[Stoves] Help needed to deal with excess rain
George Riegg Gambia
icecool at qanet.gm
Mon Dec 16 10:37:27 CST 2013
Fellow stovers - and briquetteers,
Compared to some disasters happening around the globe our own predicament here is almost insignificant.
However, after many years of struggling, researching (with a lot of practical help and encouragement from some people here - THANK YOU) we are finally moving on in this small and almost forgotten little corner of the world - The Gambia.
In 2011/12 we carried out an 18 months pilot under the WB BEIA initiative researching and finally adapting what in my mind is a GREAT stove to make it - almost - "our own" - the Furno EES - based on Chispin's Vesto and adapted to local needs and manufacturing capabilities.
Now we are waiting until the "big boys" can agree to pre-finance the first test batch of 500 to be locally made.The 24 households who have been doing our long-term (almost by default) on-the-ground research could not imagine how to do without it anymore!
At the same time we researched, tested and started making briquettes with Richard's help and encouragement. As stove and briquettes were developed side by side they fit like a hand in glove and it's a joy to use them together.
2 years ago we found a small follow-on grant to train and set up our first 2 community briquetting enterprises. In addition we want to try another one in a local state-run Primary School - the WFP assisted School Feeding Programme will be slowly phased out accross most of The Gambia so to set up schools as briquetting enterprises would be a great way to help counteract this reduction in funding.
With the usual expected delays this new pilot finally kicked off just as the rains hit us in July. By the time they finished our road was washed away. We tried the local way but even a few tons of concrete bricks ended up in the river. Our building is sinking and cracking and access by vehicle will be impossible until all that's fixed.
We are trying locally whatever we can do. We will be planting Vettiver and trees (from our own nursery) along our perimeter to at least stabilise the road and buildings for the future. But we can not find local "disaster relief" assistance to fix the road - in the greater scheme of chaos ours is..... So we need to turn to our networks and ask:
Can YOU help? We started a fundraiser on
http://www.youcaring.com/nonprofits/support-environmental-sustainability-in-the-gambia/100067
and we would appreciate if YOU could spread the word. If anybody feels really rich don't be shy - a few bucks from your pocket go a long way here.
Thanks from the team at PRSP and the communities of Abuko and Fajikunda to Tom and Erin to allow us to post this here - after all, this all IS in the spirit of bringing sustainable development to places like here!
Cheers
George from the jungle
oooor.... beside the creek
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