Here I am

I have no excuse. Nothing. Not a ting. All it can be called in lazy, sloth, apathetic. And it is with this in mind that I come to you, over a month since my last post, humbly asking your apology. Actually, I don’t know why I haven’t written in so long. Perhaps it’s because my life here doesn’t feel as spectacular and noteworthy as it once did. Things that were considered events and postworthy 6 months ago, now are common and happenstance. My life here feels normal now, and natural. Something that is all fascinating, wonderful and a little terrifying at the same time. I’m not calling Nicaragua my home (my heart still belongs in the Land of the Lakes) and I’m not even saying it’s where I want to live. But at the very least I’m comfortable. In many ways I feel like I’ve taken Nicaragua’s form of the Borsalino Test, passed through the ring, and miraculously come through whole on the other side…more or less.

That’s not to say Nicaragua can’t make me do a double take every once in awhile, and I’m not talking about the women, although I think I may be developing whiplash por ellas. One recent example of how Nica keeps me shaking my head (as much in bemused amazement as anything) was our first heavy rain fall several weeks ago. Seth and Sarah had generously taken me out to dinner and a movie for my birthday and when we left the theatre to our surprise we found that it had been raining RAINING for over an hour. But hungry we were and decided to brave the Tropical Thunder® and cab it to a nearby restaurant. What we didn’t realize when we hopped in a cab was that the windshield wipers didn’t work, the drivers side windows didn’t roll up and the rear windshield was a taped plastic masterpiece. This would have made the trip interesting enough on it’s own, especially for poor Sara who had unwittingly hopped in on the drivers side, but to add to the adventure was the fact that the street our conductor chose to go down was literally a flowing river complete with whitwater and riptide….yes I know that real rivers don’t have riptides, but remember, this was a Street River. Did I mention that it was night. This little tidbit was probably what saved our lives as he was able to use the headlights of oncoming traffic to navigate. Pues, we survived, and even picked up a soaking wet Nicaraguan along the way. But still, got me shaking my head.

Our projects are going fairly well. Biogas digestores are proving to be very finicky creatures, considering how simple the design is. The main problem right now is sealing the plastic resevoirs that store the gas to the concrete shit tanks, as they´re so lovingly called. We’ve tried everything from bike innertubes to silicon sealant and there’s always a leak. But we’re saved, gracias a Dios I’ve been able to find a vendor of duct tape so all are problems are solved. I plan on going up Wednesday of this week to plug the leaks once and for all. Thankfully the people have had a lot of patience with us as we work out the kinks in our first biogas digestor projects and hopefully soon we can get them all up and running soon (right now 2 of the 5 are functioning).

The microhydro projects are also progressing nicely. El Roblar has contructed its damn and penstock and are working on the turbine house right now. La Laguna has also finished its damn and is awaiting the arrival of the penstock tube to continue construction. Also, the turbine manufacturer has finished completing the turbines and we´ll be able to go see them functioning when Jaime gets back from Peru. I’m a little disappointed though that I haven’t been as involved in the actual construction of the sites. Instead we hired a man with microhydro experience to supervise the construction of the damn, penstock, todo. But we all have our jobs and I’m happy with the work I’ve contributed to the project, in terms of planning and engineering/design. I’ve also learned an incredible amount regarding microhydro (which allows me to realize just how much I still need to learn). But being part of the turbine design and construction would have been nice. Oh well, next time. I´ve learned that you need to be very proactive in Nicaraguan culture. No one is going to come hand you opportunities. This is even more true here than in the US, where I feel I´ve been handed a lot (Midwest Resorts promotion, that Pollock scholarship, HONEYWELL ridiculousness, ect). Or maybe it´s that the really world is a little tougher than Collegeville.

Speaking of handing out opportunities, I am officially on the job search. I´m looking EVERYWHERE (except for certain places). If anyone sees job openings in the fields of renewable energy or oil production (joking) please forward them on. Thanks. And from here on out blog posts are regular dietary supplements. I promise. Maybe.

Sounds of Nicaragua

Successfully electrifying a coffee depulper at the house of Cruz, a community member in Malacatoya. This machine saves him hours of work during the coffee harvesting season. It uses renewable electricity produced by a microhydro system installed by Asofenix 2 years ago. There are currently 3 of them installed in Malacatoya with another 3-4 to be installed before next harvest.




The second attempt at our little wind guy. This one destroyed itself but the one we got now is still up and running!!! (for now). Hopefully this little guy will be able to produce (and stay whole).

End of March...but not the madness

hey, looky here team. Tree (3) posts in one month. That´s got to make up for the 6 week interlude before.....eh (that was for you Jake, you crazy Canadian). What to say, what not to say......let´s just get started and see what happens.

It´s been a pretty crazy month for Asofenix (I think that´ll be the introduction of every end of month post I write.....makes things easier, just cut and paste). We´ve been building wind turbines, destroying wind turbines (I completely blame the wind), installing water pipes, capacitAting, building biogas digestores...new design, really exciting, and welcoming two spring break groups. Oh and starting two microhydro projects.

For me I think this was one of my favorite months in Nicaragua. Each month I feel more integral and useful to Asofenix and this month I really felt like a lot of things wouldn´t have gotten done without me here (addicting by the way). Now I just have to get Jaime to believe that so he´ll start paying me and I can stay longer.....totally serious (sorry mom, sorry maggie).

I´ve already mentioned alot (a lot?) of the things we´ve done this month, from the microhydro to our new biogas design to the sonzapote so I guess I´ll skip the overview and go to a quick update. The dam, intake and settling chamber have been constructed in El Roblar and so now we need ot proceed with the installations of the penstock. Also, Gustavo and I are continually improving the electrical grid design, right now trying to find the best balance between cost and tension loss (voltage drop) in the system. It´s fun for me to have him around becuase he has a lot more electrical engineering knowledge than I do and I get to learn alot. La Laguna is set to start next week.

Sonzapote is still taking time. One of the community members left for Costa Rica suddenly to make some money so we were delt a setback but Jueves we´re going back up to bring the water taps and collect the money from the community.....fingers crossed.

The two spring break groups just left to return to the states. I honestly rather enjoyed the groups this time around. For me they seemed more focused and goal oriented, but I also think a main reason was that we were much more prepared. The last trip was very work intensive on our part, talking to families about food and meals, preparing projects but this time around alot of that ground work (i.e. infrastructure) had already been laid, making our jobs a LOT easier. We didn´t have to spend nearly as much time in the campo preparing things ourselves, but could trust the community with more responsibility (good for both us and them). I guess like almost everything it´s a process that needs to be followed and I´m happy it´s working. I also think a huge thing for me is to see that the other groups from before are still staying in contact with Asofenix and helping by raising money, buying supplies/tools, writing grants and developing projects, volunteering, ect. For me that continued interaction and involvment is what it takes to be successful in what we do and it shows me that these groups are more than just glorified vacations. Look at me, growing up all nice and mature!

I also think it helped that I could get away....segway into personal life....as in to my own house. While I´m not there enough to really have it feel like home (I still don´t have food in the fridge) I can´t tell you how nice it is to get away. My roomates are awesome as well and it´s nice to feel part of a community (you had it right along Padre....miss you man). To hang out, play soccer, go to concerts, talk, ect. Life here is a lot different than back home, but the fundamentals don´t really seem to change that much.

So now what, well as hard as it is to beleive I think april will be just as busy as March. I have to go finish the biogas digestors started by the Northwestern group last week as well as reinstall my little wind turbine and record some data before this conference at the end of May (during which I have to give an 1 hour presentation in spanish to a group of university students and professors regarding our wind turbine.....gulp). I´ve actually been giving quite a few presentaciones en spanish lately, I find them less nerve racking that english ones to be completely honest....weird I know. Finally Tom´s coming in the 14th. It´ll be good to see family (and get a chance to get away).

Well, Jaime just showed up so I guess I should get back to work.

Take care, talk soon.

Dave

Hello there, I don't exactly know what to put in this update but I think it's time to update so here we go. I guess first I'll start with a quick update on all the projects:

Sonzapote: This project is yet to be completed, which kind of confuses me because I don't quite know why. The solar array, pump, tanks and major tubing were all installed months ago. All that remains now is the installation of the 1/2" tube from the main lines to each house (probably the cheapest and easiest part of the project). Officially we're waiting on the community to raise their portion of the funds but I've gotten to the point where I don't know if I buy it. I'd say about 90% of the families have paid their 300 Cordobas ($15) and deserve to have water but don't. I can't quite see how we are holding up water to 9 for the sake of 1. I also don't see it as an Asofenix problem of overlooking the community because Jaime is in contact with the water committee there several times a week. It appears as though it might be local leadership as we've had problems with community organization in the past. The problem is that the committee members are elected by the community and so, while we can personally support good candidates, we can choose who we want on the committee. The same thing happened in Bramadero 2 years ago and it took the community almost until now to elect good leaders, not just popular ones, but in the end they did and now have a very good leadership core. I guess that's the reason we stay in communities for 5 or more years, because real development just needs times.

In other news. Seith and Sara (along with local agriculture, health experts) successfully completed a week long session of capacitations, or workshops, focusing on agriculture, health, deforestation, etc. In the words of one community member, the sessions were "Beautiful."

El Corozo: Oh do I miss Corozo. Wonderful people, amazing and active leaders, enthusiastic community, and amazing views (not to mention fresh oranges as far as you can see). We finished in Corozo installing the 30 solar panels via a micro-credit program about 3 weeks ago and I haven't been back to my dismay. Not that they need me. The trained technicians were more than capable of installing their own systems by the end. If only they were all this easy.

El Roblar/La Laguna: A story of contrasts with these two micro-hydro installations. In El Roblar we've progressed nicely. We've measured the head and flow, planned out the tube, calculated the losses, designed the electrical grid, bought the turbine and generator, met with community members, legalized ownership of the project/lands and started the construction of the dam. In La laguna we walked ot the dam site once to look at it. This is the difference between an active and excited community and one that shows little interest. It's a good wake up call to our limitations in development work....we can't really do ANYTHING without the support of the community. As it turns out we're currently revising our proposal to move the Laguna installation to another community.

Sonzapote Wind: Don't ask.

Biogas Digestors: As this is a new field for Asofenix we're currently working out kinks and trying different designs. But I'm currently really pleased with our progress and think we'll nail down a good design shortly. Thanks a lot to the group from Northwestern coming down this weekend. It's there funds and support that have really allowed us to take off with our biogas digestor plans.

Well, that wasn't as quick as I thought it would be but a summary it was. As for me. Things are going really well. We've slowed down to a much more reasonable pace for the moment, thanks to some capable additions and contractors we've hired to help with the projects in Gustavo and Vilches. I no longer have to work 7 days a week to stay on top of things which is nice.

I've used my free time wisely I should say. Finally getting back in touch with some friends in Managua. There's a really great international community (and Nicaraguans) here working for other NGO's or with programs like UNICEF. I find that I seem to have a lot in common with and really enjoy spending time with people who choose to work in developing worlds....go figure (I also think the climate just really mellows people out...I have to admit that I didn't miss winter all that much). In fact today I'm planning on moving my things from the office to the house of my friends Charles (French) and Jussi (Finnish). That's right I'm moving out. The office was OK but a year of living in a concrete square room with nothing but bunkbeds and plastic chairs was too much for me. Plus it will be nice to have roomates again. As it is I will probably spend about half my nights here in the office and the other half at the house.

I'm still thinking about getting a motorcycle too, but probably won't happen :(

Well I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying spring. Here it's just getting hotter and hotter and hotter and dryer.

Cuidense mucho,

David

Almost 6 months it’s been since I left my comfortable Midwestern home for a year long internship/volunteer placement in Nicaragua. And as I sit here in the nearly roadless, lightless heart of Boaco, without electricity, running water (much less hot) or many of the comforts I did, and most likely will again in the future, take for granted I can’t help but reflect on my time here and the experiences I’ve had. I arrived as a very excited and, for the most part, clueless gringo from the US, who had dreams and fantasies about the grandeur and importance and rewards of volunteer work. Time has stoked those dreams with the stark need I’ve seen, shaped them with a education only achievable by experience and tempered them with a cold dose of patience and reality, of what can be accomplished, what doesn’t work and what just needs time. In the end a more resourceful person writes this blog. A person more prepared for the ambiguity and difficulty of work in the developing world. A difficulty that stems from general inaccessibility of resources, illiteracy of communities and, at times, indifference of leaders. Yet also I’m more prepared for the difficulties because I know, I’ve seen first hand, that communities do come together, the uneducated can and want to learn, and when, not if, this happens great things are accomplished.

Like a solar water pumping system in a community called Sonzapote. A community of over 300 people where the women and girls of over half the families had to carry water from the public well up a 60 meter (200 ft) “hill” in 5 gallon buckets 5 or more times a day. I saw the leaders of this community, men from fiercely rival political parties, Feliciano a Sandinista and Juan Pablo a Liberale, work together at a time when the country is cursed by broken elections, an untrusted government and very uncertain political future. But instead of letting this environment break them apart they came together, for their family, for their community and for their friendship. They came together to organize their community to take ownership of their project by digging the ditches, carrying the 100 bags of cement up the “hill,” building their water tank and installing their solar panels . They continue to show ownership by offering community technicians who want to be trained in how to maintenance and care for their systems. And finally we know they will always have ownership because, with the help of Asofenix, they have formed a committee to oversee the operation of the system, collect monthly fees for future maintenance needs that are sure to come and address community conflicts or problems as they arise.


Other great things are happening too. Like the development of Asofenix’s own biodigestor projects. These projects, of which two are now installed and operating, capture animal waste (cow, pig, human, goat, etc) and through an anerobic process can produce enough cooking gas to completely offset the cooking traditionally done by using firewood harvested from already deforested areas. This saves hundreds of trees a year as well as the lungs of the women cooking the meals. In addition the waste product happens to be enriched organic fertilizer. All this for an average cost of $300. Many times the problem is getting families to believe it’s possible. For example, talking with La Chica in Bramadero after the installation of her system:

“They all though I was crazy for doing it. ‘You can’t cook with shit’ they told me. But I didn’t listen. I believed Jaime.”
Luckily for her neighbors they’ll have a chance to change their minds, as a group of engineers from Northwestern College’s branch of “Engineers for a Sustainable World,” led by Green Empowerment will be coming down in March to help install 10 more systems.


And there’s also solar irrigation projects, like the one in the house of Jose Felix, which allows farmers to grow crops in the hot, dry summers when the land rarely sees rain. Jose was born in Boaco, a poor agricultural department of Nicaragua. He never went to school, being that there were only 3 in the entire department. Instead he started working at the age of 12, leaving for a textile job in Managua. His hard work allowed him to buy his first “manzana” of land (100 ft x 100 ft) at the age of 14. It wasn’t to last though as the war forced him to flee back to his home, hiding from Sandinistas and Somozas both. After the war he settled down on his land and began his life as a farmer. But still he made time for his education, teaching himself how to read through adult literacy classes located over an hour from his community and the help of an US volunteer. Now his son is the local elementary teacher and attending classes at the university. Jose never asked for help from Asofenix but saw a solar irrigation project as a great opportunity, to make money yes, but also as an opportunity to bring his family together. Now many of his children depart during the summer to cut coffee in Costa Rica. This could change if they had their own crops to harvest.

These are just a few examples of the work being done and the progress I’ve seen. There’s many others that Asofenix is currently working on, including small wind energy, improved efficiency cooking stoves and 2 micro-hydro projects which will provide over 75 kW of renewable electricity to the communities of La Laguna and El Roblar. These projects are to start in Feburary and I hope to provide ongoing coverage as the work progresses and the results become clear. Work that is usually challenging, but results that are always inspiring.

Sounds of Nicaragua

Since blogger seems to be more inclined today to allow me to post videos I thought I'd aprovechar the moment and try posting some Sounds of Nicaragua.




Christmas festival. A man letting anything go during his performance at the month long christmas party held in La Plaza Del Revolución. Pretty hilarious but at the same time you have to respect someone out there obviously doing what they love, damn what anyone thinks.



La Griteria. Literally "The Screaming." A festival where people build small shrines to the virgen mary and then proceed to scream at her at the top of their lungs how thankful they are for her son. Although at this party in front of the old cathedral their was more waiting in line for the free government gift packages than there was actually screaming.

Windy Wonder - ASOFENIX DC-119

A quick note to totally redeem myself. After totally humiliating myself a few weeks ago, scaring a bunch of campesinos half to death and causing undue pain and suffering to some innocent, non-assuming PVC blades I have in fact installed achieved victory.....for now.

Last week saw the successful test run of, what Jaime has officially christened "DC-119," Asofenix's first wind turbine model (The "D" is for Dave, the "C" for Calvin (the principle designers and fabricators), the first "1" for being the first wind turbine, the second "1" for being made in January and the "9" for the year.....it's also ingenious because it also produces DC power....get it....DC-119). The turbine produces between 0 and 100 watts depending, of course, on the wind. Hopefully it won't be zero too much. The voltages hover between 15-28 volts with amps between 1.5 - 3.5. So now the next step is to finish the installation next week by building a battery charging station and installing the controller, battery and a few lights.

I'm going to try to publish a video I took of the turbine working but since blogger hasn't allowed me to upload a video in the last 5 months I'm not holding out much hope.

Saludos from Nicaragua....Dave

It doesn't all go right

As the title goes, we don't always get things right.  Be it failing to recognize bad leadership in a community, installing faulty and broken equipment, or incorrectly sizing a solar installation, sometimes we just make mistakes.  This is especially true in the developing world where we often lack the resources, time and, most importantly in my case, expertise to get it right....right away.  But in the end it's ok, as always and everywhere we learn from our mistakes and hopefully share a laugh or two as well (so long as they aren't TOO serious).  And also, here the people's patience is infinite, being they have a lot of time and not a lot of people offering to help.  So in the end everything seems to work out, the water arrives, the lights turn on, the stoves work and most importantly, the smiles appear.

I bring up the topic of mistakes because I recently made my first notable mistake to date, and while being "explosive," nobody got hurt and we all got a little chuckle.  My mistake involves a wind turbine that I've been working on for Asofenix.  The design is based on simplicity and cost.  Using a $35 generator, a 6 meter tower and PVC blades we hoped to provide enough power to charge 1 or 2 batteries in a reasonable amount of time (1 day).  

The problem started with a lack of resources, in this case that we didn't have the money to do a wind study on the site we selected, instead we just climbed the hill and said "yup, there's wind."  Well there was DEFINITELY wind.  The problem actually started with the worries about the structural rigidity of the PVC blades and whether they would bend or not in the strong wind gusts, thus potentially striking the tower.  For this reason we moved the tower farther away from the hub and spinning blades of the generator.  We did this by adding weight (a big rock actually) to the back of the horizontal square metal tube resting on top of the tower upon which the generator was mounted.  The weight in the back shifted the center of mass of the system backwards, allowing us to move the tower back as well, far away from the blades.  What I didn't consider, because I never saw this failure mechanism, is that moving the tower back along the square tubing, away from the generator, increased the bending moment due to the weight of the generator AND the force of the wind on the blades.  

Remember how earlier I stated that there DEFINITELY was wind

?  Well there was a lot more than I had expected, and when we raised the tower the blades were spinning much fasting that I had expected, increasing drastically the force on the horizontal tube.  To make a long story short the metal tube actually bent in the force ofthe wind until the blades made contact with the tower, shattering into thousand of PVC shards.  The lesson learned....use a stronger tube, smaller blades and less space between the tower and generator.  We'll be applying these lessons this weekend in the second attempt to install our first wind turbine......wish us luck :)

In other news, I recently gave my first presentation / workshop in spanish to a group of campesinos, about the basics of electricity and how to install a home solar panel system.  About halfway through the 30 minute talk I forgot how to conjugate verbs, but I think they understood because 2 days later we supervised as they successfully installed their first system, saving themselves hundreds in hiring professional installers.  Now we feel confident in allowing them to install the rest of the 20 houses left in the community with panels bought through a grant given to Asofenix.

Finally, we're leaving in 3 hours or so to finish the installation of the water pumping system in Sonzapote, finally connecting each house up to the 5000 gallon tank which will gravity feed water throughout the community.

Now We Can Breathe

Dicember has been a busy month and for that I haven't been able to write very often (or at least haven't felt like making the time).  Now, while sitting in the airport with nothing to do I finally feel posessed to scribble a little.  Unfortunately, thinking back on all that we've done I'm becoming a bit overwhelmed as too how to go about it.  I guess I'll just start where I left off last time and see how far I get.

Hmmm....where did I leave off last time.  If I remember correctly we were getting ready for the arrival of Michel, GreenEmpowerment's solar engineer, and the quickly approaching installation of the Sonzapote solar water pumping project.  Overall the project was a great success and an AWSOME learning opportunity for me.  There's a huge difference between planning/designing and actually installing and the hands on experience was invaluable.  I'm now really anticipating Asofenix's next solar water project now that I have this one under my belt.

The work really started 3 days before heading to Sonzapote, when Michel arrived in Managua.  I had been communicating with Michel pretty regularly regarding the project details but it turns out that we were missing a truckload of supplies, ranging from high pressure PVC tubes to valves and elbows to safety rope and even nuts and bolts.  A look at the picture below shows the notes Michel and I worked off of as we looked for parts.  We managed to get everything prepared and ready, even with the horrible supply chain issues that are always present in Nicaragua, however Michel brought up a good point in that it seems to him that everytime he comes down to help with an installation Jaime relies on him more and more to plan and purchase last minute things.  This seems troubling as a major goal of Green Empowerment is to make the NGO's we work with, such as Asofenix, just as sustainable and self-sufficient as the projects they install.  We talked a lot about why this is backslide is occuring but no solid conclusions were reached.  One hope is that the presence of long term Asofenix volunteers (i.e. myself, seth and sarah) might help by supplying a consistent presence and experience base for future projects.  Who know if we're right, I hope so but only time will tell.

The actual instalation in Sonzapote went suprisingly well.  in two and a half days we were able to construct the solar array, controller, pump, tanks and piping.  All that is left now is to bring the piping to people's homes and connect the meters.  It was a great experience being able to work hand in hand with the communities.  Nicaraguans aren't always the most gracious people (you rarely hear a "gracias" while working in the campo) but nonetheless it was clear to see the excitement and appreciation in their smiles when the first buckets of water started to come out of the the well.  A special thank you to Michel from Green Empowerment who was vital to our efforts as well as a patient and knowledgable teacher.  Who knows, maybe some day soon his wish will come true and he won't be needed down here anymore....although that doesn't sound like good long term employement planning to me.

After the Sonzapote installation we dove straight into a month of week or 10 day long volunteer trips hosted by Green Empowerment and Asofenix, in which student groups from various universities arrived for planned excursions and projects (biodigestor, improved cookstove, wind turbine, irrigation, etc...) in the communities where Asofenix is involved (bramadero, el corozo, malacatoya, etc...).  I will admit that I'm not the biggest fan of these groups as I see them as a bit of distraction, not as much for Asofenix as for myself, as well as very intensive in terms of the amount of energy and planning needed, distracting me from the many other things which I want to focus my attention (biodigestor plans, micro hydro development, etc).  This is only my personal opinion and is very different from the Asofenix's stance.  Jaime really enjoys the groups and sees them as a great resource for us now and in the futre.  They definitely are a source of money for Asofenix and a really effective way to raise awareness and partnerships back in the US.  We already have several volunteers who want to stay in touch and help out from home....to these special people, we are currently looking for old, used laptops to install in communities that we have recently provided with electricity.  If you have one that you don't know what to do with just let me know.  

I think the problem for me is that I'm not a natural organizer and at times I felt as though I had a million things coming at me at once and all the while I had in the back of my mind whether people were enjoying themselves.  The bottom line is that it wasn't what I envisioned myself doing for a month of my time here and while it's something that in the big picture helps everybody in different ways (Green Empowerment, Asofenix and the groups), it wasn't something that I personally took to very well.

Getting that off my chest I can admit that there were some parts that I liked.  The people were overall very nice and well intentioned, and again it is a win win win situation when you look at the BIG BIG picture (unfortunately I'm only a small part of that).  

So now that the last members of the groups are finally trickling out of the office we have a little time to breath and reorganize ourselves.  The rest of the month includes finishing the small wind turbine installation in Sonzapote, diagnosing the Protreritos water pumping failure, finish installing the burner and pressure release mechanism in the Bramadero biodigestor, finishing the irrigation system in Bramadero and training the 6 community technicians who will complete the installation of the remaining 21 solar panels for El Corozo.  I also think we have to do some more planning on the microhydro but that's only in the back of my head right now.

I think that pretty much got us up to speed.   Sorry it took so long to get this out and I'll try to be more regular with my upcoming posts.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!

Check out my pictures at www.greengringo.shutterfly.com for photos of the Sonzapote installation and more.