Hike to Sapuk Waterfall

Today we went on a hike towards Mt Meru. Arusha is at the base of Mt Meru so there was no driving involved - a nice change after a week of commuting an hour via Daladala to and from EARD-CI's headquarters. As usual in the rainy season, the mountain's peak was cloud covered as we set out on our journey with our guide, David. We started in the center of Arusha and headed towards the outskirts, passing through parts of the city none of us had seen before (though everyone calls it ' town' here). The road grew quieter and greener, and soon we were on a steep hill surrounded by farms on both sides. We gained altitude quickly, and had an amazing view of Arusha and the surrounding landscape.

Just like New Hampshire, right? Arusha is the collection of buildings on the right.

At the top of the foothill we're on is a Maasai village that we eventually reached. The Maasai are a tribe with a strong presence in the area and are know for sticking to their customs. Our hostel continuously has a Maasai warrior on guard, so we always feel safe. Our guide taught us some of the Maasai greetings while we were hiking:

            takwenya ichi    --- for anyone (there are different intonations for ichi depending on who you're talking to, don't quote me here)

            eros subai          --- for a man

            yeye takwenya   --- for a woman

            koko takwenya  --- for an elderly woman

The response is usually sopatei (pronnounced souai). Often Maasai men wear traditional garb and enjoy when you greet them in their language. Greetings here are very important and very different than what we're used to in the west. There really isn't a 'hello' or 'good morning'. You are always asking people how they are or how their morning has been. The response is always something synonymous with good. For us, the beginner Swahili speakers that we are, it has been very rewarding to learn the standard greeting. Armed with those words, we can each hold the first few minutes of a conversation after which we undoubtedly hit a wall. 

While getting Swahili and Maasai lessons from our guide, David we were walking past homes like these:

At the top of the hill there was a large green where Julie Ann quickly made friends with some children while our guide was paying the village fees.After passing through the Masai village we saw this view:

If there were less clouds, we would've had a great view of Meru over top those trees on the left which is where we were headed, down that hill. After a fun, slippery, and steep descent through a jungle, we found a stream and this big boulder.

David thought we were all incredibly brave, for dousing our feet in the 'freezing' water. It seems Tanzanians have a different measures of cold and hot since the stream was not very cold. We all went for a dip in the water at the base of the waterfall. That was cold.

After the quick swim, I tried to discretely change into dry clothes, when three Tanzanian army officers turned the corner to my hiding spot. We all had a laugh! The area is strongly patrolled by the army because it serves as Arusha's water supply.

And another amazing view on our descent.

Snake Park

On our day off from work for Union Day, we visited the Snake Park and Masai Cultural Museum with James and Ferdinand, two interns at EARD-CI. Inside the snake park, we got to see some very large snakes, some cute snakes, and some very poisonous snakes like the black mamba, whose poison will kill a man in half an hour. We also saw some turtles, crocodiles, and a baboon, who’s hand we all shook. We also all held a snake around our necks, and Misha had it on his head too.

We then went on a guided tour through a Masai museum. It was interesting to see how they Masai lived. It was even more interesting to hear from Eliza and Kyle, Misha’s friend from Middlebury who we met at the restaurant, about the Masai, who they’d done homestays with. It was interesting to hear the differences of what is told to tourists and what happens in real life. The tourists are told that female circumcision no longer happens, though Eliza and Kyle said it was still fairly common, though less so now than in the past. The guide also told us of all the hard work the men did, but Eliza and Kyle mentioned to us how most of the work was done by the women. It’s been really great to learn about the culture.

After going through the museum, Julie Ann, James, Ferdinand, and I went on some camel rides. We had a great time going on a short walk with them! Misha was not too fond of the camels.

The Rest of Week 2

The rest of our week flew by because of a holiday on Thursday, Union Day, which celebrates the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. We spent the majority of the rest of the week practicing burns, working on briquetting a bit, and enjoying our time off.

On Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon we practiced burns with the coffee husk stove and camp stove in a small annex of EARD-CI. We tried burning small, medium, and large sized sawdust, rice husks, and coffee husks. We soon realized that the materials were not nearly dry enough as most did not catch fire, and the ones that did, namely the medium and large sized sawdust smoked heavily.

We set out some of the materials to dry in the sun we got on Wednesday and tried the burns again, both in the coffee husk stove and the camp stove. We got everything to burn in the camp stove after it was completely dry, although the rice husks choked out the fire and needed to be constantly stirred. We’re curious to try mixing the rice husks with something that allows for more airflow like the coffee husk and see if it’ll burn then.

We also spent Friday morning working on briquetting. We decided to let the compost pile we started be and not open it for another week to make sure that it will have composted to the appropriate degree to make 100% agro briquettes. We need to see how such briquettes could be made because the village in this area do not have easy access to paper or cassava flour. Although none of us know much about composting, we’re hoping that between our compost pile and the village’s compost, we’ll be able to put things together to make an agro based briquette.

We created a briquette mixture on Friday of small seed shells from the village, leaves from the village, and charcoal left over from our successful burns. Because we were trying to dry out the wood which was wet and starting to mold, we did not actually press the briquette. It did pass the various tests of squeezing, oozing, and dropping mentioned in the briquetting manuals.

In the afternoon, we went down the street to get some linseed oil to finish the press to make sure it didn’t mold further. The store we bought the oil from was owned by two retired Ivy League graduates, one from Cornell and the other from Yale. They were super excited to meet us and were giving us advice on the briquettes. They suggested to us to use cow manure as a binder. The agro waste is already pretty gross to touch for us, but this is something we are considering. They also told us to check out Carmatec which is the government’s alternative fuel center which could direct us to specific plants we might want to use in our briquettes or specific people we might want to talk to. It was wonderful running into these guys who were so helpful and wanting to speak with us again.

It’s really been quite weird who we ran into on Friday. After heading back to the backpacker’s hostel, we went to dinner at the Indian place across the street and Misha saw a fellow classmate from Middlebury there. We chatted with them for a bit and learned so much about what he and his friend were doing on the study abroad and what they’ve learned in the past three months here.  It was such a productive week. We’re anticipating a lot of work next week where we’re planning on visiting three villages, six NGO’s, and doing a stove demonstration. Hopefully all goes smoothly and we’ll get a lot of information on what’s happening in Arusha.

First VICOBA Demonstration

On Monday, we had our first demonstration of our briquette press to a VICOBA group. We arrived at their meeting and they were so intrigued that they stopped the meeting and wanted to go outside to see how the press worked.

Before heading outside though, we made sure to ask some questions about the feasibility of briquettes in the area. We found out that the average household spends about 2,000 tsh on a bundle of wood per day. They also told us that it is also somewhat difficult to collect their own wood since there are policies in place such as needing to plant one tree for every tree cut down, though these rules are loosely enforced or followed. The village this VICOBA serves is an agricultural region with plenty of waste plant materials although they don’t have access to much waste paper. We thought that their answers to our questions suggested that a briquetting program might be successful here.

The people in the VICOBA also thought that such a program might be a good alternative and took careful notes as we explained the benefits of briquetting and the process of briquetting. We passed around some partially dried briquettes and then made an example briquette with a paper, rice husk, saw dust mixture we brought with us. The VICOBA members were so excited to see how they were made that they lined up and made their own briquettes. Soon, they started a competition to see whose briquettes were most firmly pressed. There wasn’t a clear winner, but there was certainly a clear loser, us.

We left the VICOBA group anticipating how a briquetting program could work there. The group was already talking about composting its own materials and making its very own briquettes. They were hoping we would leave the press behind for them to practice as making one seemed to costly. Because we needed the press for visiting other groups, we had to say no. Their ask did make us wonder how we could cut down on the price of the press so that it could be more affordable.

We came back and researched some other press designs and settled to have another one made which would be easier to make and require half as much wood. On Tuesday, we met with Kalalu again and commissioned press number two. We are hoping to leave the presses with EARD-CI to distribute at some subsidized price to the most promising village groups.

Briquetting

In our first week at EARD-CI, we've made quite a bit of progress on briquetting. We've gotten the press built and some sample briquettes drying. The building of the press was quite an ordeal and took place over four days. EARD-CI found a woodworker, Kalalu, who came to their office on Tuesday morning ready to build the press. We spent the morning going over the press design and explaining the concepts. We then went out and bought the wood and bolts needed for making the press and headed to Kalalu's work station which happens to be in a very nice eco lodge being built. We enjoyed exploring the empty lodge site while Kalalu began to work on the press. When we left, the frame of the press was completed. On Wednesday, we bought some materials needed for building the press and some buckets and other materials as well. We were fortunate to have some EARD-CI volunteers with us to make sure we didn't get ripped off at the market. 

On Thursday, we worked on ripping up the paper and preparing everything to make the briquettes. Kalalu brought the press over and we adjusted some things on the press and called it a day. The next morning, we sanded some tight connections in the press and began making our briquettes in EARD-CI's yard. Unfortunately, Kalalu was unable to finish the press with oil, so some of the parts did begin to show wear, primarily the stick which goes into the middle of the briquette. After drying out, the press seemed fine overall and we aim to finish it with oil sometime this coming week. It was more expensive than we were expecting, maybe $130, but Kalalu did a wonderful job, and it is a sturdy and strong machine.

While we were making our briquettes, the staff and volunteers at EARD-CI and various guests were very impressed. Edith, the director of the organization was leaving for Sweden for a few weeks, so many people were coming by to say good bye. They all touched the briquettes and took turns manning the press. A principal of a school nearby had stopped by and was impressed to see what we were doing and asked if we could do a demonstration at his school sometime. He said that they have many agricultural and paper wastes at his school and that this could be an effective alternative fuel there. We thought that this could be a great place to implement briquetting as the materials were available and the children would enjoy shredding the paper (a task we found to be rather tedious). 

We made our first set of briquettes with rice husks, sawdust, and paper. Naomi mentioned that paper would be hard to come by for the villagers EARD-CI works with, so we also set some local biomass to begin composting. We hope to spend this coming weeks experimenting with the briquette compositions and the stove a bit. We've decided to move from our current location to a hotel that is only a five minute walk from EARD-CI's office so that we can spend our spare time (which has been minimal so far, eaten up by transportation, eating, and preparing things for the next day) working on our projects. Coffee husks have yet to be harvested, so we are looking to test the coffee husk stove with rice husks and look at other biomass for the briquettes.

During the day next week, we will be visiting various VICOBA meetings and demonstrating how to use the press with a sample mixture we've created. Once the sample briquettes have dried, we also hope to demonstrate them burning to these villagers. Currently, we are thinking to leave the press at EARD-CI or the most interested VICOBA and letting them practice and experiment before the summer group comes to do a more formal training. This model also fits a business model EARD-CI is considering which is to have on VICOBA village produce the briquettes and sell to the other villages. Overall, the project seems very promising and we've been having a great time getting it rolling. 

During our work week, we have had the pleasure of seeing many exotic insects (or horror for me), getting a tour of Arusha from Ferdinand from EARD-CI, trying out  wali roast (rice and beef) and wali kuku (rice and chicken) and after that sticking to just wali maharage (rice and beans), trying ugali (yes for Julie Ann and Misha, not a favorite for me), and finding some nice western restaurants in town when we wanted a break (crepes, pasta, pizza, and pancakes, yum!). Julie Ann and I also had the opportunity to learn how to handwash our clothes for the first time, and all turned out okay. This weekend, after finally running some much needed errands today of buying modems and sim cards, we're taking a short break from DHE tomorrow to go on a waterfall hike. It should be an exciting coming few days!

First Day of Work

For our first day at work in Tanzania, we started bright and early with a meeting at EARD-CI's office located about half an hour away. We were delighted to have Naomi from the office give us a ride to the office and plan out a schedule for the next three weeks. After meeting some really cool workers, we set out to get started on our project by visiting two villages EARD-CI has vicoba's in (village community banks). 

These community banks are run by 20-30 community members who select their own leaders and rules. EARD-CI helps in the formulation of these banks and keeps them running smoothly. EARD-CI has created and maintained 22 of these bank community banks. We hope to be working with some select communities to implement the briquetting project. 

For the first vicoba we visited, we spoke about our projects and what the community members could do to prepare for a demonstration session next week. They were excited to see the briquette making process in action and happily said goodbye. We then enjoyed a tanzanian lunch with some office members and headed out for the second vicoba. 

Misha and I fell asleep on the way, and woke up refreshed in a completely different area. The second village was flat, dry, and had few plants which was much unlike the green, hilly Arusha and other areas we've been to. The vicoba was having some issues with money and lending so we waited outside. Soon a boy herding goats came and sat by us. Julie Ann and I watched him quietly for a bit while Misha busied himself by digging up a rock. After a bit, we approached the boy. Misha first tried to talk to him but he didn't respond. After, Julie Ann made a paper crane and Misha made him a paper airplane that didn't fly. I fixed up the plane and we gave the paper toys to him. He closely examined his gifts. It was then time to talk to the members of the second group. We said hi (shikamo) and then headed back to EARD-CI's office. 

There, we met Edith and headed out for a wonderful dinner. We finally made it back to the hostel by 8 and are now preparing for tomorrow. We anticipate another busy and productive day tomorrow!

Arrival in Arusha

Ayushi and I finally arrived in Arusha on Friday evening after 27+ hours of traveling! We flew from Newark to Kilimanjaro via Amsterdam, and it was exciting to see the familiar faces of Dr. Rajabu and Masoud on our flight from Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro. We were picked up at Kilimanjaro Airport and pretty much collapsed once we arrived at Arusha Backpacker's Hostel. We are extremely lucky to have arrived safely with all of our luggage (even the cook stove prototype made it through security!). Misha flew separately from Newark to Dar Es Salaam, with a layover in Zurich to visit family. We are looking forward to meeting up with him tomorrow. 

Today Ayushi and I got our bearings in Arusha. The Arusha Backpacker's Hostel is centrally located on the main road, so it was a great home base for walking around and exploring the city. We quickly learned that crossing the road is quite the challenge - dala dalas, taxis, trucks, and motorbikes crisscrossed the roads in every direction! Although Arusha is a base for tourists traveling on the Northern safari circuit, quite a few locals greeted us with "Mzungu,""Hello, how are you?" and "Obama, Obama!" when we said we were from the United States. 

 Arusha Backpacker's Hostel

A highlight of our day was wondering through the central market. We were overwhelmed by the sheer number of produce, clothing, and home goods vendors hawking their wares. Hundreds of them had gathered together in the colorful central market area. Afterwards we checked out the Shop Rite  shopping center for the expat community, chock full of (overpriced) Western amenities. Calling it a successful day of window shopping, we grabbed some dinner at a great Indian restaurant across the street from our hostel. Now we're upstairs in the restaurant trying to take advantage of some spotty, but free wifi. 

View of Sokoine Road and Mt. Meru

We're excited for another day of exploring tomorrow and to finally see Misha!

Dr. Rajabu's Visit

For the past week, we have had the fortune to host Dr. Rajabu and his graduate student, Masoud, on campus in Hanover. Dr. Rajabu is a professor of engineering at the University of Dar es Salaam. He has worked on improved cook stove technologies and other biomass energy projects for many years and serves as an invaluable resource for our group. Ever since DHE’s first trip to Tanzania, Dr. Rajabu has worked closely with DHE students to develop our stove designs and survey different regions of the country. Masoud is finishing up his graduate degree in engineering. For his dissertation, he researched how to optimize the efficiency of the coffee husk stove design DHE has distributed in the Kigoma region. Our time with Dr. Rajabu and Masoud over the past week has enabled us to further develop our technologies and learn more about working in Arusha and Kigoma. 

During the first day, Dr. Rajabu discussed his recent biomass survey of Tanzania to give us an overview of the wide variety of biomass technologies which are currently used. He explained that agricultural processing centers often burn huge mounds of plant wastes to dispose of the material. However coffee husks and other types of biomass are an abundant and usually free fuel which can be processed into briquettes and pellets or burned directly in some stoves.

Since one of our primary goals in Arusha will be to connect with local NGOs, we were extremely grateful for Dr. Rajabu’s suggestions for potential NGO partners. Currently, Dr. Rajabu is collaborating with Mr. Laustsen and the NGO Partners for Development (PFD) in developing, producing, and distributing the “Jiko Bomba” stove which burns pellets made of Jatropha cake. Dr. Rajabu highly recommended that we meet with PFD and Mr. Laustsen during our time in Arusha. Furthermore, Dr. Rajabu encouraged us to research business incubation programs which provide support services to groups of entrepreneurs whose businesses are interconnected and centered around a given industry.

Furthermore, it was particularly exciting to show Dr. Rajabu and Masoud our current coffee husk stove design. Both braved the cold Hanover weather as we did some practice burns with sawdust and coffee husk outside. Dr. Rajabu commented that there was too much primary air, so we covered up some of the holes on the bottom grate with aluminum foil and continued to experiment. The practice burns with Dr. Rajabu and Masoud over the past few days inspired James to make some exciting new stove design modifications. Additionally, we enjoyed showing them our new indoor air pollution (IAP) meter from Aprovecho Stove Research Center. This compact device measures the levels of carbon monoxide and particulate matter emitted. Masoud commented that such a device would have been very helpful as he was performing his research.

On Saturday morning, Dr. Rajabu gave a presentation about his stove testing and work on the “Jiko Bomba” stove to about ten past and prospective DHE travelers. This was followed by a lively question and answer session in which the group discussed some of the challenges associated with implementing an improved cook stove program. Dr. Rajabu emphasized that having an improved cook stove increases a family’s fuel security. While a family may prefer to use their three-stone stove for preparing certain meals or heating and lighting a room, an improved cook stove gives them additional options depending on the cost and types of fuels and biomass available. Ultimately the success of an improved cook stove depends on the cook’s acceptance of the stove, so the social and cultural aspects of a stove distribution program are extremely important.

On Tuesday evening, the Thayer School hosted a dinner for Dr. Rajabu and Masoud. It was a wonderful opportunity for past travelers to reconnect with Dr. Rajabu, as well as a chance for new DHE members to meet him and  hear entertaining travel stories from past travelers. Afterwards, Dr. Rajabu gave a short talk on stove testing to the students attending the DHE general member meeting. The Tanzania project group and the spring travelers, in particular, were extremely grateful for the opportunity to spend a week with Dr. Rajabu and Masoud!

Trip Goals

We are all very excited for the spring 2012 DHE assessment trip to Tanzania! During this trip, our group of three students will assess the feasibility of future DHE projects in Arusha and check up on past projects in the Kigoma region. In the map below, you can find Arusha in the northern area next to Mount Kilimanjaro. Kigoma is located in the far west near Lake Tanganyika.

For the past three years, DHE has developed and distributed improved cook stoves in the Kigoma region. The three-stone stoves commonly used in Tanzania households consist of an open fire and three stones to support a pot. However, such stoves present environmental and health problems. Firewood collection can lead to deforestation in the surrounding areas. Furthermore, preparing meals in rooms with little or no ventilation exposes women and children to dangerous emissions of carbon monoxide and particulate matter and may lead to Acute Respiratory Infection. For these reasons, improved cook stoves that reduce fuel consumption and harmful emissions are a cleaner and more efficient alternative to the three stone stove. 


DHE has not yet worked in Arusha, so we while we are there we hope to determine the feasibility of our improved cook stove and briquetting projects in the region. DHE has developed a coffee husk stove that burns coffee husks or other agricultural waste materials rather than wood. The second project, briquetting, is an alternative fuel made of loose plant waste that can be burned in any type of stove. In order for both projects to be successful, there must be plenty of plant waste available, as well as easy access to sheet metal and stove makers. Since Arusha is an agricultural and industrial center, we believe that the region will be well suited for both projects.


The feasibility of our project also depends on a variety of economic and social factors. We will need to ensure that the coffee husk stove or briquettes are an affordable alternative to wood or charcoal for consumers. We will also need to ensure that these products can be produced profitably. Identifying producer and consumer groups will be a substantial part of the spring trip. We hope to work closely with local NGOs to ensure that our project will be socially sustainable year round, even though DHE is only in Tanzania for a few months each year.

After spending five to six weeks in Arusha, we will travel to Kigoma to visit with the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI). DHE has worked alongside JGI for the past three years to develop and distribute the rocket stove, a high efficiency clay stove. Additionally, we will determine if there are any other projects at JGI for which DHE may provide technical assistance. After spending a week in Kigoma town, we will travel to Kalinzi, a village in the Kigoma region where DHE has distributed the rocket stove, to receive some feedback on the use of the stove.

By the end of the trip, we hope that we will have established connections with NGOs and conducted market analysis in Arusha so that a summer trip may successfully implement briquetting and/or coffee husk stove programs. In Kigoma, we hope to begin a formal evaluation of the rocket stove distribution program and to understand the potential for DHE’s future involvement with JGI in the region. 

Meet the Travelers

The DHE spring 2012 assessment trip will be the first time traveling to Africa for all three Dartmouth students on the travel team. In this blog, we will document our trip preparations, goals, progress, travel excursions, and anything else that comes our way. Before we begin, we’d like to introduce our travel team!

Julie Ann Haldeman '14
Trip Leader

Julie Ann is an Engineering modified with Chemistry major. She loves everything Dartmouth. She was Bonfire Chair for Homecoming her freshman year and chair for the Winter Carnival Ball her freshman and sophomore years. Julie Ann is also a member of SWE (Society of Women Engineers) and is a WISP (Women in Science Program) mentor. Julie Ann participated in a WISP research internship her freshman year and continued to work on the project throughout the summer. In her free time, Julie Ann enjoys reading, listening to Taylor Swift, and scrapbooking. She has lived with host families in China, Japan, France, Denmark, and Germany. On this trip to Tanzania, Julie Ann hopes to gain more experience with the engineering design principles of the projects and with understanding the needs of the Tanzanian communities with whom she will be interacting.

Ayushi Narayan '14

Ayushi is studying Economics, Environmental Studies, and Public Policy at Dartmouth. On campus, Ayushi is involved with Big Brother Big Sister, RotarACT, and CELT (the Center for Enviromental Leadership Training). She has done work on public policy research and environmental biology research during her time at Dartmouth. This past summer, she interned at the US Environmental Protection Agency as a Rockefeller Center First Year Fellow. In her free time, Ayushi enjoys hanging out with her identical twin sister who also goes to Dartmouth. She has traveled to India, Peru, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, England, and France. On this trip to Tanzania with DHE, Ayushi hopes to learn more about the culture of people she is meeting, how culture affects local approaches to environmental concerns, and the effectiveness of micro-finance and business incubation projects.

Misha Gerschel TH'14

Misha is a 3-2 student from Middlebury College studying at the Thayer School of Engineering. At Middlebury, he is a Physics major, and at Dartmouth he studies Electrical Engineering. Misha is an outdoor enthusiast who loves hiking and skiing. He teaches skiing at the Dartmouth Skiway to other undergraduate students. He has traveled to Brazil and to various places in the United States. On this trip to Tanzania, Misha hopes to learn more about Tanzania, see a part of the worlds he has never seen before, and further develop the technical aspects of the stove.