Tribewanted: Vorovoro

BULA!

HI, I’m Chuck, your new Sustainability Manager as of yesterday (Tuesday 26 May 2009) and I’m excited to be part of the Tribewanted project on Vorovoro. I’m no stranger to Vorovoro as my family and I have known Tui Mali for some years and this used to be a favorite picnic spot for us…all bush and beach back then! I was around at the beginning of Tribe wanted a few years ago when I was helping run the appropriate technology part of a local training centre. At that time Ben asked me to design the composting toilets, which I’m very glad to see, are still serving faithfully. Ben asked me then to be part of the team but I had to decline as I had another project in Viti Levu that I was committed to. Anyhow I’m back now and I’m amazed at how the place has progressed since then…I LIKE WHAT YOU’VE DONE WITH THE PLACE! The natural sense of calm and peace I used to love has in fact increased to the extent that I often have to remind myself that I’m here to work!

I am especially excited to work with the local Fijians and hope I can invest into their lives, however I will probably receive more from them than I give if past experience holds true!

I’m very interested in the various projects that have been initiated by previous members and look forward to working with these as well as introducing a few new ones. I’m the sort of guy who loves to be given an idea and be able to put it into action. I’ve discussed worm farming with Liavi and he’s really keen to give it a go. Also would like to get some coconut oil expelling happening with the view to making oil for cooking and for making our own soap. Another possibility is beekeeping, as honey seems to be a hot favorite around here. I have a little experience with coconut oil, soap and honey. I’m probably going to start with getting the existing facilities up to speed first however before I look into new ideas.

RESEARCH REQUIRED!
I’m more of a worker than a researcher, and would love to see a research team come together to assist me to discuss various projects and come up with appropriate solutions. My definition of appropriate is that if I can understand how it works and Tribe wanted can afford it and the Fijian guys can build it with stuff laying around…it’s appropriate. So if any of you out there are interested in contacting me and being part of my research team please don’t hesitate to drop me a line at chuck@tribewanted.com.

I don’t pretend to be an expert at everything and I know there would be a wealth of information available to me from such a group. I need researchers to help me filter out ideas that would cost too much, or require an engineer to build or require parts only made by NASA. I get frustrated when I have to spend a day researching on the Internet instead of getting my teeth into the doing of it, so those of you who love the net could help me get to a solution quicker. Unfortunately, I’m limited in how much time I can offer the project (only 2 days per week) as I’m also involved in other community development projects (which your assistance could also help with) as well I’m setting up my family on a little 32 acre farm which I want to be run sustainably. I would especially like to get in contact with those of you who have initiated any particular project, as I want to delve into your minds and learn what you know and how we can run your project better.

SA VAKA CAVA TIKO (What’s happening right now?)

WATER WOES
We’re about to hit our dry season although we’ve been blessed with some lovely late season rains. The dam that was constructed last year fills up overnight with a good rain but there are some leaks that need looking into. It seems water is finding a path under the dam wall.

The roof catchment system is a good idea and does work but needs some design improvement as in a light rain, surface tension on the lip of the corrugated roofing is causing some of the water to follow the tin over and under and up again a little way then drip down outside of the PVC gutter uselessly. It has been suggested that the angle of the roof is too shallow and needs to be made steeper so that the water shoots off the tin with more momentum. I’m a little reluctant to pull the whole roof off and rebuild it though unless I know this is true.

There are a couple of other large corrugated roofs on the dorms that need to be equipped with guttering and a large tank to store water. Fiji does enjoy a heavy wet season and there is no reason why enough water could not be saved up to take us through the dry if we had enough storage space.

YA PIG!
We’ve got a bunch of large pigs arriving in the next week (seeking isolation from swine flu no doubt) which we will be accommodating. Pupu and Co. Construction Ltd are doing a fine job in preparing their housing. With them will come the need for feed, water (to flush the pens and for drinking) and appropriate waste disposal. I’m quite confident that we can adequately handle all three of these needs.

BIOGAS
I’ve pulled apart the existing Biogas digester and with the excellent written blurb on the sign, think I’ve got it all figured out. This is something that really catches my fancy, as I’ve had nothing to do with this previously. It looks like a simple, affordable and fairly durable design…so good work to Duncan! Now I need to know what its capacity for handling pig poo is. I’m thinking it’s a bit small for 5 large pigs. We’ve dumped some a liquid mixture of pig poo into the hopper and will see if we can crank it into production. I’m not sure what should be the right mixture of water to pig poo, how long it takes to brew gas or how often it needs to be cleaned out…so if any of you out there can help here is a good project to sink your teeth into (metaphorically speaking of course). I’d also like to know if there are any issues to keep in mind if we need to scale this up if it proves to be too small?

PIG TRACTOR
There are plans afoot to catch rain from the roof of the pigpen to supply to the pigs, however I am concerned again that we don’t have enough storage capability for both flushing the concrete or provision of drinking water. Perhaps we may need to shovel the manure dry and compost a lot of it? I’m also thinking it would be good to utilize some of the vacant spaces around the island to tether some of the pigs onto a long line between two trees and let them run up and down it to root and forage freely. This could work like a sort of “pig tractor” enabling ground to be ploughed and manured naturally. It would also reduce the need for supplementary feeding.

Apart from that, we need to extend our agriculture to provide sufficient food and increase the level of pig happiness in the camp. I figure that the pigs can do some of the work for their board and keep with the “tractor” for a week or two to prepare areas for planting cassava, then move them on to the next area in a sort of rotation. Maybe we should do a trial for just one pig first?

SALTY WATER
I was very interested in the SOLAR DESALINATION plant that looks like a larger version of an old school lab water-distilling project (Yes I was educated a long time ago in Zimbabwe). I’m not sure I fully understand what the designer intended however and would love to get in touch with him or her as I’m having trouble getting it to work properly. I would love some response to this (a few alternative designs maybe?) so that I can understand how it works, perhaps do some tweaking and crank it into production. From previous experience, I know how important it is to morale that a project be made to work visibly.

Anyhow, there is a lot more to say…but we’ll take it in small pieces and hopefully you can give me some more ideas.

God Bless ya and NI SA MOCE!

Chuck