair of wells, here is where it gets quite complicated:

Village X’s borehole isn’t working… again. Last time they called the repairperson, s/he overcharged them for replacing unnecessary parts AND the problem was not actually fixed. The villagers are having trouble getting more money to call her/him back to try and fix it (again). Plus, the treasurer just bought a new bike and there are rumors that he used the money set aside for repairs in order to make the purchase. Therefore, many of the villagers are refusing to contribute money to help pay for the repairs… No money. No repairperson is called. No working well. No water.

Of course the layers of distrust, corruption, and complexity cannot be summarized in a mere one hundred words… I’ll try again soon. Simple? Not quite.

 

Originally posted by Lindsay at Silent Images.

 

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MANA Grand Opening

Written on May 13, 2011 by in Uncategorized

Over two years ago Kibo co-founder, Mark Moore, was inspired with an idea to produce and get MANA in the hands of severely malnourished children in Africa and around the world.  Kibo Group started the ball rolling and after 2 years of hard work by Mark and a team of servant hearted folks, but most importantly with God’s leading hand in the process, MANA now has a production facility in the heart of peanut country in Georgia.

Last Wednesday we celebrated MANA’s grand opening celebration in Fitzgerald, GA.  Here is a link of a local news video story from that day.  http://www.walb.com/story/14574573/ben-hill-co-plant-helping-starving-children-across-the-country?clienttype=printable

We thank God that the Kibo Group could have a small part in this process and for bringing together an inspiring group of people with vision, funds and the will to make MANA happen.  Now the hard work actually begins in making the product and getting it distributed around the world.  The first order is going to Guatemala this month.

Clint Davis

 

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Camera Prototype and Testing

Written on May 7, 2011 by in Water Source

This week we started tinkering with our new camera prototype.  The waterproof camera seemed like such a great solution for many of the problems we find in wells.  We had an entire list of specifications that we wanted to see in the camera, so we started stripping, soldering, taping, and gluing–everything necessary for a good project.  At one point, we needed to make some decisions about some cable connections in our test unit, so we stopped by Johnny Long’s Hackers for Charity for some  advice.

This is where things got interesting.  Johnny, among other things, trains Ugandans in computer repair and maintenance.  When he saw the project, his immediate reaction was to inquire about involving his crew in the product development.  We were thrilled!  In the coming weeks, our hope is that this collaboration yields an inexpensive, open source design that could be replicated all over the developing world.  Since starting the project, I’ve already heard about similar ideas, but haven’t found much available online or on the ground.  Hopefully this can serve as a catalyst for further development of the ideas.

On our way out to Kagoma village we picked up Don Pierce, an aerospace engineer (not kidding!), to help with the testing phase. We quickly ran out of cable before reaching the pipes that had been dropped into the bottom of the well. With guys like Johnny and Don around (and my ability to pay for lunch) this should be a breeze!

We’ll keep you posted on our progress.  If you have design ideas or if you’d like to donate to the project, let us know.

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Planting Trees along the River Nile

Written on May 2, 2011 by in Mvule Project

In a partnership with Nile River Explorers, a Jinja rafting company, Kibo Group has begun planting trees along the banks of the River Nile.

A 100 meter easement next to the river is managed by the National Environmental Management Authority. Kibo Group has been working closely with the NEMA office to ensure proper planting along the Nile.

The photos in our Flicker set shows a local expat school visited Kyabirwa village in order to plant along the banks of the Nile. We planted an assortment of musizi, mvule, and umbrella trees in addition to the caliandra shrubs planted over the last few weeks.

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Waliibo Water Well Report

Written on May 1, 2011 by in Water Source

We recently completed two water wells in Waliibo village. This marks the third well we’ve dug in this area, and our 17th well overall.  If you’d like to read about these two well, download the Waliibo Water Well Report.  Curious about where they are located?  We have marked each well with GPS and mapped them here.

We also have photos and videos of many of the wells.

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KiBO Kam 7000

Written on April 30, 2011 by in Water Source

This was our first trial of a new borehole camera that we created. The camera is designed to go inside the well casing in order to view any problems inside the well.

In this instance, you can see that we took the camera down 60 ft and found several water bottles in the well.

In the future, we would like to use the technology to demonstrate problems that exist inside of the well to villagers. We will also use it to recover broken well parts and remove debris.

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