Design that Matters Field Journal

Return to Mali Folkecenter

This afternoon, we went back to the Mali Folkecenter to talk to the director, Ibrahim Togola, about next steps in a collaboration between Design that Matters and the MFC. The three main areas of discussion related to the Kinkajou projector, other designs like Amy Smith's screenless hammermill and Light Up the World's LED lamps, and other potential design collaborations between DtM and the MFC such as solar cooling, low-tech load-shedding windmills and locally-manufacturable photovoltaic charge-controller circuits.

We took some more pictures at their office, including one of this nifty screw-in LED light bulb from Germany--don't know if Dave Irvine-Halliday and his colleagues at LUTW have already seen this design. It`s got ten 0.1W LED bulbs and costs about US$35.

We left Ibrahim with two LUTW lamps of the most recent design (adapted to accept 4-24 volts) and a rechargable AA battery pack. Tom Burrell, the MFC's solar and lighting expert, is going to give the LUTW lamps a thorough test in the field this summer, and they plan to follow up with LUTW in early Fall to talk about a school lighting project in the works for rural Mali.