Trainings, continued

Alright! Here are some more of the things we did during our two trainings with the Yaajeende program.

We helped construct a permanent "rocket stove" setup in a small concrete room used as a kitchen by the village chief's family. The stove setup has several features that make it a better alternative to the standard mud stove and open fire kitchen setup. The form of the cooking space itself helps pull smoke out of the room (respiratory illness is a big issue for women that cook regularly over open fires, as is common here), thus encouraging good lung health and smoke-free eyes. It's also good for babies and children, as the hot parts of the stove and the fire are off of the ground, which means that babies and children can't walk into them, knock the pot over, or step onto hot coals (ouch!). It conserves wood by insulating the fire area and concentrating the heat, a big money saver in a location where many families have to buy their wood from markets for daily cooking. And then there is my favorite element: It's a back saver! You can cook standing upright instead of bending over a hot pot and fire.

Here's my interpretation:

The brown lines up there are steel rebar. To cook, one slides wood under the rebar. The cooking pot rests on top of the rebar. The smoke release hole is about a 6 inch by 6 inch square directly behind the fire. This also helps create air circulation. The rest of the wall of the construction rises above the height of the pot, thus creating insulation between the pot and the walls. In addition, the reddish-brown areas are filled with sand then sealed with concrete for further insulation. The grey slats up there are bricks that the pot rests on that further insulate the fire. There was an expert construction guy there that was doing the technical construction, our job was mainly to transport materials to and from the site (bricks, buckets of sand, metal parts, etc) and to follow along and learn how to do this on our own. The stove itself is a concrete and brick permanent installation that will require much less maintenance than a typical mud stove. I tried to find some pictures on the internet of something similar, but instead I found this:

Can't win 'em all, I guess.

After searching a while, I finally found this version of what we built, which seems to be much shorter and lacking the food preparation space, but it helps give a better idea of what I am talking about (from http://aeglenn.blogspot.com):


It's still not exactly the same thing, but much closer than a baseball player cut out. We also learned how to construct a food storage and dish drying area that is kid proof, bird proof, and animal proof. Oftentimes animals will see metal bowls, assume there is food in them, and head for them right away to eat all of their contents. This means that animals contaminate the bowls (and their contents, if there is food in them) with all kinds of germs, dirt, manure, etc. This area is off of the ground and screened in, and there are two doors in front of it that you can lift to access the dishes and food inside. Usually, dishes are dried outdoors, and prepared food bowls are often hanging out outside while people wait to eat. Sheep, goats, cows, chickens, and sometimes birds just can't seem to resist them. We helped a team of people construct a fairly sizable one of these at the village chief's house as well. No pictures of this...couldn't find anything like it on google images or in blogs.

After we finished this training, we had a day break in Ourosogie and then attended the food security training at the Hotel Oasis here in Ourosogie. The focus of the training was essentially on understanding and introducing the concept of food security, how does the government function and what role does that have in food security, what the cornerstones of food security are, how to identify the key players in food security programs, and the identification and resolution of food security related issues, including the identification of concrete trainings, methods, techniques, and actions that could be utilized within the community of des Agnams (the C.R. of our site, Agnam Thiodaye). The information itself was typical of any food security discussion- what roles do citizens have in protecting their own food supply? What can be done to improve production? Access to potable water, etc? I was particularly proud of the concrete solutions identified during the sessions, including the use of compost in food production, instructing people on how to make dirty water potable, and increasing access to markets through microfinancing organizations and community discussion. All around great solutions. The yaajeende folks that will be implementing these solutions are stationed in their villages (one specifically being Agnam Thiodaye) for five years, meaning that at least some of these solutions are guaranteed to be brought into the community. The food security training lasted three days (Nic and I missed the first day). It was conducted entirely in French, which was great for technical vocabulary, and I feel confident that the yaajeende folk have been trained properly for the actions they are going to be taking in their communities related to food security.

Alright, I think that effectively sums up our past week. Take care all!