Appropriate Technology Workshop Part 5

On the third day of the workshop, we were doing a lot of work on finishing up projects. But, the workshop wouldn't be complete without a charcoal demonstration, so in the morning, we did side-by-side charcoal burns. We tested out the kiln that they had assembled a few days before as well as an oil drum. As Kofi talked a bit about the kilns, I was running back and forth to the kitchen to make sure that we had materials to demonstrate charcoal binding (the ones I had collected the previous day had been thrown out--understandably so, as few people would assume that someone would want to save those concoctions). Fortunately, that was all set, so as we talked about the process, Amy and I went back and forth explaining. It was slightly difficult, since I hadn't conducted a burn with her in over two years and the process had evolved, but we still had a good time presenting. At one point, I was trying to explain what was going on while I was completely engulfed in smoke as the water vapor burned off. However, all in all, the process went well and people were pretty excited about everything. We had some issues sealing the brick kiln, which led to a good discussion on how to improve the design, but people were excited to be asked for their input on improving the process. And we closed the demo with David and I talking about briquetting, which was a really fun conversation.

Most of the rest of the day was project work. It was nice to see the designs taking shape. One of my favorite contrasts was a Zambian designed hand-washing station that was about the simplest design I've ever seen next to an American designed one with rope following a crazy path and four pulleys that still didn't seem to work quite as well. I was really impressed with the mango picker (and even tried it out a few times to help some of the other teams get mangoes for slicing, peeling and pressing). I enjoyed watching the evaporative cooling team think about the possible uses for their unit. I was blown away by the seed planter (Bernard couldn't conceal his amazement, and it takes a lot to wow him). I enjoyed looking at the corn shelling designs and lots and lots more projects taking shape. Even Bernard was working on a valve for the well-digging tool so that we wouldn't have to get as muddy (after we all took our first crack at laundry, we were definitely grateful for that).

The volunteers cooked for us again, which was wonderful again and after a peaceful night, we were trying to get everything ready to show visitors from the community. Unfortunately, the worst of the rain came that morning, so we decided to cancel the showcase. But as we were canceling it, the weather cleared up significantly and we decided to un-cancel it. I was most excited to redeem myself with the oil presses (we didn't have enough peanuts to fill the screw press, so we were using it as a mango press, which was interesting in its own right). Everyone had a final burst of energy to get things as close to ready as possible.

As people started arriving, we talked a bit with them about what they would be seeing and then let them wander through. I couldn't resist sharing my thoughts on charcoal making and peanut shelling, but I was mostly talking about oil presses. People were impressed this time by how easy it was to use and enjoyed trying it for themselves (I made sure to explain that there are plenty of difficulties with the design as well). There was one visitor who felt compelled to tell all of us that none of these machines would be useful in the villages. All the villagers loudly disagreed with him (he was clearly urban and had spent little or no time in his life in villages) as he went from place to place, but that didn't stop him from offering his "expert" opinion every time. I saw it as a good example that if you just listen to one person who is happy to pretend they know everything, you can get a lot of incorrect information.

Anyway, the showcase was a lot of fun and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. After that, we went back to the hotel for the closing ceremony and when we got to the room that we had reserved for it, we found a church group had also reserved the room. Ummmmm, yeah. The hotel was nice enough to let us take over their dining room and we had a fun time in there. Everyone stood up and said a few words and we all received certificates and none of us could believe everything that we had accomplished over those 4 short days. It was really sad knowing that we were leaving after such a short time, but we were glad that we were able to become close friends so quickly.

The trainers' all went out for a celebratory dinner and final discussion (Amy and Kofi treated us, which was even more amazing). It was a lot of fun and we joked a lot (well, that happened at every meeting) and even found humor in the food that we were eating. My favorite part was learning that some people call traffic lights "robots". I'm not entirely sure what part of the world that comes from, but it was really fun to discuss that and other examples where we're all speaking the same language, but the words are so different. In the morning we had a few housekeeping tasks as we cleaned everything up and packed up the vehicle to head back to Lusaka. My luggage was nearly left behind, but Eric heroically grabbed it and saved the day.