Indaba-network.english

A BIT OF ENERGY FOR ANGOLA

Together, let’s make a difference in Mussende, Angola!

Angola is a country that has recently emerged from a civil war, accentuating the social differences that already existed and worsening its extreme poverty.

Mussende is the centre of the Kwanza Sul district, located 750 km east of Luanda, capital of Angola. It is inhabited by about 5,000 people. Industrial activity is negligible, so the economy is based on agriculture and hunting.  Among its important features:

• Rural populations cannot provide for themselves their own basic needs such as health, education, food and housing – because they lack water, electricity, healthcare facilities, natural gas (or cylinders) and an efficient educational system.
• In rural areas like Mussende, families are organized in small villages and their houses are far apart from each other. The houses are very poor, consisting of a single chamber built of adobe bricks and thatch. The lack of drinking water, bleach, disinfectant, bathrooms, and toilets causes the conditions to be unhygienic in both private homes and collective facilities.
• Water is extracted from wells or rivers, though in some cases people must carry heavy buckets 2 to 5 km from the source to their homes.
• There is neither an electricity network nor natural gas supply, while gas cylinders are sold 150 km away at unaffordable prices for the Mussende population.
• Local families are large, eight children is the average. Women are responsible for sustaining their families. They work at home, on their private farms, breeding livestock, selling their goods on the roadside and even engaging in exchanges for oil or salt.
• As they lack access to electricity, Mussende residents have no means to preserve food, resulting often in food poisonings due to spoiled provisions.
• Literacy levels are very low, reflecting the poor educational system. Schools are built of adobe and have neither seats nor desks.  There is only one blackboard and one teacher for all levels. International organizations and NGOs donate all the school supplies, and they consist of one notebook and one pencil per student per school year.

In addition to the conditions described above, there is lack of medical care, resulting in life expectancies of 43 years for men and 38 for women:  low by any standards, and very unusual in that, unlike the norm in most of the rest of the world, Mussende’s women, on average, live shorter lives than men.

Far from there, a youth group in Argentina…

In mid-2009, Griselda, Martín, Federico, María Celeste, Jesica and Eunice, undergraduates, graduate students, and lecturers from the Faculties of Chemical Engineering and Water Sciences at the University of Litoral, in Argentina, decided to create a group called ‘Unconventional Green.’  Their project was to develop alternative energy production mechanisms for their local community. This group, along with local producers at the ’La Verdecita’ Agroecological Farm, built solar collectors, solar-powered stoves, and a biodigester (equipment that can turn organic waste into useable fuel) on this farm and in District III April 29, an area within the city of Santa Fé, Argentina.

These technologies offer many advantages.  They are:

• low cost
• complementary to other energy services
• non-polluting
• simple to build
• built of easily obtainable materials
• require only ordinary tools for construction.

The work of this group attracted the interest of Sister Cristina Mondino, auxiliary at St. Mary’s Parish, part of the missionary group called Solidarity Network for Angola. As a result of this first contact, and with the intention of transferring their expertise in the construction and installation of biogas digesters and solar stoves, the young scientists were invited to take part in a cooperative experience in Mussende, Angola. Part of this joint group is committed to travelling to Angola while most will continue the work home in Santa Fé.

Together, a project for social change

Their project aims to provide educational tools, theories, techniques and best practices for the construction of alternative energy equipment.  Such equipment can advance the effort to reduce energy consumption and its cost, benefiting local families.

The proposed alternative energy equipment would include water heaters, solar stoves, and biogas digesters:

• Both solar stoves and water heaters have the advantage of transforming solar radiation into heat. In the first case water is heated for human use: sun rays are concentrated in the focus of a parabolic reflector.  This allows users to bake or boil various foods as well as to process products such as jams and sweets.
• Energy from biomass digesters is a renewable because it uses organic and inorganic matter (often waste) and is formed in a biological process.  Generally, the energy (often in the form of methane) is derived from organic substances that constitute living things (plants, humans, animals, etc.), or debris and waste. The utilization of biomass energy is performed directly or by conversion into other substances that may be exploited later such as fuel or food.
• As a further advantage, these technologies contribute to the preservation of the environment, particularly the biodigester.  It generates fertilizer (applied to urban gardens) and methane (fuel for home cooking).  In addition, these facilities are simple to construct and use, require easily accessible building materials, and are low cost.

It is therefore feasible to carry out theoretical and practical workshops with residents of Mussende who have never received any previous technical training. The theoretical and practical workshops involve the Argentinean team constructing the equipment together with the recipients, thus leading to a direct incorporation of knowledge. In Mussende, volunteers will have the support of translators, provided by the missionary group, in order to accomplish their tasks.

The project will be implemented in three stages:

1. Theoretical and practical workshops:

• Informing and raising awareness of the benefits of alternative sources of energy.
• Training on the correct treatment of organic waste (separating and classifying, ways of organising the neighbours to collect organic waste to ‘feed’ the biodigester).
• Training in the technical aspects, construction and maintenance of the equipment, as well as its proper use.
• Training in the use of the products produced as fertilizer for gardens and methane gas for use in family kitchens.
• Training in the transfer of knowledge to others through teaching methodologies.

2. Construction and commissioning of equipment.

3. Assessment of the experience.

• Internal assessment of the joint team.
• Reflection and self-criticism in order to detect possible weaknesses, taking into account the views of all participants.

Not only is there a very good chance that the project will be successful, it also has two very important additional advantages.  First, for a low cost and through the minimal use of already available resources, it will radically improve life for a community of 5,000 people.  Second, the project has a crucially important educational component.  When Mussende community members learn how to build, maintain, and utilize these energy tools, they can teach other communities to do the same.  Everywhere in the world, ordinary people can and do learn practical techniques for improving their lives when they have a chance to observe how they work among their neighbors.  Mussende’s residents would train others.

We can now all participate in this innovative project 

Indaba Network works in support of youth groups committed to achieving a more just and equitable world. In order to achieve this, it has launched a fundraising campaign to support this project: ‘A bit of energy for Angola,‘ to help these young people to travel to Angola. We have implemented a platform to raise small contributions. We invite you to join the project and collaborate for the Mussende community to achieve, by next summer, a significant part of the change that they need to build a better life. A small contribution can make a big difference. Everybody can contribute! In exchange for your contribution, you will get a certificate. Our objective is to raise at least US$ 5,000.

Don’t wait! Go NOW to our crowd funding system and  give your contribution:

• Energetic Donor : US$10
• Energetic Plus Donor : US$20
• Super Energetic Donor: US$50
• Solar Energetic Donor: US$100
• Main Energetic Donor: US$500

You can also communicate with Griselda, Martín, Federico, María Celeste, Jesica and Eunice, through the group they have created in indabaXchange.

Indaba-Network