July 06, 2003
Before the trip
Hello out there. I am Kateri, recent grad from MIT's department of mechanical engineering. I have been on the Kinkajou team since the fall of 2002 and worked on the project in the spring. I am thrilled at the opportunity to venture out to West Africa next week to test out our projector and to learn more about the people who will use it. As my father told me before I left, we will probably learn more from the Malians than they from us.
My expectations:
It will be an adventure worthy of a survivor episode...well maybe not. I hope that no one gets sick. Everyone I've talked to has linked Africa to AIDS and malaria. No one ever thinks of what the people are like and how they live their daily lives without the things that we take for granted. I think that the experience will be a humbling one that will make us all think more about where we come from and where we want to go in our lives.
I've never been to Africa before. In fact the first time I flew overseas was last week to visit my boyfriend, Jacob, in Japan. He is working for the summer at the University of Tokyo. Being outside the US for the first time allowed me to see what it is like to be a foreigner in an unfamiliar place surrounded by people who speak a completely different language than I'm used to.
I don't speak French much, the official language of Mali. I have some teach yourself books, but I haven't gotten very far. I hope that I will be able to communicate with people in Mali as well as with my friends and family back home in New Mexico and around the world.
Before I left home, my parents both expressed their concerns for my health and safety while on the trip. I know that there are risks, but I told them that I would rather die living than sit in front of the TV and waste my life wishing. I know...harsh words to tell parents, but it was the way I could see them connect with what I am feeling. No one is going to die. We may get a little sick, but in the end the trip will make us stronger and more knowledgable.
Getting ready
Late night, sorting through a mountain of gear here in our living room. It seems like Liz and I have been getting ready for this trip for weeks, maybe even months. Liz has a very smart, modern-looking pack that weighs 18 pounds with empty water bottles. Somehow the apostle of travelling light has wound up with a 35-pound albatross. Where did all this stuff come from? How much lighter will my bag be if I leave my toothbrush behind?
I'm excited to get on the road, to get back to West Africa. I'm curious as to what has changed in the last six years. Cell phones and internet cafes are obvious--what are the other inroads of technology and development? Has any of this stuff penetrated beyond the big cities? Has it had any kind of meaningful impact on the way ordinary rural people live their lives?
July 08, 2003
DtM on Morning Edition
Today on NPR's Morning Edition, you'll hear an interview we gave about Design that Matters and the field study. Here are some pictures to give you an idea of what it's like to visit a recording studio. Fortunately, Neil and I both have faces for radio.
Listen to the broadcast (mp3 file)
Neil reviews the script with Morning Edition editor Margaret Evans.
Tim in the studio with journalist Suzanne Bates. There was a "cough" button on my microphone console, but I had to supply all of the other sound effects.
The WBUR station lobby.
Listen to the broadcast (mp3 file)
Finishing Touches
The Kinkajou team in the 2.744 lab at MIT with less than 24 hours to go before takeoff.
Martin Tolliver as Electrical Engineer.
This pictures comes free with the McMaster-Carr catalog..
The team on their last night at MIT. Notice how clean everyone's clothes are.
Amy Smith's Screenless Hammermill
Here is an overview of Amy Smith's screenless hammermill design. Amy has built and field-tested this device in Senegal. We're bringing data and technical specs for our NGO collaborators in Mali and Benin.
Here is a conventional hammermill, which features a metal mesh or screen to separate the flour from the rubbish [Photo courtesy Amy Smith].
Here is a picture of Amy's screenless hammermill prototype, which she built in Senegal.
A new type of hammermill was designed to operate without a screen. To further reduce milling fees, the mill was designed to minimize the manufacturing and operating costs. [...]
Further improvements to the mill include a single hammer blade which is directly mounted to the motor shaft and a grits discharge which allows continuous operation of the mill. These improvements allow the mill to be produced at about a quarter of the cost of conventional hammermills. In addition, the energy consumption to operate the mill is decreased by about seventy percent and a superior product is produced." -- Amy Smith
July 12, 2003
DtM-Kinkajou Team in Mali
After a quick dash through Paris for croque monsieurs at Trocadero and a team photo under the Eiffel Tower, we arrived in Bamako on Wednesday night. We've had a busy schedule ever since!
On Wednesday, we met Violet Diallo from Ashoka, who has been enormously helpful in getting us squared away here in Mali. Violet helped us navigate the crowds at the airport baggage claim and Mali customs. She has loaned the team a cell phone for our trip (vital for arranging meetings in Bamako on a tight schedule) and yesterday helped us find an apartment in the city. She also introduced us to Mustafa, our fearless driver.
Thursday morning, we got our first look at Africa. Crossing from our hotel lobby onto the street, Liz said, "It's like walking into movie." Woman in brightly-colored pagnas, door-to-door tailors clacking scissors and carrying their sewing machines on their shoulders, sheep nibbling at the hedges. The air smelled like charcoal smoke and this kind of distinctive, peppery spice. It was hot and surprisingly humid--although not yet Florida hot.
We spent Thursday morning and afternoon at the Mali Folkecenter (MFC) with the director, Ibrahim Togola, his colleague Tom Burrell, and the rest of the staff. They gave us a tour of the facility and a brief presentation on their work in Mali. We also demonstrated the Kinkajou projector and got their feedback on the design.
That evening, we followed Tom, Jack and their driver to Koumantou, a town to the southeast of Bamako. On the way, we stopped for dinner in Bougouni and had our first Malian french fries.
We spent Thursday night in a village outside Koumantou, and on Friday Tom gave us a tour of the MFC projects in the region. The first project was the multifunction platform--a diesel engine converted to run off a kind of vegetable oil, and connected by belts to two kinds of seed press machines. One machine produced a paste from nciya nuts, turning eight hours of manual labor into fifteen minute's work. The other machine pressed jatropha seeds, the oil of which was used to power both the multifunctional platform engine, as well as the MFC team's truck.
In the Koumantou region we also visited a solar technology training center. whose buildings were designed for woodless construction using arches, domes and barrel vaults. Construction techniques like this reduce the demand for wood in construction, and thereby help to reduce regional deforestation and desertification.
Just before we left, we visited a village clinic where MFC had installed a 60-watt solar panel, fluorescent lights and a solar-powered refrigerator. The local doctor demonstrated how important solar lighting was inside the dimly-lit clinic, even during the day.
So now we're back in Bamako. We've reclaimed Martin's lost luggage and we've all had a chance to organize our field notes and take care of laundry. We'll head back out of the city tomorrow. We've got lots of pictures from our first field visit, which we'll post as soon as I can find an internet cafe with USB-enabled computers.
Bonjour de Afrique!
It is Saturday, July 12. We are now in Bamako, the capital of Mali at a Cyber Cafe. We arrived last evening after visiting 2 villages 200 miles south of Bamako. The experience of living among the Togola tribe was amazing. People are very friendly and everyone wanted to shake our hands. The children just grabbed our attention, well we had theirs as well. Children would come gather around us just to get a peak at us. They would line up to have their pictures taken, like professional models, and would giggle hysterically upon seeing themselves on the digital screens of our cameras.
Our food has consisted mainly of bread, water, coffee, chicken for dinner, greasy french fries and green beans. It's a lot better than I expected. No one has gotten sick yet.
We have had the luxury of a hired driver and a nice SUV. Our driver, Mustafa, is an interesting guy. He was giving us lessons in Bambara as we taught him a bit of English. He resembles Eddie Murphy a bit, especially when he laughs, though Dr. Doolittle wouldn't poke at a lizzard on a window screen.
Violet is the contact person with whom Tim had corresponded from the Ashoka Fellows. She helped us out upon our arrival and arranged a nice hotel for us to stay our first night. She introduced us to Tom, an Englishman, and Ibrahim, both from the Mali folkcenter. Tom and a fellow named Jack escorted us to the villages where Mustafa got to put our SUV's 4WD to the test through huge mud puddles.
Today was the first day that we had to filter our water. We've also been lucky to have access to showers. Last night, however, I got locked in the bathroom of the house where we are staying. The bolt became disconnected fom the nob. It was at least an hour before Martin heroically kicked the door open. Now we have to find a carpenter to fix the door!
Tomorrow we are off to Siby. I hope to find another internet connection soon so that I may keep in touch.
Good bye for now.
MFC Site Visit in Koumantou
The day after we arrived in Mali, we raced off to the Koumantou region with Tom Burrell from the Mali Folkecenter, to visit MFC project sites in Tabacoro and Bougoulaba. For dinner, we stopped at Chez George in Bougouni for chicken and french fries.
Across the street, you could hear the kids playing soccer on the high school field, and the shouts from the peanut gallery sitting on the school wall.
