UC Davis Blum Center for Developing Economies

Friday, September 13, 3:19 PM Maybe I should be a tab bit more serious after my last blog? The past few days have seen marked progress in our project. After our initial escapades at IMAP, we decided we should split up to get more work done in different areas. Irene, Jamel, and Eduardo stayed at IMAP to get a tour of different greywater reuse systems they have built, receive their theoretical information, constructed a practice distribution system for one of the existing banana rings, and tested our lysimeters (devices capable of extracting water from soil at various depths). Soraya, Matt, Ariel, and I left for Chocola so we could take greywater samples from the community. We planned to take the samples Wednesday morning and bring them back to the lake for testing. We took a map of the community that Semillas Para El Futuro (the NGO) had and added locations of houses and nearby rivers. My group split up and had Soraya and Matt take samples to the laboratory of Universidad Del...

Tuesday, September 10, 9:52 AM I write this from the back of a pickup truck taking us from IMAP, a permaculture center by San Lucas to Chocola, a small town where we are going to build pilot greywater reuse systems. Boy what a time we've had the past few days. The word sketchy has come to mean something akin to suspicious in urban vernacular. But I think for our team it's come to mean the adventures of this trip. Where to begin: Guatemala city is the sketchiest place I've laid eyes on. The hostel (graciously provided by University of San Carlos) was fortunate enough to be placed by 6th Avenue, one of the main streets where police actually patrolled and enforced good behavior. Unfortunately for us the closest bakery where we could could eat to avoid demolishing our immune systems with street food was on 7th Avenue. The magnitude of difference in only going one block away from the policed street was mind boggling. Lights were dimmer, men were staring at gringos like vul...

So here is where the fun starts. We arrived back in Guatemala yesterday for the start of a P3 trip (for me, this is my second trip).  We have 3 goals for this trip: 1) To become trained in IMAP's understanding of greywater reuse. 2) To characterize components of the pilot systems including the greywater, the performance, and the clogging rates, and 3) To receive an understanding of the community and its potential interaction with the system. Through Eliska Rejmonkova, professor from UC Davis and our adviser, we connected with a group of chemistry students at the University of San Carlos (USAC) in Guatemala City and they graciously picked us up from the airport and helped us in searching and collecting reagents and other materials. We slept in a hostel provided by USAC and today we are going to continue finishing up our materials shopping and then potentially head over to the Lake Atitlan. Guatemala is just as beautiful as I remember it and we haven't even been to the L...

A lot has happened since the last trip... The UC Davis Engineers Without Borders, Guatemala team (lead, Imaan Taghavi, is a 2013 Blum Center grant recipient) received a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's university competative awards program called "P3", giving the team $15k to complete research on greywater reuse options for rural communities in Guatemala. We are working with an existing technology we call "Banana mulch rings" that has recently been utilized in communities around Lake Atitlan and seeking to optimize results. The term "optimization", means we are picking and choosing various components of the system we would like to make improve. To this extent, we have assigned each of our 7 team members a specialization so they can focus on one specific are for optimization. Our team: Imaan (team leader): Economics, Social Understanding, Water Quality Matt (team leader): Soil, Water Quality Eduardo: Tipping Bucket Jamel...

Even though the weeks have been full of work, we took a Friday off last week and had a goat roasting party at the office. It was a nice way to celebrate the various activities we have accomplished and spend time together outside of the office and field. I was responsible for cooking the pork and I think everyone was surprised that an American girl could actually cook over charcoal successfully. It was a night full of laughter and a really great ending to a busy week. Sutter Allen, undergraduate student, Human Development, UC Davis

Last week, we took 60 Batwa students to a boarding school for three days for a youth empowerment camp. Each day the students attended sessions on leadership, planning, resource management and income generation, health and family planning, and on the importance of education. I was responsible for teaching leadership and a part of the health lectures. Outside of lecture, I spent time with the thirty girls making friendship bracelets, singing songs, dancing, playing netball, and just simply laughing. By the time camp ended, the kids were in tears having to leave but thanked all of the BDP staff for teaching them so much about taking charge of their own lives. I think it was really successful and next time camp could even last a full week. Sutter Allen, undergraduate student, Human Development, UC Davis

The school garden at Mukongoro Primary School has been my main project while working with BDP. The Batwa students have been suffering from malnutrition and some even fail in school because of their poor health. To help solve this problem, Bryan and I have been building seedling beds and starting a school garden full of vegetables that can be used for a school lunch program. We have now finished four seedling beds, and all of the seeds have sprouted. We are spending this final week transplanting the seedlings into a larger plot of land so they have room to grow. Within a few months, the kids should be having beans, “do-do”, cabbage, tomatoes, and eggplants for lunch. After I leave, Bryan will continue to monitor the garden and the health of the Batwa students. Sutter Allen, undergraduate student, Human Development, UC Davis

The last month working for the Batwa Development Program (BDP) has been full of excitement, exhaustion, laughter, success, failure, and everything in between. We mudded a house, started a garden at a primary school, spent half a week running a camp to empower the Batwa youth, and of course had time to roast a goat and celebrate all the work we have done. My time is starting to come to an end here and it makes me sad every time I think about having to head home. On the positive side, it means I have had a wonderful summer here in Uganda and all the memories I have made will not soon be forgotten. Mudding A House in Nteko Batwa Settlement:  A group of us took a three-day backpack trip through the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to a Batwa settlement called Nteko. “Up hill both ways” has never been truer than for this backpack trip! When we finally reached the settlement, we were exhausted but had little time to rest as the next morning we woke up early to start mudding a house for a ...

The group in front of the marketplace latrine with our educational poster Ah, the marketplace, the place that I’ve heard so much about.  The reports I had read mainly focused on the Marketplace latrine and I must say, the impression they gave was pretty accurate: big, dirty, weekly, and lots of people yelling at you to buy their stuff and then yelling at you for not buying their stuff.  Today we decided to give a presentation on best practices for using the latrine while we were there.   We brought a poster, prizes, and my ukulele; we had been told that you can get the attention of people by playing an instrument first. Thanks to George who did the translation for us; he understood fully how the marketplace latrine was supposed to work and was able to answer the many, sometimes angry, questions from the crowd.  Many people were appalled that men and women could use the same stalls even though each stall was completely private. Dagan Trnka, undergraduate...

If my trip to Ecuador has taught me one thing, it’s that “subir” (to climb) is challenging.   I learned this the hard way as I adjusted to Quito’s mountain elevation. I also learned this talking to youth that participated in a program evaluation sponsored by Freedom from Hunger .   Through improved access to financial services, young people can “subir,” rising above what is expected of them.   They are “moving up”, both personally and economically. Their dedication is inspirational. Especially because “subir” isn’t easy. But it’s definitely worth it.   Randall Cass, graduate student, International Agricultural Development with Lady Carolina Tavarez, undergraduate student, Spanish

With the whole group together, our first Sunday has come and because most people go to church on Sunday and because we don’t impose ourselves on the community (the pastor would switch from Luganda to English if he saw us in the crowd, which he would) we have decided to go walk up to the radio towers and try to see what kind of view we can get.  Unfortunately, on the way up this hill, we made the mistake of assuming that any old dirt road (all roads are dirt roads in Nkokonjeru) that headed towards the hill would get us to the top.  Needless to say we didn’t get to the top, but we did see some awesome views, but then again compared to Davis, anything with a little variation in geography and foliage constitutes as a view.  We also saw a number of small farms along the way, I have to say, agroforestry was in full swing.  I have already become accustomed to little children coming by and saying “Bye Mzungu!” but today we passed a kid who saw us and immediately ran...

Our project was made possible through Freedom from Hunger , the nonprofit that funds the youth savings programs we are studying. The organization believes that educating youth about good financial habits and encouraging them to save will help bridge the poverty gap as Ecuador’s next generation enters the workforce. Of the dozens of youth we’ve met with so far, there is one young man that particularly exemplifies a success story for the program. This young man is 19 years old. He started attending the program’s financial education talks over two years ago, and opened a savings account shortly after. We visited him at his home in a rural area in Ecuador. There, on his family’s pig farm, this young man explained to us how the savings program encouraged him to plan for the future, secure a job, and save. Through the job he currently works, he is able to put money away in his account and help support his mother, brothers and sisters on their farm. He hopes to continue working ...

I have to say I am a bit overwhelmed by all that’s around me, so many new things to take in, so many things I don’t know.  I’m grateful now that we had the first couple days of the trip planned out before we left.   The process of going to Nkokonjeru went smoothly and we were well welcomed into the guest house at the convent.  They had made signs saying things like, “You are Welcome!”, “We Love You”,  and “Feel at Home”.  And to top it off, there were western style toilets and running water (but not for drinking). Megan and I met Matt when we got in.  I have to say it is a little humorous that the first time I’m meeting Matt is half a world away despite the fact that he was an hours drive away in California.  We have been briefed on the situation going on in town.  Supposedly, it's the dry season and out of the 13 boreholes around the town, only a few are working.  This puts us in a difficult situation: we could help out with th...

Well I’m never too sure how to start something like this. What I’m referring to is this journal and packing.  Though I can’t say I’ve ever kept a journal for everyday stuff, I have kept a journal for writing down thoughts.  And as for packing, it’s surprising really, I pack for long trips all the time.  I suppose that still doesn’t take away from the fact that I’m packing for a place I’ve never seen before, a place where I don’t know people.  Regardless,  I’ve been stressing about getting stuff together, it's not a matter of what to bring, but rather what not to bring.  I can only be thankful that Jessica wanted to help and is driving me to the airport in the morning.  The whole thing still hasn't really hit me yet, I'm still just going through the motions as if it was everyday.  But when I do think about it, I am really excited: Even before High School I had always had it as one of my goals to go to Africa and do development work and even thoug...

Here in the Andes, the elevation can get to you. For me, the transition from life at sea level in Davis to the 9,000-foot high city of Quito was quite the unexpected challenge. Altitude gain can make you dizzy, even sick if you do not take precautions. For those first few days you feel a little lightheaded and out of it. Walking up a flight of stairs feels akin to finishing a half-marathon. You sleep 12 hours a night. It takes time to get used to being so high in the sky. The Spanish word for gaining elevation is “subir”. It also means rising or moving up. “Subir” isn’t easy. But it is definitely worth it. The city of Quito is literally tucked in the clouds and nestled between majestic mountains. There are endless photo opportunities. The city center is so dense with historical landmarks, unique architecture, and cultural exhibitions that it has been named a world heritage site. However, Carolina and I are not here to be tourists. We are in Ecuador to conduct better understand ...

My name is Dagan Trnka, welcome to my blog. This is an account of my trip to Uganda during the Summer of 2013.  I am on this trip to do international development work with Engineers Without Borders at UC Davis with a team of four people.  An introduction to the cast of travelers: I am the Lead of this project, Bill is the mentor, while Mirann and Megan are in charge of workshops and education.  EWB-Davis has been involved with the community of Nkokonjeru for over 6 years now.  We have implemented a number of projects whose purpose has generally served to address the issue of water quality holistically in the community of Nkokonjeru.  My purpose on this trip is to close out our involvement and ensure that the community has the tools to continue proliferating and maintaining the technologies we have implemented. Several things to note about this blog is that I am not going to be making standard blog posts, instead I will upload video blogs and take pictures ...

Well it seems that great American holiday has come and with little celebration, gone.   As a group we decided that we should try to  celebrate by getting a couple beers, but it seems that didn’t happen.  Instead,  just Megan, George, and I went out to Matthew’s Bar to get a beer and then called it a night at ten, happy independence day America, I should have found a way to get some fireworks or at least make some out of what was around.    Even Bob the Brit wished my group a happy independence day.   I’m sure in his history classes our independence as a colony was probably just one of those, “So we had a bunch of colonies, some became independent on their own, others we helped out,  a couple of them became successful, end of story.” Dagan Trnka, undergraduate, mechanical engineering, UC Davis

Friday, July 5 Imagine a world with less than half the regulations and laws of where you live, then imagine that the enforcement of the laws that are around is minimal.  What you would get is something that closely resembled the town where I stayed.  Most of the guys riding Boda Bodas around shuttling people from here to there don’t have a permit, welding is an outdoor-on-the-street activity, and the government coming in to check whether or not your restaurant is following health code? Not a chance.   It’s not just that the government is less constricting, it seems the whole culture is a lot less restricting in general: little kids walking cattle and goats to and from where they stay, three year olds wielding machetes to cut fruit, the whole thing would make a lot of Western parents cringe.   As for myself, I kind of enjoy it, I feel less constricted to do the things I want to do, but I ask myself this question: would I really want less restrictions...