Projects

We have a number of projects we've been working on throughout the semester and will working once we arrive in Tanzania:

In Arusha, Jodie, Asad, Rebecca, and Mary will work with an organization called Global Alliance for Africa. We want to work on bringing them appropriate technology and adapting them to meet their needs. We hope to teach them the techniques we know as well as learn from them how to make our technologies more efficient and/or effective. In addition to working with our established contacts, we want to work with the students who come to Global Alliance for vocational training. We would like to start a class or seminar to inform students of the possibility of using and creating "technology"; by presenting and sharing the several technologies we have experience with (e.g. charcoal crusher/briquetter, water pump, etc.), we hope to encourage the students to use their experience to create something new! Currently, Jodie, Rebecca, and Mary have been working on a design for a transportable phone charger and corn sheller, both of which are bicycle-powered; hopefully, by collaborating with Global Alliance, they will be able to finish this design and run some trials in the process.

In Karatu, Ke, Neeharika, and Mark will work in a clinic with Dr. Frank Artress. Dr. Frank first came to Tanzania eight years ago as a tourist climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. After a near death experience on the mountain exposed him to the medical conditions in the country, he and his wife Susan decided to quit their comfortable jobs in America and move permanently to work in Tanzania. After working with a few local clinics, Dr. Frank decided that the best way to bring change to the medical community is to open his own clinic. After years of planning and construction, the Foundation for African Medicine and Education was founded and an outpatient clinic was opened in the Karatu district. The clinic now offers quality medical care to a region of over 200,000 people that recently only had three doctors. The clinic runs completely off the grid using solar energy for all its utilities. Our project with Dr. Frank is to help relieve the burden of water shortages by installing a greywater collection system. The system will capture and store rain water during Tanzania's heavy wet season and redistribute the water around the compound according to need.

Kaidi and Vasudha will work with Mwema Street Children Center. Mwema means "Good Samaritan". This non-profit organization helps young street children who have often run away from home and are common targets of glue-sniffing and peer violence. Mwema started in 2006 and has since then helped over 80 children return home. Mwema also offers a form of "informal schooling" where it provides for the children who do not or have not attended primary school and thus, have not passed the Standard IV or Standard VII National Exams. We want to bring some new ideas of lessons and teaching as well games and activities. Perhaps, for future D-Lab groups, they can also introduce income generating appropriate technologies that will help the Center become more sustainable, or help with water/energy projects. It is very interesting working with Mwema because it is a non-profit organization in Tanzania actually started by Tanzanians; we hope to be able to compare it to similar organizations started by expatriates. We also hope to learn about the unique challenges that Mwema faces and the obstacles that prevent it from becoming a more acknowledged and sustainable organization. In the end, it provides an extremely unique perspective that would not be obtained anywhere else.