Time has been flying by... and by that I mean I didn't realize it's been two weeks since my last post- but by no means does that mean there has not been some extremely long drawn-out days in there.
After my last post, I spent a week or so in Chiquimula. I learned a lot about stoves and biofuels during my time spent with Boston. We spent the first few days preparing the materials that we would use to make the briquettes. Basically, in order to make an effective briquette, we needed binders and fillers. Binders were fibrous materials that, when broken down, can be mixed and compressed to hold all other materials (fillers) together for efficient burning.
We made different combinations of binders and fillers. Our binders were: newspaper, cardboard, decomposed banana peel, decomposed corn husk, and cow dung. Our fillers were: coffee husks (the shell, not the fruit husk), saw dust, and charcoal. Unfortunately, by the end of the week when it came time to burning them and testing their efficiency, only one combination worked decently. From what I have learned, the concept of briquettes is not only hard to instill among locals, but the briquettes themselves are difficult to create and use efficiently- it is not just a matter of having the ideal briquette, but having the ideal stove.
After the briquettes were complete, we traveled slightly outside Chiquimula to our technicians home to test them. We attempted to burn some of the briquettes in a comal, traditional Guatemalan stove, but the briquettes acted more as smoke bombs rather than fuel. Stoves must have a certain air flow to burn briquettes correctly and the comal could not do that. We then went next door to use the neighbors stove. The neighbors lucky enough to have just received an ONIL stove- a much more efficiently stove, which is also much better for health- which is why Save the Children is giving them to all families that have children under the age of 5...for free! Though the ONIL burned one briquette combination well enough to make tortillas, overall the briquettes were not a success.
Although the briquettes weren't as successful as we had hoped, we still were able to make solid conclusions and I learned a lot. This trip also helped me realize the importance of understanding, patience, and empathy. If you want to help find solutions for the poor, it is essential that you understand the parameters, resources, and other circumstances in which they live. It is easy to do tests and research and form conclusions and "solutions" but it is all in vain if you don't factor in outside factors. And I'm not saying that one must empathize to truly succeed in this field, but in my opinion at least...they should go hand in hand. In my opinion, empathizing (not sympathizing) and truly wanting to understand what the poor need and how they themselves can get access to it is the only way you'll find a sustainable solution.
We returned to Guatemala City midweek and I continued to work on numbers and what not for Eco-Creativas and Kask'i. I was feeling a little under the weather my whole time in Chiquimula and all last week as well. I stayed home Friday and rested up and felt better by the end of the weekend. I booked my flight to join my school's Social Enterprise Institute in Nicaragua the first weekend of March. The Advanced Social Entrepreneurship class is traveling to Nicaragua and Costa Rica to gain some first hand knowledge on agricultural programs. Since they will be visiting the TechnoServe office in Nicaragua, I decided to tag along- it'll be great to compare countries.. and see some close friends!
So far this week I am still doing some odds and ends for Kask'i and Eco-creativas to pass some time. The coffee program is still delayed so there still isn't much for me to do, but I should be talking to my boss this week to figure out a game plan for the next few months.
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