More Assessments and a Visit to a Clinic

My trip today with Ribbon of Hope Self Help Group took us to Lomolo, about 40 minutes cycle from Mogotio and the main road. The conditions were not too bad, despite heavy rains recently. We visited three families, one of which has two orphans. As with the other villages, everyone seemed equally deserving and, no doubt, there are many other deserving families and orphans in all the places we visited.

There was a woman with twelve of her own children (two of whom are grown up) to take care of, yet she is also taking care of a teenage orphan who is doing very well at school. I really don't know how she makes her meagre income go so far! There was also a woman with no children of her own who is taking care of two orphans (who are not siblings). One of them is HIV positive, the other may be, but has not been tested. And there is a young mother who is so sick herself that she is finding it difficult to look after her one daughter.

Once we have done the assessments we can get a better idea of how we can help, especially in ways that will support the whole family. We need to find income generation activities that will give the family extra money and some of that money needs to be forthcoming very soon. Everyone we have spoken to has arrears of some kind, along with bills that soon have to be paid. People do a combination of borrowing and begging sometimes, but most very poor people don't have easy access to microfinance.

On the way to the village, we passed a man who had to make the difficult and expensive trip to Mogotio to see the area chief. Apparently, the microcredit organisation he went to insisted on him getting a letter from the chief. In addition to the time and money (including lost earnings), the chief will require some money, too. Asking someone in a position of authority just to do their job doesn't come cheap.

After the assessments, we went to see a client who is in a local clinic. He's very sick, either not responding to his antiretroviral (ARV) drugs or just not taking them. Neighbours say he was drinking a lot, which often results in people not adhering well to their drug regime, for whatever reason. The drugs are hard to hold down when you don't have enough food but also, probably, when you have a hangover.

Anyhow, we didn't get to the bottom of it because he had such a bad bout of meningitis that he looks like he is recovering from a stroke. He is finding it hard to talk and is difficult to understand. My colleague says he probably has other impairments in addition to his speech. He is emaciated and weak, which is not surprising. We can only hope that his current condition improves and he gets back to his ARV regime. But it's not a foregone conclusion.

On the subject of medical facilities, there was an article in the paper recently about an assistant health minister who visited a hospital in Bungoma, unannounced. I don't see the point in letting a hospital know you are coming as many things can be done to make conditions look better than they are. Anyhow, the man got many shocks. He saw how long people had to wait, some even dying as they waited, the arrogance with which people are treated, the conditions in the hospital and the tendency of people working there to try to cover up things. There were even the bodies of some children that had been left on a bed and he was told they were sleeping.

The man must have a fair idea of what things are like in public hospitals. If he doesn't, he should look for another job. Hospitals are underfunded, understaffed and cannot deal with the number of patients they get. The staff are often not very well trained, they don't get paid too well and they are underequipped. Drugs and other things are in scarce supply and buildings are old and crumbling. These are the conditions in which, UNAIDS claims, only 0.6% of HIV transmission comes from unsafe medical practices. Just how much evidence do they need that this claim should be reconsidered?

Development is Not All About Money

It's basic science that if you insulate a hot cooking pot properly, the food inside will continue cooking even after you remove the heat source. But however basic, probably most people in the world cook with a continuous heat source, gas, electricity, parafin, wood, charcoal, whatever.

So it comes as a surprise to some people, people who would recognise the basic science, that you don't need to keep the food over a continuous heat source. You can bring things to the boil and then transfer them to a heat box, hay box, cooking basket, fireless cooker, whatever you want to call it. This insulated container will allow the food to continue cooking. Even if it's something slow to cook, like beans, it will eventually cook completely.

And when people don't even have ready access to the basic science, seeing food cook without any obvious heat source seems like magic. Of course, there is an obvious heat source, but when the food is removed and put in a stone cold container, it still cooks. Using this method you can save a lot of money on fuel. I don't think I need to rehearse the benefits of cutting fuel use or cutting costs of any kind.

The technology goes way back but interest in it seems to wax and wane. I've heard it was popular during and after the second world war, when there were shortages of food and fuel. And not only is the technology widely known and cheap, it can even be totally free to make one of these devices. Then it saves you money and you can use it to cook, keep things hot, even keep water hot all night so you can use it to wash with in the morning.

Here in Nakuru, working with Ribbon of Hope Self Help Group, I'm hoping that most people will be interested in making and using this neat trick. Most of them use charcoal or wood. These are expensive and trees are in short supply. It also requires a lot of work to search for fuel. Any way of cutting fuel use and costs would be welcome as most people in and around Nakuru are poor. And using cooking baskets even reduces smoke inhalation, water use and degradation of the nutritional value of the food because it cooks at low temperatures. And washing up is easier!

You can buy cooking baskets, marketed as fireless cookers, in the supermarkets. They are fine looking and work very well. But they are expensive. Not many people would shell out the equivalent of a whole week's salary, perhaps even two week's salary, for one of these. But the good news is that they are easy to make and they can be made using locally available materials.

On Friday we went to Athinai, a place totally dominated by sisal plantations and some factories that use the raw material for very basic products, such as ropes. The best of it is exported as a raw material, earning the company less than it should and earning locals even less. Especially considering the factory's habit of not bothering to pay people for months and even years.

Anyhow, the factory has some by-products, some of which are dumped, some of which are sold for good money and some of which are sold for very little money. The dry fibres, even the ones that are not fit to be sold, make perfect padding for cooking baskets. People in Athinai can get it in large supplies, free of charge. If they can't get enough, or if the factory starts to charge for it, they can use rolled up newspapers, dry banana leaves, hay, straw or anything dry and light that is a good insulator.

Instead of weaving expensive baskets and using other materials that go into the beautiful cooking baskets you see in supermarkets, I got a couple of used sacks in the market, one small and one large. People can get sacks free of charge if they know where to look or who to ask. Then all they have to do is stuff the large bag, make a little nest for the samll bag, which will hold the pot. A piece of material of some kind, stuffed with the stuffing and tied off or sewn, will do as the lid. Then tie off the big sack to make it all snug and you're cooking.

In front of the people who turned up for the demonstration, we stuffed a pile of sisal waste, something people there are so familiar with, into the sack as described. A pot of rice was brought to the boil and transferred to the cooking basket. And 40 minutes later people were shown the cooked rice. Not only were they astounded, but they were invited to take the whole thing apart so they could be sure there was no trick involved, which they did.

Cooking just for myself, I spend about ten shillings a day on charcoal but people with families can easily spend twice or three times that amount. It is estimated that you can cut charcoal (or wood) use by half by employing a cooking basket. So the amount saved is considerable. If someone earns 150 shillings a day working in the fields and they spend 600 shillings a month on charcoal, it's like getting an extra two day's wages without having to do the work. 24 extra days a year!

Rather than just concentrating on income generating activities, Ribbon of Hope is also looking at ways of cutting expenditure. These cooking baskets are perfect because they need not cost anything and they start saving you money straight away. Coupled with solar cookers, the amount of money people could save throughout the year begins to look like an excellent bonus. If you only use the solar cooker on 100 days of the year, that's another 6 day's wages to add to make a cool extra one and a half months. And as we don't have to give people this estimated 4,500 shillings a year, we think it's a pretty sustainable way of helping people with their finances.

The Free or Almost Free Model

Walking around Nakuru town today, I was thinking about why a particular project was going so slowly. The project involves showing people how to make simple solar cookers. They just require cardboard or something similar, reflective paper, glue, tape and a blade. But the main problem has been getting hold of the materials in large enough quantities at as low a cost as possible. It's all very well to say 'just buy them' but I don't have a budget and if I buy them, what use will that be to the free or almost free model.

I would like to think that certain things can be constructed using free or very cheap materials. In Western countries, such as the UK, you can get all the cardboard you need by visiting a supermarket or department store. But here, you have to pay. I don't know about the lowest price yet, but I had to pay the price of half a kilo of maize for a single cardboard box. They are reused until they can no longer be called a box, and that's a very good thing. You don't see lots of cardboard box waste lying around, not until it's completely useless. Because this 'waste' is valued, it doesn't present the sort of litter problem they have here with plastic bags, say.

Similarly, I wanted to find some kind of durable reflective paper. I know that lots of sweets, biscuits, chocolate and other products are wrapped in such paper. Even better, car tyres are wrapped in a very durable reflective paper. Having identified these sources, I now need to identify places where people can get the stuff in large enough quantities. I'm still working on that. Some shops I visited were reluctant to hand over any more than a small sample, others simply said they didn't have any to spare. Perhaps this stuff is also reused for something, perhaps people are just holding out for an appropriate price. Tin foil would be Ok but it's expensive and not very durable.

Anyhow, I think people who are making these solar cookers should source the materials by themselves. They will get a much better price and will be better placed to source the materials for free. I just want to know that the materials are available so no one can tell me that I'm asking them to do something impossible. I'm getting closer, but I'm not there yet. Once I have found a good place to get adequate amounts of cardboard and reflective paper at a good price, hopefully free, then I can tell people where to go and get started making the cookers. I'll throw in a free pot of glue and anything else that is required!

I've had similar experiences with cooking baskets (also called fireless cookers). The main material for these devices, which insulate cooking pots sufficiently to allow partially cooked food to cook completely, is some kind of stuffing. An ideal kind of stuffing is a waste product from a local blanket factory. However, this waste product is also used for furniture, pillows, quilting, etc. So, again, you have to pay for it. Enough for a medium sized cooking basket costs about the price of two kilos of maize meal, enough to feed quite a number of people. I'm sure buying it in large quantities would bring the cost down but it's a challenge to the free or almost free model. Alternative, waste from local sisal factories could be used, but this too costs money as it is used to stuff furniture.

Another of our proposed projects is to construct a press that can compress briquettes made from organic waste. I spent some time looking for someone who could make such a press (it's not as easy to find someone as you might think!). When I found one, I gave him some plans I had found on the internet, a variety of wooden and metal ones. I was surprised that he recommended making the press from metal because the sort of high strength wood required would be very expensive. On the other hand, the metal could be sourced from scrap metal dealers. The labour would be cheap and I'm expecting to have a version of the press in the next week or so.

The briquettes can be made out of many things, fruit and vegetable peelings, charcoal dust, sawdust, waste from food production and other sources. Getting large amounts of waste in the right form may not be so easy. Sawdust has to be paid for, though the other materials are free (unless the word gets around that they are valuable). But they will probably need to be chopped or crushed so they can be mixed in the right proportions. And chopping or crushing machines are available, but they are very expensive. Ok, expensive means tens or hundreds of dollars. But where you only stand to make a few dollars a day profit at the most, no one is going to shell out large amounts for materials.

Economy of scale would make a huge difference, of course. But the aim of these projects is to be small and cheap. They need to be small enough and cheap enough for people who have very little money and probably very little education. If the money, training and education were readily available, there wouldn't be so much of a problem. So I'm looking for as many of these 'free or almost free' ways of either making money, saving money or a combination of the two.

Luckily, the organisation I'm working with, Ribbon of Hope, in Nakuru, has a number of other projects. We grow crops and support people to produce things that get them an income. Some of our clients keep livestock and we are investigating the possibility of breeding rabbits for food. These are all good 'bread and butter' projects because they provide people with income or food or both. But the more we can branch out and find other ways of making money, especially ways that don't require much capital, the better. Hence my aim to work on the free or almost free model to see how far it can take us.

Generating Self Reliance

Sometimes I get carried away when I'm blogging and I write something quite different from what I set out to write. The other day I wrote about how food insufficiency could affect people's likelihood of transmitting or becoming infected with HIV. That's fine, but my intention was also to say why I ended up working for a community based organisation that aims to help people become more self reliant, to produce food or goods that they can sell, or to identify ways of cutting their day to day costs. But now I think the answer should be clear.

Ribbon of Hope Self Help Group, Nakuru, are working on a number of projects involving both HIV positive and HIV negative people in poor communities. Those projects range from growing food crops and keeping livestock to making things for sale here and abroad, providing various services and spreading intermediate technologies, such as solar cooking. The main thing is that we find income generation activities that are easy for people to do, even if they have very little money and training. If people are able to make or save some money, they will be more self reliant and better able to cope with the many stresses of life.

Today was a great day for solar cooking. The location was ideal, about one kilometer from the Equator, and the sun was hot. We got there in time to set things up, not that that takes very long, and then started to answer the numerous questions people had. We were in a conspicuous area, so groups of people would form and disperse throughout the morning. I have no idea how many people came to see food being cooked using bits of reflective cardboard and pots that were painted black and stuck in a bag. But when the food was cooked, there were around thirty people willing to taste the rice, boiled maize meal and cabbage. If I'd known so many people were coming I would have prepared something more appetizing. But there will be plenty of opportunities to go back and demonstrate again!

Will this prevent HIV from spreading? Not on its own, no. But there are many intermediate technologies that can provide people with cheap or free energy, solar cookers are just one example. We will be demonstrating others when we have the equipment. There are also many ways people can make money. We are researching the ones which will be most suitable for this particular context, poor, rural, isolated, etc. We want each person or family to take on more than one way of making or saving money, in fact, as many as possible each. The Scottish say 'many a mickle makes a muckle', here in East Africa they say 'haba na haba hujaza kibaba' (little by little fills the pot).

Those who collect HIV data are probably not going to note a drop in HIV transmission in this area next year, or perhaps even several years from now. HIV is going to continue to spread in an area where the disease is endemic, where people are poor and lack health facilities, where a good level of education is rare, where basic things like food and water are in scarce supply, where infrastructure is falling apart and where most people don't work.

But Ribbon of Hope aims to reduce poverty to the extent that some people will be able to send their kids to school, pay for their health care and provide them with adequate nutrition and clean water. And when those children leave school, they will have a better chance of being able to find work, being better educated and healthier than the generation before them. They may even have developed some entrepreneurial skills and know good ways to make enough money to do the same for their children.

Most HIV money is spent on very expensive projects that target one disease and only one aspect of that disease, sexual behaviour. As long as the contexts in which this sexual behaviour takes place are ignored, most of the money is being wasted. Health, nutrition, food security, education, infrastructure and many other things are crying out for money but unless sexual behaviour is somehow involved, they will not be funded. This approach has not worked. HIV rates have waxed and waned in certain areas and in certain demographic groups. But rates are still high and the levels of sexual practices said to spread HIV have remained relatively unaffected by the hundreds of millions of dollars that have been thrown at the problem for over two decades.

People's sexual behaviour is at least partly determined by the conditions in which they live and work (in addition to physiological conditions, hormonal levels, etc). But their health seeking behaviour, their diet, the way they raise their children and their attitude towards education are also constrained by these same conditions. If you want to influence people's sexual behaviour, and especially their attitude towards sexual health and risk, you need to look beyond their sexual behaviour in isolation. This sexual behaviour is likely to be pretty much the same all over the world. But the conditions in which people live and work are very different in Kenya than they are in, say, Ireland.

There are exceptions, but most people I have met who are HIV positive spend their days getting on with the same things as people who are HIV negative, and worrying about the same things, too. They need to earn money, pay bills, raise their children, support their dependents, get by and perhaps even think about the future, if there is any money or energy left over for that. That's why I think a community based organisation that helps people achieve these goals is doing more to reduce the spread of HIV than all the expensive HIV prevention programmes that UNAIDS can think up.

Income Generation Activities Galore

Just over a year ago I appealed to people I know, especially on Facebook, to help me to identify possible income generation activities suitable for developing countries where little capital, skills or infrastructure are available. I was overwhelmed by the slightly fewer than two responses I received and the first one didn't fly. So I set about researching on the internet, contacting people and talking to anyone who was prepared to discuss the subject. Now that I have started making a list, I decided to post it here on my blog so that others trying to research the same thing won't have to start right at the beginning. And maybe some people will even contribute to the list!

The list is by no means exhaustive and the categories are just based on the way things look from here. They overlap to some extent and they are in no particular order, though I think the first two are particularly important because local acceptability can make or break an income generation activity, no matter how 'good' it may seem. And some of the activities that are already widely carried out have a lot to recommend them. The community based organisation I work with, Ribbon of Hope, already grow a number of crops and have financed several livestock programmes. But it's time to branch out, try new things, diversify and ensure that people get the maximum benefit possible.

The approach we are likely to take is to ask our clients what gaps they feel there are in their local market, what local materials are available or could be made available. Also, what skills are there, what do people already know how to do. There must be local products that we don't know about and sometimes it turns out that people can make or do things but just hadn't realised the value of that skill. I'm not sure in advance what we will gain from this or how we are going to elicit the sort of information we want, but I think it could be a valuable exercise. Rather than just teaching people a skill or a few skills, we would also like them to be able to assess all the opportunities that exist and consider acquiring as many skills as possible. So that's the first category.

The second category is to get people to help us make an inventory of what could be produced in the area and sold in a local market or business. I'm thinking of things like sunflower or sesame oil, peanut butter, jam from seasonal fruits, honey, butter, cheese or anything else, even things that are already produced but for which there is little or no market, yet. I'm thinking of a campsite I stayed at in Tanzania which sourced things like this in a relatively remote area. The result was spectacular because many of these products here are only available in highly processed, branded forms (which taste disgusting). They should be produced locally if at all possible.

Ribbon of Hope already supports several shambas (smallholdings), which I have mentioned several times on this blog. Those smallholdings should produce everyday foods that people in the area need but they could also produce high value crops, such as sesame and sunflower seed, where clients can also produce the sesame or sunflower oil. These have the advantage of yielding highly nutritious oil cake as a by-product, which makes excellent animal feed. We should produce animal fodder, especially fodder that can be stored for use during dry periods, which are all too regular and protracted here. And there are all sorts of interesting crops we could consider growing, just to keep things diverse.

Dairy cattle, goats and chickens are a well tried income generation scheme and they are usually successful. Because they are such a good bet, they can require a fair amount of capital, which some of the more risky and less well tried schemes don't. But not everyone can afford to take risks. I'd say, get the low risk schemes started first and then add the others in at leisure. We mustn't forget the hides and furs of stock such as cattle, goats and sheep, either. Certainly, there are many uses for sheep wool, regardless of the quality. But another type of livestock that you don't see so much around here is rabbits, especially the very big ones that are bred for meat. There must be many uses for their fur, too.

There are good opportunities for different types of food processing here, especially food drying. Fruit and vegetables can be solar dried at very low cost. Many crops, such as mango, pineapple, banana and tomato flood the market at certain times of the year and a lot is dumped. These are all good when dried. Ribbon of Hope produced a beautiful crop of coriander in the last few weeks and this would be as good dried as fresh, except that it would be a far more viable crop if we could dry large amounts of it. Mushrooms are grown locally and are a potentially lucrative and nutritious crop that is also good dried. Yoghurt is already widely produced, cheese isn't so popular and maybe there's a reason for that. But many things could be made with local ingredients, such as biscuits, cakes, bread, cassava chips and the like.

Some of the areas here are blighted with a monoculture, especially sisal. But I'm sure people could be persuaded to make things of higher value rather than rope, which is how most of the local sisal ends up. We'll see what people who have been surrounded with sisal all their lives come up with. Not too far from here, silk worms are farmed, so that's another possibility. I've mentioned before the possibility of producing reusable sanitary pads. There are probably going to be lots of objections but many people, especially young girls, can't afford disposable ones so it's worth some effort. Leather goods may be another possibility, especially if local people are successfully breeding relevant livestock. No doubt there are other artisanal products, such as pottery, candles and whatever else. Sorry for being vague but the gaps will be filled in eventually.

Ribbon of Hope has already funded a successful project selling water and this raised surprisingly large amounts of money. Another possibility would be to pasteurize water using solar cookers or solar heaters and selling it. Included in this category, not many people in this dry province of Rift Valley use irrigation, nor do many people harvest rainwater. This is short-sighted and even journalists are apt to bemoan the fact that there is an unwise dependency on rain fed agriculture throughout Kenya (if journalists notice, it’s probably been a problem for decades). It's time to change this, even if it's only to a small extent. Equally, many people don't irrigate their land, even when there is a source of water close by. Since Ribbon of Hope started irrigating its fields, neighbouring farmers have started borrowing their pump. So it is catching on!

One of my favourite types of income generation activity or cost saving activity relates to fuel or energy. I have mentioned solar cookers, such as simple reflective boxes or more complicated parabolic cookers. These are great for cooking food, drying food and for pasteurizing water or milk. Some of our projects involve milk production so free pasteurization would help reduce costs a lot. I've also mentioned fuel briquettes made from waste of various kinds. People could produce these for their own household but they could also produce them for sale in the local area. Wood and charcoal, the most common cooking fuels, are expensive and likely to go up in price. Solar is cheaper, cleaner and better for the environment and could be used to supplement other sources of fuel. Biogas is more difficult to produce but we are hoping to get some to train us in how to produce the stuff.

Some trees and shrubs could be a useful addition to any shamba. The Kenyan government is thinking of introducing a law about people growing a certain number of trees per acre. True to form, they are not giving any advice as to what trees should be grown and which should be avoided (there are some serious problems that result from choosing the wrong trees). And people with very small, possibly rented shambas, will not want to risk reducing their yield by sticking something unproductive in their fields. But there are productive trees and ones that are good for the soil. There are some that produce fruit without compromising the field crops and others that produce oils and even animal fodder. There are trees that can benefit in various ways, so these should be carefully selected.

Finally, some organisations end up with assets that they only sometimes use, such as equipment and tools. These could be rented out to neighbouring farmers or swapped for other benefits, such as labour or tools that are lacking. Tools and machinery are prohibitively expensive here, which is why so many farmers try to fly by the seat of their pants and sometimes fail. Even rainwater harvesting and irrigation involve costs that small farmers can't always meet. But they might be able to share, for a fee, of course. Ribbon of Hope's neighbours have increased their yields so much in the last few months by using their petrol pump that they could easily afford to pay a small fee.

Well, that's it for the moment, but that's quite a list. I'll continue researching and noting progress (and problems) and I'll add links to further information when I can get around to it. I hope people find this list useful and if anyone has other ideas for income generation activities, please let me know. Thank you in anticipation!

Ribbon of Hope Self Help Group, Nakuru

Having come all the way to Nakuru to work for an NGO that turned out not to have any projects at present, I was lucky enough to end up working with some people who have a lot going on. Ribbon of Hope is a community based self help organisation. It was initially set up to work with HIV positive people but quickly evolved to support people who are in need of support for whatever reason.

Ribbon of Hope works with local self help groups, advising on and helping with relevant training, sources of finance, income generation schemes and ways of cutting household costs. Members of various local groups are engaged in producing food and other goods and services. Ribbon of Hope has raised the money to rent land and cover the costs of setting up a number of projects. They work closely with the local support groups, ensuring that everything is monitored and controlled adequately and they even go out into the fields to dig, plant and harvest crops.

At present, Ribbon of Hope is trying out new ways of making and saving money, such as solar cookers, fuel briquettes made from organic waste, homemade, reusable sanitary towels and various other techniques. The aim is to find things that are very cheap or completely free and that people with any level of education can avail of. Some people will only want to use the cookers, briquettes and sanitary towels. But others will want to learn how to make them and then sell them on to others.

In addition to these activities, people are involved in more traditional ways of making and saving money, such as growing maize and beans, rearing hens and cows and making jewellery and basketry products. In this way, people who work hard are more or less guaranteed some money, food or other goods. But the additional activities are intended to branch out from things that most self help groups are already doing, and to find some highly sustainable activities that have multiple benefits for those involved. Ribbon of Hope are researching and experimenting with anything that looks like it might help with their work.

It is important to find income generation and cost saving activities that are free or very low cost for two reasons: money is in short supply, pretty much everywhere; but, more importantly, many people in countries like Kenya realise that they need to become more self reliant. Many of the poorer people here have been depending on unsustainable sources of income and support for a long time. They are tired of having to go around to one NGO after another to take advantage of what usually turns out to be a short term hand out to tide them over from one crisis to the next. They don't see Ribbon of Hope as another source of handouts but as a way of getting away from handouts.

In the long term, the poorest people will need to find ways to raise their own living standards. They know that the huge amounts of aid money that come into the country usually end up in the pockets of those who are already well off, politicians, business people, churches and big NGOs. Kenyans have witnessed this over and over again and they don't expect it to change. All that the most active members of these local self help groups need is some initial assistance, in the form of small amounts of money and some good advice. They do the hard work themselves.

Sadly, there are people who are neither productive not supportive. Some are even outrightly destructive. So those who put a lot of work into improving their standard of living also need people to advocate for change, so that they can enjoy the fruits of their hard work. But as they become more self reliant and better able to avoid the effects of those who don't want them to succeed, they should also become better able to advocate for themselves. This function of advocating for and supporting self help groups is one of the most vital roles that Ribbon of Hope plays.

We are interested in hearing from other groups, especially community based groups, who are involved in low cost, sustainable projects that can be implemented regardless of levels of education or skills. In turn, we are happy to tell anyone who is interested about our experiences as we go along. I'll be documenting much of our day to day work on this blog but please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.

Selling Sunlight on the Equator

We have been trying out the solar cookers. Having faced the problem of too much wind, too much dust, too little sun and too much rain, yesterday started off well and sunny. But half way through the cooking, the sky clouded over and stayed that way. We hadn't even taken the precaution of having some charcoal handy. After a lengthy walk, we got the charcoal and finished cooking the partially cooked food. It was good but not good enough to sell solar cooking to a sceptical audience.

Today was very sunny and, starting earlier, the food was cooked to perfection in less than two hours. The only thermostat available here is experience and I must admit, I left it all on for a bit too long. The food tastes good but is a bit drier than it should be. As it was so sunny, I slipped in a soda bread loaf, which is browning nicely right now. But the sun has again slipped behind the clouds.

So, as a precaution, we could take some cooking baskets with us when we go out in the field. We were hoping to find people to make these baskets for us as they are very expensive in the supermarkets. But we'll get to all that eventually. And we need to make sure that we start early in the morning and that there is charcoal available if things go wrong.

While I cooked today, some people in the house next to me were cooking with charcoal. They were cooking the whole time I was cooking, so it's not just solar cooking that takes a long time. While I cooked, I also washed the clothes, read some articles and wrote a blog entry. I'm just trying to anticipate the comments I'll get!

Well, it could be worse. We are now pretty much prepared to face the hungry mob and demonstrate the process of cooking on a solar cooker. Now that we've tried it out a few times, I feel far more confident. Let's see if I still feel the same way after a few demonstrations. But I love the idea of selling sunlight on the equator.

Painting Pots Black

This is not to stir up the long running dispute between the pots and the kettles. We're painting pots black so we can use them with the solar cookers we purchased during the week from Solar Cookers International. We've talked to people who work with, make and research solar devices and we've talked to those who want to buy them and use them. Now it's time to go out and demonstrate them and, hopefully, persuade people to part with the $6 or so that they need to invest.

Of course, people need to invest a little time and, god forbid, they need to embrace change, just a tiny bit of change! We can make ourselves some food over the weekend and decide on the best ways to demonstrate these devices. I'm looking forward to it but I'm also a bit apprehensive. After all, much of what I believe about development could be severely tested over the next week or so.

We will be working in and around Nakuru. My colleagues have been working here for some time and they have introduced me to various community support groups. Most of these groups have grown around the need to support people who are HIV positive, people who are directly affected by HIV and, particularly, those who are on antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Some of the groups are very active, with volunteers making regular visits to those who need support of various kinds, who need to be taken to hospital, who are having problems affording school fees or rent and whatever. Many of the groups are already exploring ways of making some money, such as growing and selling fruit, vegetables, milk, eggs and the like. Others make things and sell them.

Solar cookers are a bit different from other activities these groups are involved in. If someone buys a solar cooker, they have the means of saving money they would spend on charcoal. They may save the time they spend collecting firewood. They can use the cookers to cook food, dry food and boil water, the last being particularly important for people who are HIV positive.

People who are HIV positive need to be very careful about how they live their lives, what they eat and drink, what dangers they may be exposing themselves to. Their immune system is damaged by HIV and, even though many are on treatment, they still have to be careful. It is hoped that one more way of pasteurising water will be of great help in reducing exposure to diarrhoea and other water borne diseases.

Today, my colleague and I went to a support group at the camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) just outside town. People there are just trying to get by, some doing well, some not so well. We were accompanied by a woman who works for an agency that gives microloans to help people set up small businesses. Hopefully, they will see the benefits of solar cooking and, if they can come up with the money, also buy some cookers. And maybe some of them will want to take things further and use the cookers to produce something they can cook and sell.

That's the hope, anyhow. I'll write up what happens here, even if it shatters my heartfelt beliefs!

Support Group Meeting, Bondeni

There has been rain on most days for the past couple of weeks so maybe the short rains have started in earnest. At least a bit of rain is better than none. There are many crops that are at the stage where they need rain badly. But some areas, apparently, are threatened with flooding. It's so disconcerting to be in a place where a long drought can turn into a devastating flood.

But we were in Bondeni for a meeting of members of a support group. They get together to discuss matters of common interest and share experiences and advice about things like microcredit, farming, income generating schemes and anything else that can be of help to the group. Well, it was a long haul for me, I admit. The meeting was due to start at ten but I was assured that if I turned up at 11 it would just be taking off. We got there before 11, started at 1130 and it was nearly 1400 by the time we finished. That's a long time to sit on a bench made for very small children.

As for the income generation schemes discussed, they included the usual things: hens, cows, bead jewellery, crochet and market gardening. Apparently hens are old hat and people are being advised to buy dairy cows. Of course, most income generation schemes only really get off the ground if the person or people involved work very hard and have a fair amount of luck. Some of these ingredients can be in short supply. But I'd like to come across people who are doing something different to generate income, something that people all across the country are not doing. But when I come across such schemes, I'll be sure to post them up here.

Sun Worship and Self Reliance

A couple of months ago I had the pleasure of visiting a company in Nairobi that makes, demonstrates and sells solar cooking devices of various kinds; Solar Cookers International (SCI), based in Kileleshwa. These cookers can be used for more than just cooking. They are also great for pasteurising water for consumption, heating water for cleaning, drying foods to preserve them and various other things.

This has numerous advantages: it saves money spent on fuel, prevents destruction of trees and forests, reduces people's exposure to smoke and fumes, cooks food without denaturing nutrients, cooks without dangerous levels of heat, has a very low capital outlay, employs easy to find materials, and even recycled materials, to construct.

I also had the pleasure a couple of months ago of visiting a small community based organisation called Shining Hope for Community (SHOFCO), based in Kibera. They are involved in several projects that support community members. For instance, HIV positive women come to the headquarters several times a week and make bead jewellery which SHOFCO sells on their behalf. Young girls and boys do theatre and other performances to highlight issues that people in Kibera currently face, such as violence, HIV, water and sanitation problems and the like. They also distribute sanitary towels to girls and food to families, when possible.

On Friday, Solar Cookers International visited SHOFCO and spent the best part of the day setting up and demonstrating the process of cooking by sunlight. As a matter of fact, setting up a simple cooker takes seconds, but a number of different styles of cooker were demonstrated. The food was bought and prepared and after around three hours (there was a fair bit of passing cloud to interrupt the vital process!), ten or twelve of us sat down to copious amounts of rice, vegetable, sweet potato, ugali, meat and tea. There was even lots of hot water to do the washing up afterwards.

Before the preparation started there were some sceptical faces, but everyone was fired up by the prospect of seeing this process in action and the added treat of a hearty meal. Faustine and her colleagues from SCI made sure that everyone had a hand in peeling, scraping, chopping and preparing the food. This gave her the chance to insist on rigorous handwashing and care when preparing food. By the time people had got down to the work, they had forgotten their doubts and it wasn't long before the smell of food cooking reassured the doubters.

There was then time for us to go inside and shelter from the blazing sun and discuss what we were involved in. Faustine got people to volunteer answers to questions arising about why anyone would want to use solar cookers. Indeed, people came up with most of the reasons themselves, with little prompting. There were also some welcome questions about some of the drawbacks of these cookers. For instance, what if you are in a hurry, what if it is dark or cloudy or raining?

The answer is that you can't use them under such conditions. The answer is in the question, really. You then need wood, charcoal, kerosene, gas, whatever else you can use for cooking. But even in Nairobi, where there is not all year round sunshine, you could still save yourself a lot of expensive fuel. It's just one technique. Not far from SHOFCO there are people experimenting with biogas. Others use photovoltaic panels, which allow you to charge up batteries to be used later.

When I originally visited SHOFCO I asked them what income generation schemes they had. They mentioned that they made bead jewellery, and that is the main one, at present. Just as solar cookers can't be used when it's raining, bead jewellery can't be sold when there is little or no market. Women make the jewellery but there are few tourists this year because of the post election violence last year. While it is sometimes possible to sell things abroad, markets are difficult to access and not too reliable.

It's still too early to say, but hopefully solar cookers will provide income generating opportunities for organisations like SHOFCO. They could sell, demonstrate or perhaps even make solar cookers. The market is on their doorstep. They will be selling to other Kenyans and benefiting the broader community, not just themselves. There are many other community based organisations that may also be interested in solar cooking.

But there are other technologies that save people money and can even make people money. It's just a matter of people getting together, sharing their ideas and putting them into action. After the solar cookery demonstration, the drama group went to rehearse for a performance. This performance will involve people walking through a market and stumbling upon a solar cookery demonstration. They start off sceptical but gradually see that there is something very interesting to be learned.

Before SCI left SHOFCO, members of each organisation had discussed projects that could be mutually beneficial. I hope those projects are realised. As I said, it's early, but I'll keep in touch and look forward to hearing what happens.

On a similar theme, yesterday I travelled to a village near Thika to visit an orphanage called Watoto wa Barakai (Blessed Children). There are 25 children there but a far larger number of orphans are supported while living with relatives. The place is more like a big family living on a small farm, a beautiful farm. They have cattle, pigs, rabbits and various food crops and they are expanding fast. The people running the orphanage have been very enterprising and have raised a lot of money for the expansion and development.

More importantly, they are interested in sustainability, in particular, in the area of cooking. Trees in the area are being cut down and not replaced. Fuel is expensive and the children (and adults) suffer from respiratory problems. Respiratory problems underlie a huge number of deaths in Kenya, especially among infants and children under the age of five. People running Watoto wa Baraka had already started researching potential technologies, they already have a solar shower and a photovoltaic panel to light one of their buildings. They harvest rain and consider the sustainability of all their projects.

Many people are inspired by intermediate technologies but only some adopt them, ultimately. I think Kenya will only develop if Kenya do the developing and that in many cases, the less Western countries do, the better. Perhaps intermediate technology will be one way that developing countries can become more self reliant.

Empty Pocket Finances

Firstly, the Dr X, and colleagues that I mentioned earlier were not able to come up with an estimate of how many voluntary testing and counselling facilities would be required for a country the size, population and population distribution of Kenya. In a one liner, Dr X thanked me for the question but said he didn't know. I'll keep an eye on this particular issue and hope that there are people who are able to help in this matter.

I need suggestions for ways of making money or saving money in places where there is very little money or resources. For example, I have mentioned Solar Cookers, which have numerous advantages and can be made cheaply or for free. Solar Cookers and other sources of renewable energy are sometimes referred to as 'intermediate technology'.

Another example of a way of making or saving money is the production of reusable sanitary towels using recycled materials. However, I am thinking of these for areas where there is little or electricity, such as Kibera. What would the hygiene implications be? At present, a community based organisation I am in touch with in Kibera are using donations to buy and distribute sanitary towels but they are made in China. They also distribute antiseptic wipes, but these are made in the USA.

Surely it is possible for a country the size of Kenya to produce certain products that use indigenous and perhaps even recycled materials? I know there are people who produce all sorts of things and I really need advice from them. I believe you can make soap using meat fat, ash and probably some other things. Can you use other oils, that could perhaps be produced cheaply here?

I have heard of oil producing trees in parts of India being used to make lamp oil. Here, many people spend a lot of money on kerosene. Is this necessary? Ok, if you are thinking I could just research this myself, you're right, and I will do that when I have the opportunity. But getting time online can have complications.

There's is a range of attitudes among people working in community based organisations towards secrecy and openness. Some want to talk to other people and share ideas. Others keep their ideas to themselves. Some people I have spoken to have lots of experience and they will happily share it with others. Some feel that they should be careful about what they tell other organisations who may be 'competitors'.

If there is a lot of emphasis on funding, which organisations must get from somewhere, then 'commercial' principles may be at stake and each organisation may be competing. But a major difference between non-profits and commercials is that the former aim to reduce the market, whereas the latter aim to expand it. The commercial wants to maximise sales, the non-profit, hopefully, wants to reduce suffering.

Well, maybe I'm misrepresenting things a bit, but let's look at two small community based organisations applying for 5000 pounds which is available to help 50 commercial sex workers to give up or reduce their dependence on sex. Are the two in competition? The donor could give it all to one or half to each. But would the funder suggest that the two organisations join together and share the 5000?

I suggest that the 5000 pounds could go a lot further if it's administrated by twice as many brains, but perhaps I'm hopelessly idealistic. As a matter of fact, I would like it to go on record as being idealistic, whatever about being hopelessly so.

I came to what may seem like an absurd conclusion about how a country like Kenya is going to dig itself out of the hole it is in at present. Firstly, Kenyans are going to have to do most of the digging. Secondly, they will have to do it on virtually no funding. Therefore, they need to discover something that is of very high value but costs absolutely nothing.

So the challenge is to find things that are accessible to Kenyans, have a high value and cost little or nothing. While I can see the absurdity, I think there are such things. After all, some things may seem intrinsically valuable, but other things have value because people value them. Some people value being able to convert their waste to biogas and fertilizer, some value being able to pump water using the wind, others enjoy the benefits of cooking by solar energy.

The working title for my quest is Mfuko Mtupo, the empty pocket. It can stay empty, of course, that's the point, really.

I need more suggestions, I need suggestions till they come out my ears, I need help, only free, non-monetary help, and only help that costs little or nothing to implement.