March 13, 2010
Hey there
Well this blog is not such a downer to be sure. Things have gotten a lot better in village. Tim and I are back into the swing of TIA. Sometimes it is very hard for us to live our lives here in Africa because we are Americans and the way of life is so completely different. Just to reassure everyone that yes we have our ups and downs and our descents to the Earth’s core, we value all the experiences we have had here.
Tim got to spend an extra week in Ouaga two weeks ago. He is undergoing some tests for a toe that has gone numb. More than likely he has a pinched nerve somewhere, but he needs to get some more tests done.
Tim is also acting as the liaison in-between the IT committee and bureau. He is really excited about getting to work closer with the administration. The IT committee is really doing an awesome job to develop a website for the BF volunteers. They have a public side up and working for everyone to look at. Burkina Public website They are also working on the background stuff for the volunteers. It gives them a chance to save their work and then it gets passed on for future volunteers to look at and use.
As of right now Becky is done with second trimester. Her kids are finally starting to behave again. The Vice Principal was pretty rough on them, but now they are starting to stop being rude. I think that a lot of the troubles that we were having had to do with the heat. The kids hate being in class and we aren’t much better at times. Now that it has heated up, I’ve had to close my lab. My computers were getting really hot and I was starting to worry that they would burn up. I have been telling the school that they needed to have the air conditioning fixed but they don’t want to spend the money to maintain the lab. It is really frustrating when you want to help, but they are fighting you every step of the way. So now I’m just hanging out and working on other projects around the house. Becky and I have been working on a way to make charcoal from field waste, biochar. We are hoping to get people to stop using wood charcoal. Thus far we have been able to get the charcoal made. Now we are working on a formula for how to compress the charcoal into briquettes. This is the hard part of the process. We need to thank Ryan Smith and Leslie Coleman for the idea and doing a lot of the work while they were PCVs in the Gambia.
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Hello cousins! I'm sorry to hear that things have been rough, but I've been sending good vibes your way. I hope that life continues to improve. I talk about you to various students at Elmhurst who are thinking of the Peace Corps. I'm curious to know if you'd recommend the experience or not. I've heard many good and bad things from returned PCVs. Regardless, thinking of you and missing you both!
ReplyDeleteAnother significant aspect of bichar is removal of BC aerosols by low cost ($3) Biomass cook stoves that produce char but no respiratory disease emissions. At Scale, replacing "Three Stone" stoves the health benefits would equal eradication of Malaria biochar fund org
ReplyDeleteThe Congo Basin Forest Fund (CBFF)recently funded The Biochar Fund $300K for these systems citing these priorities;
(1) Hunger amongst the world's poorest people, the subsistence farmers of Sub-Saharan Africa,
(2) Deforestation resulting from a reliance on slash-and-burn farming,
(3) Energy poverty and a lack of access to clean, renewable energy, and
(4) Climate change.
The Biochar Fund :
Exceptional results from biochar experiment in Cameroon
The broad smiles of 1500 subsistence farmers say it all ( that , and the size of the Biochar corn root balls )
Google; The biocharfund
Haiti:
WorldStove is on the ground with a major biochar stove relief project.
WorldStove got this effort moving on Jan 14, just 2 days after the quake.
If I were Sir Richard Branson I would Command;
CARBON WAR ROOM: Biochar Stove Action Plan:
1).... Immediate funding of the numerous Biochar Stove groups,
2).....Tho
se who are in production in China & India; Immediate air lift to Haiti
Packaged with rations & water, seeds
The military is first in Logistics. They can give a man a fish quickly, and feed him for many, many days. We can provide them the tools to help feed him for life.
Hey there..Greetings from Texas!! I think of you both often and tell everyone how proud I am of both of you and that I do not know how you do what you do! As I was driving in Houston traffic this afternoon I thought about you and how much I envy you at that moment! Katy was here for two weeks and we had a great time..she is such a joy! Just wanted to say hi so take care and we hope to see you soon!! Love Aunt Paula and Uncle Steve
ReplyDelete