Improving sanitation in floating communities along the Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia. Constructing the hand crank. August 19th - 21st, 2016. By: Joanne Wu

Above:[1]  Close up of a component of the hand crank,    
with blue PVC tubes making up the “cage”

As previously mentioned, we were implementing two systems at the lake: (1) a stand alone stilted support structure (completed yesterday) and (2) a hand crank, that will allow residents to reel in and extend the corrugated tubing that conveys waste from the latrine to the HandyPod sanitation system.

We designed the hand crank with 0.5 m plywood in mind as the material. We weren’t able to find plywood at the lake though so we settled for 0.25 m wide hardwood planks that we would need to bolt together to form our 0.5 m pieces.

Instead of viewing the bolts as an inconvenience Yao had a brilliant idea of repurposing the bolts to serve as holders for the PVC tubes making up the 'cage' of the hand crank. (Think toilet paper roll holders).

But if we were going to pursue the toilet paper roll holder idea we needed to make sure that the bolt holes on either half of the hand crank lined up really well. Our initial idea was to loosen all the washers and nuts, unbolt everything, line the circular hand crank halves up, mark the location of the drill holes on the other half, and then drill the holes in the other half.

Then Hakley came up with a genius work around. What if we paint the tips of the bolts and then press them against the other half to mark the location of the bolts? Brilliant. Here is his genius plan in action:

Hakley applying paint to the tips of bolts

Marking the location of drill holes on the other half of the hand crank with blue paint

Bolting party! Everybody grab a washer and a nut

The whole process of constructing the hand crank involved quite a bit of improvising. Though I tend to be somewhat analytical in my approach to problem solving, I welcomed the opportunity to think creatively.

Our final hand crank is slightly different from what we had in mind originally, but here she is!

On the morning of our departure Hakley thanked us and told us that he’s learned so much from us. I quickly assert that we’ve learned as much, if not more, from him. It sounds cliche but I’m being 100% genuine. There’s something to be said about learning the theory and the software and trying to plan out all the details. There’s something else to be said entirely about the actual practice: adapting when you don’t have the ideal materials and embracing a change in plans as an opportunity to approach the problem from a new perspective and to be resourceful.

After ~5 days out on the lake I’m filled with so much appreciation for Hakley, his family, Virak, Chandy, and all the folks we’ve gotten to know in the floating community of Phat Sanday. I’m proud of us and our work, and I’m exhausted! On the van ride home I fashion a makeshift sunshade out of my hat and my zippered off pant legs and drift off to sleep.