Details from my thesis

I am finally attaching the description of my thesis. I was still waiting for feedback from my Prof, which didn't come. Maybe it's good enough or maybe it's worthless. I advise you read it only if you are bored...

Sorry for the font. I copied it straight from Word.

Challenges of using Sustainable Practises in energy consumption and land management in northern Tanzania.

Objective of the thesis

The main objective of this thesis is to understand the reasons why sustainable practices in agriculture and household energy needs are not more widespread in the Kilimanjaro region. Especially, the challenges of a wide spread implementation of biogas systems and land management practices shall be examined.

The term “sustainable” shall be defined in the regional context of Kilimanjaro. Several examples of sustainable practices will be given (contour dams, solar cookers, biogas) and hindrances of widespread implementation will be examined by conducting interviews with local farmers.

The main focus of the work will be detailing the current biogas project of COMPACT (description at the end) in the Moshi area and the farms around the project sites. The biogas project was started in June of 2007. Of special interest is the question what the main obstacles for a wide-spread implementation are and how they can be overcome.

A comparison will be made between the current household systems offered by COMPACT and bigger projects for schools or a community.

What is sustainability in the Kilimanjaro area?

The term sustainability shall be defined in the local context of Kilimanjaro. Sustainable practices in agriculture and household energy usage will be examined.

Agricultural practices contain land assignments and management, choice of crops and fertilization/pesticide usage methods.

A farm is sustainable when it can roughly receive the same amount of income from the harvest each year, without the nutrients being depleted from its soil each year. For this to be possible soil erosion has to be kept at a minimum and nutrients absorbed by the crops have to be replaced.

In terms of households energy usage, sustainability means the continued availability of energy sources for the typical household needs, such as lighting and cooking. Currently, firewood is by far the most prevalent energy source for cooking in the Kilimanjaro area. The firewood is harvested from the local forests. This is sometimes done illegally. The practice adds to the problems of deforestation and poor soil, vulnerable to erosion. The tropical rain forest has the ability to capture some of the moisture, which then evaporates, building new clouds. By reducing forests, more water penetrates into the soil. This means a reduction in cloud building and less rain falls. Less rain fall has a heavy impact on the local irrigation systems. 96 percent of the water coming from the Kilimanjaro mountain originates in the forest belt between 1800 and 2800 metres of altitude.

It is also important to mention that due to the influx of people (currently around four percent/year) the area is getting very crowded. Currently around 1,000,000 live at the foot of Kilimanjaro.

Discussion of Sustainable Practices

Household Energy Usage

Household energy needs centre around cooking and lighting. Traditionally cooking is done using fire wood collected in nearby forests. The stoves are inside the houses. They expose the person nearby to exhaust. These will be mostly the women cooking and children nearby. Bronchial diseases have been documented. There are several alternatives available to limit the problem. A discussion of the distinct methods and why they aren’t more widely used will follow.

Solar cookers

Solar cookers have been provided through organizations like Solar Cookers International (www.solarcookers.org) to many parts in Africa. The reasons why they have been slow to be adapted in the Moshi area will be discussed. Interviews with the local population will help in determining the resistance.

One of the obstacles is that Africans tend to cook at night, when solar cookers cannot be used. Another problem is that people do not like to cook outside and show their neighbours what they have for food.

In addition, the advantage of not needing to collect firewood, which by some estimates adds five hours a day to the work chores is sometimes negated by the social effects. Some people like to hang out and gather wood in the forests, making it a social event. For other people it is a simple form of income, as they collect the wood and sell it in the cities.

Also, solar cookers are expensive and poorer people cannot afford them.

There are still some local organizations trying to increase the usage. With a so-called slow-cooker, food can be cooked in the afternoon and kept warm until dinner time.

Biogas

The main focus of the work will be detailing the current biogas project of COMPACT in the Moshi area. Of special interest is the question what the main obstacles for a wide-spread implementation are and how they can be overcome.

A comparison will be made between the current household systems offered by COMPACT and bigger projects for schools or a community.

COMPACT has currently funding for 50 bio digesters. Two are in the process of being built. Six are constructed, but are not used by the farmers yet. Training is yet to be provided. A main problem is its difficulty to use it, which overwhelms some farmers. The system should be made easier to use for the average household.

Also, the feasibility of bigger systems should be examined. This has the advantage that one person could be running the system, without the need of a specialist per household. This would work well for tightly laid out communities or institutions like schools. The problems would be on the side of supplying the manure and the space requirements needed for a bigger system. Also, the slurry needs to be disposed.

Agricultural

Sustainable practices

Sustainable practices include contour dams, terraces, mulching and intercropping. These practices can be found in upper Kilimanjaro, .here the traditional Chiagga farms use exactly the above mentioned methods for a very sustainable way of living. Agroforestry, intercropping and sometimes terracing minimize the danger of erosion. This gives them the ability to use the same land for many years. This is necessary, as land is scarce.

In the low and midlands there is still more land available and farmers do have the ability to move on, should the need arise. a main problem is soil erosion (findings from work of Jonas Lutz). Farmers in the upper regions are forced to practice sustainable agriculture, as they cannot simply find new fields or go higher, as is the practice for the valley farmers.

Soil erosion

The area on the foot of Kilimanjaro is marked by the lowland, midland and highland farmers. The higher the altitude, the smaller the parcels that the farmers have to take care of. However, the household size is greater than in the lowlands and midlands (source: thesis from Patrik Marx).

Currently, a common practice for low- and midland farmer is to keep fields as long as possible. But if erosion settles in and the harvest rates go down, farmers tend to look for new fields elsewhere. This may include the cutting of rain forest in order to find new agricultural land. Farmers may spread sideways, but also upward, where eventually the borders of the National Park may be reached. The farmers rarely use soil conservation measures.

The two main factors of soil erosion are loss of top soil on the mainly flat fields as well as the many cattle grazing on the little vegetation there is.

There is a tendency to keep the traditional methods of agriculture that can be a cause for the increasing erosion. The problems are in the low- and midland areas. Fields are often relatively large and flat. There are many monocultures. Beans and corn can especially cause erosion problems.

Conclusion

At the end the work shall conclude with a summary of why sustainable practices are not more widespread in the area. Especially the biogas project and land management practices and its challenges shall be evaluated. Also, a comparison between the single household systems and a potential bigger biogas system shall be made.

COMPACT

The work will be done together with the group COMPACT (Community Management of Protected Areas for Conservation). Compact was founded in 1999 as a merge between the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme (SGP) and the United Nations Foundation (UNF).

COMPACT's objective was to demonstrate how community-based initiative, paired with local groups and indigenous people, can be very effective. A pilot program ran unil 2004. Since it proved to be successful, the program now officially continues. Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, was one of six World Heritage sites chosen for the projects.

The local COMPACT coordinator in the Kilimanjaro area is Victoria Nderumaki. She is based in Moshi, at the foot of Kilimanjaro.

More Biogas stuff

Just a quick note - I meant to be on another field trip today, but gloriously missed the departure time. I was told when people say 7:30 they mean 8, so I figured 9:05 was safe for a scheduled 9am departure. Oh well. I have to do some admin stuff with registering my thesis now anyway. And update my questionnaire, following some feedback from the prof.

And get more dung for the bio digester, to continue testing. I had a hard time convincing the person I work with to show me Monday where the dung is that we can use. I offered to get a bucket on my bicycle. He tried to discourage me ("How you gonna carry it on a bicycle???"), but when I put something in my mind it is hard to get me off. We got the dung. I ended up walking back to keep him company and only used the bike as carrying tool (a bucket of dung is HEAVY).

I also suggested to sit down and have a drink. He was OK, but asked me if I didn't feel weird as a Mzungu running around town with a bucket of dung? Errh. No. Why?


Anyway, back to the subject - yesterday I spent a day in Arusha, to look at some fixed dome biogas plants and also at a construction process. But I have to go off-topic again as the funniest things never happen around biogas. They happen around life here.

We tried to board the bus to Arusha. I know they only leave when they are full Neither the small nor the big bus looked promising. Then came another bus and my mentor (Mr. Mfnanga - oops, I am certain it is spelled differently) headed straight to it. But it was empty, too? Yes, but it came from the mountain and will leave even if it is not full. Apparently others knew as the bus quickly filled. The "driver" was playing with the gas pedal, to entice more people on a quick jump on board. I call him the "driver" b/c in reality he was the "gas-pedaller". As we were really ready to leave the "gas-pedaller" left and the driver took his seat...

The price is also weird. In the small buses you always pay 2500 shilling. In the one we took you can optionally pay 2000. Huh? On the return trip we had a small bus and one guy tried to pay only 2000. He only paid the remaining balance after the bus had stopped and the passenger was threatened to be thrown out. There was quite a bit of shouting involved. Life's little thrills.

Speaking of little thrills, in Arusha we took a small bus ("Dala-Dala"). At some point we got stopped by a police lady. She started yelling at the driver, walked around the bus and looked inside. Then she went inside the bus. Only found out later that the argument was b/c the a passenger had bananas and a sack of some other food on board. Apparently that is a no-no. The police woman didn't board the bus b/c her shift was over. Instead, after all the passengers were off he and the driver were heading to the police station.

"So he has to pay a fine?" I innocently asked Mfnanga. "Maybe. Or he gives the police a little bribe." Aha, that's how it works.

Speaking of bribe, the first place we went to in Arusha did not want to show me around. I later found out the guy likes to get bribed as well for visits.

Here comes the bride

Saturday night I went to a wedding with Dora. She was invited and could bring a guest. It was highly interesting. The ceremony took place at the YMCA, where people can rent the main room. There were many tables already filled with people and three or four rows of just chairs in the back, where we sat down. I guess maybe 300 people. Music was playing as we were waiting for things to happen. Dora explained a bit about the wedding. Church had taken place in the afternoon.

Then in walked the best man and bridesmaid. Later the groom and bride. At the door they stopped and drank something out of a wooden cup with a large handle on it. Dora told me it was some local brew and a tradition. As they made their way to the front some speeches from the priest and a prayer started. The MC (master of ceremony) was next to speak.

I knew when to get up and sit down. After all, there were 300 people in front of me that showed me how to do it. In fact I was quicker than Dora most of the time... An Amen indicated the end of the prayer. Then it was time to cut the wedding cake.

I hope I am remembering the order right. I do wish I would have bought my camera. The room was beautifully decorated (apparently in one of the speeches later one woman said not even Europeans could decorate like this!) There was a thin cloth draped all over, with lighting strings inside. Flowers attached at the intersection points. I may see if I can get some of Dora's cell phone pix. They are low quality, but maybe describe better what I can't really express in words. The stage had throne-like chairs for groom, bride and flower girls.

The picture is NOT from the YMCA building, btw...

Then the relatives were introduced. They stood up and waved. A lot of times any speech was interrupted by the MC saying "Mafoki, Mafoki, Mafoki!" Clap your hands. But few people did as a tape has taken over the tedious job of clapping hands... Introducing the relatives took a while, as you can imagine with the typical large families....

Next came the bizarrest thing I have ever seen. A goat was rolled in. Its head was pretty much intact, but slightly roasted. The body was well done. Some piece of green was stuck through the mouth to make it look it was still eating... The groom and bride then started feeding family members.

After that it was time for presents. People walked up to the front... Oh wait. I have to define walk. When anybody "walked" up to the front they were of course dancing. Everything was done with music. It was sometimes hard fro me to hear what Dora was saying. Anyway, I also got in line to "walk" up to the front (actually, mine really did more like walking...) and with a few last second instructions by Dora I placed a 1,000 bill (less than a dollar) in the box. Most people put in envelopes (and I assume they contained money). Only a few had presents. Then I shook hands with groom, bride, bridesmaid and best man. Of course I had forgotten to ask Dora what "Congratulations" is in Swahili. So I just said "Ahsante" (thank you). Afterwards I got a drink as a reward (not for "dancing", I take it...). I took another bottle of water.

After that it was dinner time and we got in line to get good food. I had rice, veggies, fried fish, a cucumber and a piece of the cake. Yumm. We didn't stay much longer after that. The official program had completed, some people had already left. After some more talking apparently all that was left was dancing. So it was fine for me to leave...

PFFFFFFT

Not a pretty sound when it is made by a bicycle's back tyre. I had just gotten home and the bike was resting when all the air vanished at once. Hmm. I had to go meet the German lady that runs Chagga Tours, so I was in a bit of a hurry. I knew there was this "repair place" (just a guy sitting with some tools) near my house. I didn't have tools or patch kits yet.

I started chatting with the guy. To fix a flat was 200 shilling – the equivalent of around 18 US cents! He didn't even take the wheel off. Out went the tube, with the gaping hole quickly spotted. Becuase it was a big hole he asked twice the price. 36 cents. Fine. I then asked him where I could buy a repair kit and how much it cost. He didn't know what I was talking about. But he did tell me a tube was jubo in Swahili. The he fixed the flat. Equipped with a large tube of Pattex (glue – I am not sure what the US equivalent is?) he put on an old tube. Very interesting. The only [patches I knew are apparently not available here...

After paying I went on to meet Christina. There was also a dude from East Germany. Quite a character. His plans to climb Mont Blanc together with a team from ZDF (one of the public TV stations in Germany) to make a documentary of global warming affecting the climbing had essentially been cancelled...by warm weather! Since he had already asked for the vacation he decided to climb Kili, something that was in his mind for 4-5 years. He did the climb superfast and ended up at the rim in the dark (usually you try to time it to be there to see the sun rise, so he had to walk around in the dark and wait for the sun in the cold...)

Anyway, he agreed to do a City Tour on Sunday, which Chagga Tours offers for five dollars. Problem was that he didn't speak much English. So I quickly offered my translation services, as Christina was flying back to Germany (same flight as the other dude, KLM at 8pm). Cool, my first money earned in Tanzania in form of a five-dollar value :)

We walked around. They threw us out at the Hindu temple. The guide said that he has taken many people there, but one of the guards wasn't happy. We then walked to the German railway station. That's what it was called as the German started it in the late 1800's. But then the British ended up winning the war and took over. That's why all the signs are in English. The train service to Tanga and Dar es Salaam stopped around 10 years ago. The schedule is still posted (three trains a week) and also the note explaining the salary situation at the time of the closure in 1997. There is still freight traffic, but since I have never seen a train here had to ask about its schedule. The guide replied "Once a week. Or once a month." Aha, whenever they need to get something shipped. Or trained, as I should say.

I am not sure if the guy in the picture was waiting for the next freight train or what?

We then went to the mosque, which was a better visit than the Hindu temple as we were allowed on the premises. The only problem ensued when we were leaving as Helge, the East German, put on his shoes two centimetres inside the temple. He was quickly told that shoes are not allowed inside. But we were leaving anyway...

Afterwards I was riding around some to find a baseball cap, as my sun hat is not the greatest when riding faster than 10mph. I was scouting it out first. The asking price was at 5,000 to 6,000 shilling. I didn't want to pay more than 1500, but that didn't interest them at all...

Then my chain broke. Arrgh. Maybe the bike wasn't so good? But a guy fixed it for 500 shilling and afterwards it ran smoothly and w/o noises, so maybe it's good now (I thought the noises came from the bottom bracket). But I will stop by at the dealer's place sometime this week to ask what is going on with the bike....

Peace of Mind with a Piece of Crap

FREEDOM AT LAST. I bought a bike. The guy with the 100 dollar wheeler did actually replace the chainrings and cog set. The other repairs were minor and he didn't do them, so I argued for another 5% discount. Actually, since I paid in Shilling, the bike ended up at just above 80 dollars, a hundred dollars less than all the other quotes.... Off I went. IT FELT SO GOOD.

I was chasing cars, passing them, blending into traffic and taxi drivers made no fools of themselves by asking "Taxi? Taxi?" I saw a lot of people staring at me - I think even more than when I walk. After all they do see a fair amount of Mzungus - but not usually on bicycles. And now, after already practising vehicular walking I can start vehicular cycling (I will explain a little further down).

The first guy who found out that Bjorn the biker had arrived in town was a driver of one of the larger buses. He made a right turn (remember, driving is on the left) in front of me. I forced him to stop anyway. Dude, even in Tanzania there is a thing called right of way. This is the part of vehicular cycling that is called assertive riding. Bicyclists and sometimes even car drivers, often make the mistake of hesitating, thereby causing confusion for other traffic participants. I have seen many bicyclists in the US and Europe stop pedalling and slow down when entering intersections. This leads other drivers thinking they are stopping. So they may make their turn manoeuvres in spite of the cyclist. It's a catch-22, as those bicyclists are often a bit afraid and insecure in traffic, but through their riding invite drivers to do exactly what the bicyclists are afraid of.

To make one thing clear. Assertive does not mean offensive or aggressive. Make sure your brakes work well, as some car drivers honestly don't see you. For that the 'B' in the ABC Quick Check is important. I always make sure that when the driver doesn't see me when I am riding assertively I can still stop (assertiveness also doesn't mean you have to ride at Lance Armstrong speed - You can do it at 5mph, if you just use a low gear and do at least an imitation of Armstrong's cadence.)

Vehicular cycling is centred around the phrase "Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles." With the same rights also come the same responsibilities for cyclists. If vehicular cycling, ABC Quick Check etc don't mean anything to you you should (if you are based in the US) take a class with a League of American Bicyclists' certified person. If you are in Roseville I can put you in touch with the BikingRoseville folks. Btw, even if you don't ride the class may be valuable. I have gotten feedback from class participants that it has improved their car driving skills. Honestly, did you know that in California sometimes bicyclists can legally ride all the way on the left? No, that's no typo. I am not talking about Tanzania....

Similarly I had already practised vehicular walking. It really bothers me that car drivers honk here and cyclists, peds and the guys who drag those big, heavy wood trailers around (by themselves, w/o horses etc!) jump for safety. This thinking that peds and bicyclists are second class citizens has to stop rather quickly!

Anyway, enough of that – although that was the biggest excitement of the day. After spending all morning in the bank and walking to work I quit early and then bought the bike in the afternoon. There will be an afternoon field trip tomorrow, and even though it is not directly related to my work I may accompany Vicky and check it out.

Speaking of spending a lot of time in the bank. Was it worth it? I paid 50 cents in fees. At the exchange bureau I would have paid roughly 19 dollars. Judge for yourself...

And of course then it's weekend. No blog entries then. Have a good one. Already December by then. I can't believe it.

The non-entry

Well, this mornign there was no internet connection atwork, then we were on the road for several hours. So more details on Monday, hopefully (if internet has beenn fixed...)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Illiterate Moskitos

Ok, well, it doesn't strictly say on my moskito net for them to not sit there. But all I read beforehand was wear white as mosquitoes don't tend to go there and use a net that is treated with a repellent. So for two days in a row I saw mosquitoes sitting on my white net with the recommended repellent. Huh? Don't those damn insects read up on that stuff? Which part of "White is not good for me?" did they not get?

My hopes for looking at a bike were dashed today as the head of the UNEP from Dar es Salaam (the capital) was here. Things kept getting postponed and it wasn't until 5pm when they were looking at the showroom that my colleagues and I had prepared by 9:30am... Just before the one bike store closed I managed to stop by and of course the bike wasn't ready yet. So now I doubt the guy wants to actually do the changes. Tomorrow I'll see if I can get it cheaper w/o the changes, as long as it rides well.

Not that I would have had the money anyway. Cashing the traveler' check has been interesting. On Saturday they told me they couldn't do it because it's Saturday (somehow it needed the main office and they were not working on Saturdays). On Monday I came back and not only did they need a passport, but also the receipt from when I bought them. Great - couldn't they have told me on Saturday??? Tu and We I just didn't get their early enough (they close at 3).

Ok, now this part of the blog comes live from the bank. I am now sitting here and I was told that it can take up to an hour to get confirmation from the main office. I guess they don't really like cashing Traveler's checks (saturday they tried sending me to the Bureau de Change, but their fees are much higher). Anyway, before she could even process my TC she said she had to finish her current task, which seemed to be crossing out dates on application forms. I said "No problem" and waited a couple of minutes. After that I was wondering if there is any way I could speed up the process and thought if I start reading something it would make her move. But of course I didn't have a book with me. The next best thing was the laptop. Hey, as soon as I had it booting she got up and took the traveler's checks and passport and proceeded....

So now I am sitting in an A/C-d bank, waiting for the things to come. I guess I don't want to have to go through this process very often, though. Maybe next time I'll try a different bank. This one is the closest to home and was mentioned in my travel guide as having a low fee. They didn't mention customer service....

This morning I went running and there were a few people stretching. Later most of them had left, but two guys continued and I later talked to them. They turned out to be police officers and stay in shape by exercising every morning.

--ok, wait, my "line" is moving. I am now asked to fill out a form. Seems like the laptop trick worked and seeing that she couldn't annoy me did the transaction fairly quickly... So will continue the blog entry later.--

We chatted a little bit and I asked them where I can find out about traffic laws. So they directed me to the main police office and its traffic officer. I did however ask them how the right-of-way works on non-signalised intersections. They said the main road has the right of way. This is similar what I believed is the case in California until I started reading up on the actual law... But it seems like nobody cares in the Golden State about not following the law properly, including the police that is supposed to be looking out for you. Of course pretty soon there won't be any problems anymore as the goal seems to be to

-- Darn, now she makes me stand in line. So I guess I will really have to call it quits for now...--

Ok, the total time spent was still about an hour in the bank. I can't complain about having to wait in line to get the cash as everyone else had to wait, too. But if the approval had taken an hour instead of two minutes it could have been potentially annoying...