Current Vision for Development

While yesterday was our first day at work, today was the first day that we actually worked at work.  We drew up a work plan yesterday which is somewhat an exercise in organization, somewhat just putting stuff down on paper to make people, be it in our host organization or FSD, have an idea of the general direction we hope to move in.  Our thoughts yesterday, were that a high, but incredibly powerful goal for the summer and for the youth center would be to develop into an internet café themselves, and by teaching or aiding with solar technology, computer skills, and capital management, create a similar center in another underserved community.  As of yesterday afternoon when Julian and I talked this over I thought it was a ridiculous plan, to expand miles beyond Lwemode, but after talking to Junior (the youth groups main spokesman) and the rest of the youth center today it seems in crazy way quite possible.

Just a note: As we discovered, youth actually goes up to the age of 40 in Uganda. So the people we are working with in the youth center are actually much older than we expected. It seems to be ranging from 20-40.

Junior seemed incredibly excited when we mentioned that an internet café was the project we wanted to direct our solar power towards.  He had recently bought a new computer for the center, but without wireless access it was limited to provide organizational and word processing services to the center.  Computers are his area of expertise, particularly buying computers and how to find different parts, so he had insight into how much another computer for the center would cost.  Good secondhand computers, always bought in Kampala for the cheapest prices, cost between 400 and 600 thousand shillings (average of $200 USD), however to purchase a keyboard, monitor, and mouse, the total cost is only 130 thousand shillings (about $50 USD).  What this means for us is that if we got a raspberryPi functioning, we could essentially halve the cost to install an additional computer (raspberry pies cost $35 USD, and allowing for the cost of shipping to Uganda via a service like DHL, it’s still much, much cheaper ).  It appears from Junior’s accounts that internet cafes in Uganda actually use raspberryPis (or very similar devices) instead of larger traditional computers, although he claimed that in order to purchase such a small, energy efficient computer, you would have to pay 1 million shillings (about $400 USD).  His claim was that prices in Uganda reflect an understanding that power efficiency and transportability are desirable, and can be sold at a greater price.  Therefore, looking to source raspberryPis from outside suppliers appears to be a better option. 

As part of the FSD program, we have the opportunity to use a $300 USD seed grant on our project, so buying a new computer for the center would take less than half of that grant, and leave plenty left for investing in other things.  For instance, using the remainder to make the initial payment to a mobile phone company to provide internet via 3G would enable the center to get internet up and running sooner as opposed to waiting for capital from phone charging to build to the point where they were able to invest in that service.  Based on the demand for phone charging, it seems like an internet café would pull in many customers.  Lwemode is the only place for phone charging between Dim, a fishing area about six miles up the road that runs to Lake Victoria from Lwemode, and Lusaka, a slightly larger village that is maybe halfway in between Lwemode and Kalisizo (Lusaka is 5 miles in the other direction).  People from everywhere in between come to Lwemode to charge phones, and Junior said they would take them  up on internet services as well.

Lwemode appears to be developing relatively fast as well, expanding from only a few homesteads to hosting a new church, a large primary school (ages four to six) and several emerging businesses like the youth center.  On top of that, it’s the seat of the subcounty, and has the office of the LC3 chair, whom we met today.  He was incredibly excited about the idea of not only bringing internet access to Lwemode and therefore the subcounty, but also with the idea of expanding.  He asked us about opportunities for teaching others and what we were doing to reach as much of the subcounty as possible and generally just seemed to “buy” the idea, as Junior put it.  Junior also recommended working to expand by building one café in Dim, so those in between Dim and Lwemodde could travel in either direction and have reasonable access to internet/power.  The idea behind what is basically a satellite site is that the expertise would come from Lwemode, as well as part of the capital investment, and as a result, part of the profits could return to Lwemode.  So it would not only expand their outreach and services, but also their opportunity for profit.

The LC3 Chairman (left) and Junior (right) in our small meeting.

Lydia, Julian and the Chairman.

This brings us to kind of a surprising revelation about the community center.  Coming into this project, Julian and I both anticipated that if a family owned the node, it would receive better care.  Personal ownership with personal profit hinging on the upkeep of that node seems like the best assurance of adequate care.  We assumed that families, seeing the device as a means for profit or for power, would protect it within their homes.  However, seeing the youth center in action, it’s clear that the group is capable of actually realizing collective ownership and collective protection.  Their shop already has valuable pieces of equipment, like their TV and now a computer, and the shop has the appropriate precautions in place (locks, steel door, etc.).  They have maintained their possessions and their tools for the years that they have been working together, and don’t tend towards the tragedy of the commons issues that we originally thought community centers/community ownership might lead to. (as we actually told by a professor.) 

What we are reaping here is this groups passions for technology. Junior said that in Uganda, people don't lack the interest or the power, just the knowledge. In this way, the driving force for the project can very much be a teaching and capitalistic impetus.  The community center is incredibly well run and handles its profits from phone charging in a way that is positive and encourages its members that they are working towards goals of personal gain (i.e.: getting T.V. access, getting power at night to hang out with friends, etc.).  They immediately were excited that they might be able to access internet from their center, and even more so that that access could lead to more profits which could provide other services as well.  Junior said that their goals for the center for the year were to begin to provide video game and computer classes (we’re still not sure the point of video game classes, but if that’s what Lwemode wants…), a welding machine, battery charging, and a photocopier.  It was evident from our classes today that they truly want to learn about solar technology and circuitry and to be able to use those skills to improve their own access to technology as well as enhance the services to provide for others. 

For now, the goals they have in mind include phone charging services, phone repair, internet cafe, into to computer classes, electronics classes (which replicates our classes) and setting up other internet/power centers which inherently means training more people in other villages in computer/solar technology.

So now with these discussions in mind, we anticipate using two of our nodes at the youth center itself, to provide for phone/battery charging needs as well as to power at least one computer when grid power is iffy.  The third node can be a practice in expansion, the first step to install power in a town, possibly like Dim.  There, even if the node is only going to charge phones, some amount of money can be built up in the community that can eventually be turned into an internet service as well with the expertise/advice of the Lwemode group.  So that is the general motion of our project at this point in time, and we’ll probably continue to see many adjustments and developments. 

First Day at Work

Today was our first real day in Lwemodde and even though it was cut short thanks to a malaria scare on Julian’s part, we managed to have a good look around and to begin to come to terms with what our job this summer is going to be like.  

The town itself has 47 homesteads, and about 300 residents, but people come from nearby areas as well to use the youth center’s services so that every day, they charge about 150 phones for 200 shillings a piece (that’s about 8 cents each phone, or $10.50 earned each day).  We arrived on the day that they were unpacking a computer that had been bought with money earned, and that money also bought a 21” T.V. that sits in their building as well and everybody comes and hangs out and watches T.V. until midnight or so, when their treasurer shuts down the building.  Another purchase was about 25 green plastic chairs that the group uses in their building, and also lends out to others in the community when they want to use them.

The youth center is in fact an incredible organization.  It’s members provide many services to the community, apart from the purchases and the phone charging/repairs themselves, they work with a rearing farm animals project and on hair salons as well.  The first day when we visited, we saw they were running a TV, a fan, and charging multiple phones and we couldn’t tell how this was possible.  However, today we learned that they actually are on the grid and most days draw power from there.  In Lwemodde though power is only on maybe three days of the week, and can be off for four days at a time, requiring them to travel to Kalisizo to charge car batteries to keep their charging abilities consistent independent of the grid.  Another man in town offers the same charging services off his own grid line, but not only is his place less safe (he doesn’t sit and watch the phones), but when power goes off he can’t do anything about it and everyone must go to the youth center.

During our visit we noticed an interesting spread of technological knowledge amongst members.  The things that people knew are clearly a product of how they learn things: by trial and error with the materials.  For example because their inverter allows them to charge more phones faster than their previous set up (attaching multiple phones to a car charger) they assumed that it was more efficient.  However, the inverter in fact wastes a huge amount of energy that’s not necessary if you’re just trying to drop 12 volts from the battery down to the phone charging voltage (5V) even though it does allow the phones to draw the current they need.  Other things, like soldering the speakers and earpieces onto cell phones, a job that has clear visual logic (you know the speaker has to connect, so you solder it and you’re done) is one that they do incredibly well. 

Julian’s and my first project for tomorrow is to begin teaching basic concepts of circuitry that can allow us to teach center members to do the electrical work needed to set up solar power and other similar things.  Tomorrow’s lesson specifically works with Ohm’s law (V = IR), the photoelectric effect (to provide a basic understanding of where that “I” in ohm’s law comes from), and the relationship between power, voltage, and current drawn. 

Energy Access in Masaka

Today, we visited St. Jude's Family Center, a farm that incorporates many sustainable techniques into its practices.  One of the most interesting things was their generation of their own bio-gas from the manure of the animals they raised.  As far as we could tell, there were about four cows, ten pigs and many more piglets, and about 2,000 chickens all producing quite a bit of waste on any given day.

Various pits housed the manure, with furrows running into them to drain urine as well.  The majority of the manure is recycled into compost material and had very visible results, when comparing the bananas of St. Jude's to the bananas of their neighbors.  However, a fair amount of cow dung goes into bio-gas production.  This manure is held in a pit that was covered in wet clay to contain the gas that is produced as the manure decomposes, so that when the gas rises to the top of the pit it is forced out through a system of pipes which runs to a cooking stove in a different part of their farm.  In this manner, the farm saves on costs of gas/electricity to run their stove, and also prevents the usage of more environmentally impactful energy sources (i.e.: wood, charcoal).  The only compromise that must be made is to deal with the sharp manure odor in the first few seconds of turning on the gas to the farm's stove.

We encountered a lot more solar power in Masaka today.  While the entire group was buying Orange sticks (which provide internet access to computers for 85,000 shillings/$40 for 3 GB in one month), Julian discovered small 2.5 Watt solar kits which were branded as for charging phones and powering lights.  The man who we were speaking to loved these panels, claiming that many many Ugandans had them.  The pitch that he quickly offered to us was an interesting one.  He had a little plastic sheet that would help you calculate how much money buying one would save you over the course of four years, and kept pointing to various downsides to things like kerosene lamps (i.e.: the potential to burn your house down). 

These solar kits cost 65,000 Ugandan shillings, but seem a little too good to be true.  This roughly translates to $26 USD and the kit used a 1.5 W solar panel to do phone charging and power one lamp with a 750 mAh battery. It should have made it more clear but I assume that the phone charging capabilities can only be used during sun light hours because the smallest phones here have 800 mAh batteries.

However, if these solar kits are capable of the amount of charging that their box advertises (6 phones every two hours or four hours of LED light at the highest maximum lighting), then their setup is incredibly cost-effective.  Interestingly they claim that only 3 hours is needed to charge a 700 mAh phone battery even though for their 750 mAh battery (also LiIon like phone batteries) 8 hours are needed. Hmm....strange calculation there...

This Barefoot Power-Orange cooperation is an interesting counterpart to MTN's work on a very similar solar kits made by Fenix.  (The two are competing phone companies.) Each product is listed below:

• Barefoot Power which has paired with Orange
• MTN ReadSet which is produced by Fenix

The questions that still need to be answered is how reliable are these units and how affordable are they to the average (or poorest) Ugandans. Our nodes, like these are intended to become a business however our nodes are a much more permanent set up and are far more powerful than the Barefoot and MTN ones. MTN is currently trying to pair with a local micro-finance company in Masaka (and I assume they are doing this everywhere in Uganda and Rwanda) called The Masaka Elders to give loans for these devices. Apparently micro-finance loans around here have interests rates floating around 32%. Not too sure that is affordable for this business.

Is our solar node already in existence?

Today we saw something amazing while walking through the main roads of Masaka. Lydia brought to my attention a very large billboard that was advertising a solar powered node-like device. It stressed phone charging, house lighting and power for a radio; all things which had envisioned our nodes being used for. This was very striking because a for profit company has found that there is a market for exactly our product. It’s promising in a sense but I wonder how many locals can really afford this system. The billboard also said that this device could be source of income for the owners, just as we intended.

The billboard advertising what is essentially our solar node and business plan.

Today we also found a small shop selling solar panels among the many shops on the main road which were selling 100 W solar panels for approximately $300 US if we use the reasonable exchange rate of 2500 shillings to the USD. This is more expensive than the solar panels we ordered ($180) off Amazon but not too far-fetched for the US market. For the Ugandan market however this is really expensive. The people who live in un-electrified villages are typically the poorest and they would be the people who use it the most. In Masaka a large number of places have electricity connections to the main grid although blackouts are quite frequent. Tonight in fact, the power is going on and off periodically.

Additionally, at the Plot 99 Cafe where we had lunch, one of the waitresses said that her boss knew a group who also supplied solar powered devices for general small scale electricity. The name of this group was Barefoot Power, no affiliation to Barefoot College I presume.

Card advertising Barefoot Power in the café.

At the bottom of the advertisement it says that one of the lights in this kit would be 10 times brighter than a Katadooba which I learnt was a Kerosene lamp. This is usually what people use if they don't have electricity or there is a blackout. I would be interesting to know what battery system is used in this kit. Perhaps just small rechargeable batteries are used for the lamp.

We also walked through a small supermarket type stall earlier in the afternoon and found someone in the corner of the shop fixing what looked like a food blender or some similar appliance. It was something with an AC motor in it. I asked him where he got the skills to fix this device. His response was simply that he had grown up around electronics and that fixing such devices was now his job. Another thing we noticed was that in our rooms here at the Zebra Inn, the small TVs actually have a European plug even though all Ugandan outlets use the English plug. So their solution was to widen the European prongs and force it to fit the English socket. Smart hack really; I think I would have invested in an adapter.

Hack of European power plug to fit into the English style outlets.

This sort of ‘hacking’ culture could really be taken advantage of with our project. Apart from phone charging and house lighting that will come with our nodes, what we also provide is access to a steady 12 V or anything less. When we are actually in our deploying location we will have better judgment about the new vision that we had. Maybe it is possible to give people the skills such as making good electrical connections and having a feel for which devices need certain voltages. This does not include all the mathematical or theoretical groundings of electrical engineering and circuit theory but just some knowledge on what electrical system comprise of. If these skills are well understood and taught to other people we could set up a system where the locals contact us with projects they want to pursue and we guide them as to what parts they need and how to put them together. We can obviously do this even while in the US. 

An example could be something like powering a radio they have which is currently battery powered. If they can identify that it is run on less than 12 V and can follow instructions to make a simple circuit (which would have things like voltage regulator in it) we could send them the schematics and parts needed to adapt that radio to the node. They would no longer need to buy batteries for the radio which are really expensive in Uganda. These skills could really spread to unforeseen projects and would have a real time response for emerging needs and wants among that community. This is similar training that Barefoot Collage provides in India and Sierra Leone. We will keep this idea in the back of our heads.

Warm welcomes

After arriving in Entebbe two nights ago and staying at the African Roots Guesthouse, we spent yesterday driving to Masaka and then had the opportunity today to explore the city.  Driving across four hours worth of the country (Entebbe to Kampala to Masaka) is not a half bad way to see bits of the country!

Perhaps the most disconcerting thing is the transition from driving on the right side of the road to the left.  It wasn’t uncommon to look up, see the man in what you expect to be the driver’s seat reading a newspaper and have a quick heart attack.   

We first drove from Entebbe to Kampala where we bought cell phones and plans (basic Nokia cell phones cost 61,000 shillings, or $24ish, a sim card costs 3,000 shillings, or $1ish, and we put 10,500 shillings of prepaid money on our phones where a text might cost 50 shillings/2 cents, and a minute is some ambiguous amount that we haven’t figured out yet).  The place we bought phones from was a mall you might find in America (think Northgate), if American mall cops had rifles strapped to their thighs.  Entering the mall, we first exchanged money (our US dollars bought at a rate of 2540 shillings to the dollar), then bought the physical phones in a supermarket type area that could have existed in the first world in a moderately seedy part of town.  Crime must be a huge issue, because all bags larger than mine, a small cross body bag about 6”x4”, had to be checked at the door.  To this, a lot of people in our group who had brought backpacks with laptops or other valuables in them got kind of nervous.  The bag check was manned by a single guy and was a group of cubbies with a simple “take a number, leave a bag - leave a number, take a bag,” system in place.  But we managed to avoid becoming a cautionary tale.  

Lunch was a visit to the food court, a pizza restaurant in fact.  Food seemed to target American clients, offering pizza, burgers, and sandwiches, despite real Ugandans not considering a sandwich to be a meal, as our Program Coordinator informed us.  After lunch we drove from Kampala to Masaka, with a brief stop to take pictures at the equator monument and observe the coriolis effect.  Masaka is significantly smaller than Kampala.  We drove through it in a few minutes to the Zebra Hotel where Julian, myself, and one other intern are staying for the week.  The other seven interns stayed with us last night, but this afternoon went to stay with host families because their host families live within walking distance of Masaka and it’s not incredibly inconvenient for them to live there and attend orientation.  The hotel hosts many mzungos (“foreigners”) like us.  

While they went to meet and stay with their families, Julian, Lauren and I explored the town.  Regardless of the friendliness/shyness of everyone we walked past, nobody felt uncomfortable staring at us.  In general, if you smiled, waved, or said “oti-oti-ay,” which is an incredibly butchered way of saying “hello” in Lugandan,” then people tended to smile back.  Lauren and I got fist pumps from one guy.  Julian had two kids yell “mzungo!” and grab his hand and start following us.  We got lots of laughs at our Lugandan and lots of “Hey mzungo, how are you!?”s.

The downtown area looks incredibly market-esque.  Walking down you’ll walkpast stalls and narrow shops that sell huge and colorful bolts of fabric, cell phones and cell phone appliances, clothing, and much more.  There were a huge number of solar stores that we saw walking down the street, the sorts of things you can’t find in the states.  When we were looking for a solar panel supplier in NC we couldn’t find anyone willing to sell us a solar panel without installment as well and we had to turn to Amazon.  Here, solar stores are a dime a dozen, although the solar panels themselves are more expensive (see Julian’s post).  Moving down the block, we saw stalls with  huge hanks of terribly smelling raw meat hanging from the rafters and we’ve been warned not to eat because of the dust from passing bodabodas and cars, but nonetheless had a demand and market.  Kidneys and intestines appear to be very popular in Uganda.  Past the main drag, there was an actual market which was kind of terraced into a hill and had no streets running through it.  Fridays are the busiest days, and Sundays weren’t that crazy at all, but in its heyday the market has stall after stall of fruit and vegetables and a huge stack of enclosures with live chickens.  Women were sitting under umbrellas and shades throughout the market, shelling beans or peeling plantains.

Apart from delving into the midst of the Ugandan town, we ate lunch and had coffee in the afternoon at two mzungo-branded cafes.  Plot 99 was where we ate lunch, and the place, while more expensive than most Ugandan food options, offered American and German-style cuisine, free internet, and a beautiful touristy view.  We walked about ten minutes up the road from our hotel and I ate pesto pasta for 9000 shillings (almost $4).  After lunch we did the market route, and after that ended up at café frickedellen, a Dutch café that is a part of an NGO that works with Ugandan children with regards to homecare and education.  The cafe served French press coffee (a “small” jar which actually held about 3 full mugs of coffee cost 7,000 shillings/almost $3) which was delicious, and significantly better than the instant coffee that is standardly served. 

It was great wandering with just the three of us because for the past couple days, and this morning in fact, we were walking around with the huge group in an incredibly conspicuous fashion.  This afternoon we were by no means less foreign or better at blending in, but having fewer people made it easier to see things and get a feel for the city.  It hasn’t quite sunk in that we’re actually in Uganda, and that’s almost surely because of who we’re hanging out with.  Nothing is that out of place because 98% of the conversations I’ve had are with other Americans/the lone Australian.  I think it must take moving in with our host families to actually feel like we’re in Uganda, because wifi access and hanging with other interns certainly isn’t doing the job. 

Technology Arrived

They made it through 3 international transfers. Bubble wrap is a bit tattered but the boxes seem Okay. When we get to our official home-stay house we will open them up for inspection. Only in Entebbe for now.

Packing it Up

Over the past twenty four hours we've been packing the nodes to deploy in Uganda and as of right now, Julian and I have taken the first of the many flights!  Julian is flying South African Airlines (via JetBlue domestically) and has landed in JFK, and I'm flying Delta and am in the Boston airport. Both airlines were willing to check solar panels and the rest of our materials.  Shipping our items to Uganda was an option, but hugely expensive and unpredictable in shipping speed.  A similar project last year that was working out of Togo building a solar-powered internet cafe spent about $4000 to ship materials from the states and with a two month project, the panels arrived with only two weeks left.

So, obviously checking (if possible) is a better option.  Julian has checked with him two solar panels (totaling about 41 pounds) that are lashed together.  I checked the third solar panel, and given that the solar panels have a cavity (they can be generalized to a power-producing shallow box), my solar panel is also packed with a lot of our materials, weighing about 26 pounds.  The stuff packed in the solar panel is pretty much anything that we can make flat which includes the wiring (we cut a generous amount off the spool to save space and weight) and a lot of the components themselves (packed in boxes with foam or in a clear compartmentalized box).  The rest of the materials, i.e.: the boxes, the butane-powered soldering irons, the tools, the lights, the constructed circuit and other circuit boards, ended up packed in my suitcase.  These parts are pretty well protected and have all of my clothing for the summer as insulation.  Overall, my suitcase ended up at 34 pounds, and we were incredibly surprised at how light we were able to pack while still accounting for plenty of materials.

 Using one solar panel as a 'shallow box.'

When it comes to what airlines allow you to check, the only thing we didn't bring was the lead acid battery for fairly obvious reasons.  The butane powered soldering irons we are bringing have no spare butane cells, and we kept them in the original packing.  It's unclear whether that's necessary, but the TSA web site says gas powered appliances must be checked and in original packaging, while butane powered curling irons (presumably a hair sort of thing?) can be carried on, one per person, without any butane.  Delta customer service on the other hand said it should be totally fine, although the representative seemed to have no idea of what a butane powered soldering iron is.  Our only other concern is that a TSA representative would scan a bag, see bits of circuit components and confiscate them because they look as though they could pose a threat and he/she is trying to exercise extra caution and doesn't recognize any of the components (other than the existence of ominous things like red wires).  To try and pre-empt this possibility, we've included letters from Vicki Stocking, the Robertson Scholars summer coordinator, stating the educational/research purpose of the trip as well as the components they can expect to find in our bags.  These letters are on each solar panel and in each suitcase, as well as on our persons.

The other thing that we had to worry about was the fragility of the solar panels.  It remains to be seen whether our methods were effective, but the two panels that we lashed together we lashed with the two cavities on the outside, so the panels themselves have some protection.  Then, after copious amounts of duct tape, we wrapped the entire unit in a layer of bubble wrap.  The single panel we figured would have some protection from filling its cavity with stuff, but we taped an extra layer of bubble wrap to the face of the box with the solar panel flat against it, and then wrapped the whole thing in another roll of bubble wrap.  The two boxes were each checked as oversize baggage but didn't carry any additional charge.

Transferal of 2 solar panel bubble wrapped package.

Another complicating factor in our flight was my routing through Boston.  I have an eleven hour layover here, and apparently as an increased security measure following the Boston bombings, that means I had to pick up and recheck my bags and re-enter through security.  Apart from an extremely difficult task of carrying the solar panel, my larger luggage, and a backpack to the Delta check-in, everything went smoothly and it just afforded an opportunity to confirm the solar panel had made it this far seemingly intact. 

There are still thirty-some hours for something to go wrong with shipping, but as of now it looks like smooth sailing!