domingo, 3 de abril de 2011

It´s hard to type when you´re in a packed bus and they´re blasting reggaeton and there´s a baby wailing right behind you and the guy next to you in the seat is soaking wet. Not from rain, it hasn't rained in months. Maybe he had to cross a river to get to his bus stop? Well, at least I'm in the kind of country where you can have a computer out in public without being immediately stabbed to death. I'm travelling to a seminar teaching business and management skills to Panamanian project leaders who work with the Peace Corps. I'm attending mostly to learn the material to see if I want to teach similar seminars in the future. Also, I'll be meeting Florentino there, a community member who leads our aqueduct committee. Hopefully, he'll pick up some skills that will help that group run more smoothly.

As I've mentioned in the past, I've been working a lot on fish tanks. Some clarification: fish tanks are large artificial ponds to raise tilapia for food. They are not aquariums. There's been some confusion on that. I'm working with a Panamanian agency who distributes tubing and young tilapia for the tanks if community members do the manual labor. I'm working between the agency and the community members. I learned how the agency teaches a fish tank should be made and then went and dug a bunch of fish tanks with my community and now I'm going back to the agency to ask for the tubing they promised. We'll see if they do their part.

My other big thing right now is woodstoves. So everyone in Cerro Papayo cooks on wood, usually under a roof and without any sort of stove. Scarcity of firewood is a major problem and some 60% of deaths are related to smoke inhalation. So for months now I've been searching for the right stove for my community. For awhile I was thinking of a mud stove that costs only labor and community members could learn to make, but everyone who's tried one says that they're a hassle to cook with and often don't work. Then I was thinking of a brick and rebar stove that is very durable (30+ years) and gets better reviews. It's too expensive to expect community members to continue production after I leave, but I could find funds to get one in every house and people would have efficient and smoke-free cooking.

But, I came across this new stove. It's called the Bliss Burner, designed by a NGO working here in Panama. It cooks well, people like to use it, and it only costs $4 and one hour of work to make one. At that price, I won't have to look for funds. As you know, the first rule of development is to never do something for someone that they can do for themselves. So my goal is to use a business approach to distribution, teaching community members how to produce stoves and sell them to the community for $10. Right now I'm producing stoves and selling them, passing the profits on to my youth group's fund. Interest is strong and I've already got a waiting list. Soon I'm hoping to find a man here who can take over and start making stoves for profit. Or a few men. Better if there's a couple companies that can compete for business.

Alright, I'll write again soon.

1 comentario:

  1. Good luck with the fish tanks..hope you get the tubing. Maybe you could blog soon and tell us what happened!!!!

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