Nyumbani Test Hydroponics System

Hydroponics system at work

how to get things done less "pole pole" (slowly) in the village

This week I was assigned with the task of installing a new pump on the test hydroponics system in one of our greenhouses in the village. The hydroponics system is pretty cool; it consists of  fish tanks and beds of vegetables that are connected by circulating water. This water runs from the bottom of the fish tanks, where it is filled with waste from the fish, into the beds of vegetables. When the vegetable beds fill with water to a certain level a siphon is triggered and the water returns to the fish tanks, filtered of bacteria and aerated for the fish. Symbiosis at its best!

The pump was pretty simple to install but I needed extra wiring to connect the new pump to a DC voltage source since the source used with the old pump was AC. So I arranged to meet with Benjamin, who works in maintenance, at 2 pm to finish the job. At three thirty there's no sign of Benjamin and he's not picking his phone up. The sun is hot, my patience is waning so I decide to take drastic measures. I unplug the old pump so the water is no longer being aerated, I change all the wiring I can in preparation for the new power source and I call Patrick, who I've asked to look out for Benjamin for me.

"Patrick, I've turned off the pump. The fish are suffocating. Where's Benjamin with the wires?"

"Hold on. We'll be there in 5 minutes" Patrick responds.

"You better be; the fish aren't looking too good" I say in my most worrisome voice.

Five minutes later guess who shows up! Benjamin, wires in hand. I ask him why he didn't come at 2 pm and he says he didn't think it was a serious job (because you know, some jobs are serious and some are just for kicks I thought).

As we're doing the wiring together he says to me accusingly "The fish are crying". Without skipping a beat I respond  "Damn right they are".


I've never felt the need to potentially kill an entire school of fish  but hey, if threats of death are what I need in my arsenal to get something done, then I need not waste any more time writing this blog, I'm going out to look more potential victims!

Celebrating my birthday in Nyumbani

me at 24 in Nyumbani. Thanks for testing out my camera on me Magdalene :)

thanks Lucy, Becky, Lillian, Patrick, Jackie and Nicholas (he took the picture) for a great birthday dinner!

Lunchtime conversation gone ridiculous

Classic example of a volunteer whose heart is in the right place but has totally impractical ideas. Today’s lunchtime conversation among me, Chris (the fellow I’m replacing), Ange (Nyumbani Volunteer) and Clueless Volunteer (the name is quite fitting as you’ll see).

Before I begin I’ll give you some background on Nyumbani Village. It’s located in Kitui Kenya, a semi-arid region where clean drinking water is very scarce, especially since the rains gave a no-show last year and the Horn of Africa was hit with the worst drought in 60 years.

Clueless Volunteer: Nyumbani needs a swimming pool.

Chris (trying not to choke on his lunch): um, I don’t think a pool is a priority for Nyumbani right now.

Clueless Volunteer: yes, it is. It’s not that hard to build, just dig a hole and put some water. It will be great for a wellness center for the su-su’s (the grandmothers in the village). The US has them, we should have them.

Me:  Building and maintaining a pool is not as easy as you think. It requires a big investment and the demand on water is ridiculous.

Ange: There’s no way a pool can be sustainable in this village if we want to be self-sustaining by 2018 (a goal the Village has set for itself).

Clueless Volunteer: What about a golf course?

Chris: Are you serious?

Clueless Volunteer: Or a driving range. We can definitely do a driving range. The next Tiger Woods can be from Nyumbani. All they play is football.

(at this point I can’t breathe as I’m holding back laughter)

Chris: So you want to stop the children from running and exercising and make them stand swinging a stick?

Clueless Volunteer: Yes, it will be good.

(after talking down Clueless Volunteer about this idea he moves on to plan B)

Clueless Volunteer: We should have a factory here. The kids sit around all day and do nothing.

Ange: They’re on their summer holiday. During school they are in classes and help out their families with caring for the younger children and making food. They don’t have much free time.

Chris (sarcastically): maybe we should get them to make golf clubs.

Clueless Volunteer: well, the village should try to make things to export and sell. China does it. What about quilts?

Chris: the su-sus make baskets that they sell.

Clueless Volunteer: but we can teach them to make quilts. When they brought African slaves to America they taught them how to make quilts.

Chris: I don’t think it’s a question of whether they can learn to make quilts. People like to buy the baskets not only because they are useful, but they are a part of the culture of the region.

Clueless Volunteer: Really? Oh, okay. (Clueless Volunteer looks totally unconvinced).

There’s so much more to this conversation but I’ll stop my summary here. To the benefit of Clueless Volunteer he did finally come upon a good idea of exporting the baskets to sell in other countries using aid for shipping costs from NGO’s operating in the region.

What an unbelievable character! ( I didn't make this up I swear!)

Nyumbani Tour with Chris

Entrance to the Administration Offices

Chris standing at his office desk in the Sustainability office

Harvesting melia seeds. Amazing flexibility! She totally outshines that tiny Asian woman who turns herself into a pretzel as she stands at the front of my yoga class in Dillon gym

Tea and Chipati at the canteen

Some of the village boys off to a football match

Biogas reactor for the guest house. It powers a methane stove in the kitchen.

Pit Stop in London - Day 2

King Henry looking for his next wife in the crowd of tourists

Hampton Court

Found the center of the maze after getting lost only um, a small number of times :)

Pit Stop in London - Day 1

Entrance of Westminster Abbey

The line to enter Westminster Abbey :(

yay Mandela!

Afternoon Cream tea with Sue (I could do this everyday!)

Magician hammering a nail into his nose, eek!

which my aunt volunteered to remove for him, with her teeth!

and she got to keep the nail as a souvenir.