Building a Stove: The Final Installment PHOTOGRAPHS

Mud Recipe:
For every two parts soil add one part grass
Add water
Mix vigorously with your feet

















Muddy mixing feet
























Rolling Mud into a ball.

























The working pile that the mud was flung onto.
























Banana husks before they are shaped. They were cut out in the village of Namwendwu and transported to the dorm via bicycle.

















Cutting the banana husks into the appropriate shapes.

























Creating the chimney from Banana husks.


















Banana husk air duct. This piece is placed between the two middle burners.

























Simon, the builder, planning out the stove. In the back the chimney piece is put into place.

















Throwing mud into the stove shape.


















The final product! The burner to the far right will be used for the meal, the one directly next to it near the chimney will be used for water. Finally the last one will be used for veggies!

The two banana husks in the front of the stove will be were the charcoal/wood is fed into.



All photos by Sarah Morris

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Building a Stove: The Final Installment VIDEOS

Building a stove of this size is an all-day endeavour. Our day began at 7am sharp! We first started by preparing the mud.

Mud Recipe:
Two parts soil for every one part of grass
Add water gradually
Mix vigorously with your feet

The mud isn't just any type of mud--it is mixed to the perfect consistency. It's like mixing cake batter--if everything isn't proportional the cake won't rise. If the mud is watery it won't hold its form and if it is too dry it will crack very easily. The mud is constantly folded, mixed, and mashed. It takes a rhythmic stomping to make good mud. Once all parts are thoroughly incorporated the mud is rolled into large clumps and moved to the work space. Now I'm unsure if throwing the mud into a pile is necessary, but it is certainly fun! With all our might we each took turns hurling mud into our working pile.

Next the banana husks are shaped into the molds for various parts of the stove. The size and shape of the banana husks are essential to the overall structure and integrity of the stove. The mud will be molded around them and allowed to harden for two months. When the stove has its first fire whatever remains will simply burn away. All of the essential air ducts of the stove are molded with banana husks. Using a machete and easy to remember measurements such as the width of your hand each banana husk piece is formed.

After literally slinging mud we plan out the dimensions of this massive stove. It will consist of three individual burners-- one for the main meal, one for veggies, and one for boiling water. All three burners will be fed by two charcoal/wood openings, and will all exhaust out the same chimney. It takes a lot of thought and planning due to the fact that the hot air must travel efficiently through the stove to keep all the burners red hot. After sizing, measuring, and drawing the plan the banana husks are put into place on top of a base of mud that is aggressively thrown into place.

As the stove is built upwards rocks are added into various parts. The rocks will help conduct heat throughout the stove. The stove will be able to maintain a high temperature for a longer period of time, and will require less fuel. The mud is molded and shaped around the various banana molds, as well as, the saucepans that will be eventually be used for cooking. The saucepans allows the builder, Simon, to make the burners the exact size they need to be. They will remain in place for about seven days.

After the mud is thrown into place the final touches begin. Smoothing, leveling, and filling in the gaps around the stove. Using a machete as if it were a paint brush Simon, the builder, smooths the surface of the stove. Occasionally dipping it in water to make the mud slide across the surface more easily. This is a long and tedious process that cannot be taken lightly. The stove must be level for stability. The cracks are filled in and smoothed over. A constant back and forth for over an hour. Finally, Simon steps away from the stove and gives me a thumbs up.

The stove will be ready to use in January. It takes nearly two months to dry properly. Naturally cracks occur during the drying process, but can be easily mended. Now let's eat!

*Note: the videos do not have audio
*Photos are posted in an additional blog

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Building a Stove Pt. 1

Today, Franco and I headed out to collect the materials necessary to build a fuel-efficient stove for the dorm. We focused on collecting soil today. The soil we collected for the stove comes from a termite and white ant mound. Due to the elasticity of this particular soil it is perfect for making stoves. It will not crack over time due to the fact that it can expand and contract with heat.
Hidija & Nasimu were in the area and came out to help! They helped carry bag after bag of soil up to the model farm.
























As seen in upper left-hand picture, the girls would twist the excess bag to make a cushion for their heads. Then with a swift motion place the bag onto their heads and off they went! After about two hours of digging, collecting, and moving we had enough soil to build a large stove for the dorm. Tomorrow, Franco and I will be collecting the second ingredient: Grass. Keep an eye out for building a stove Pt. 2 coming soon!
















Pictured above is the soil plus a few termites. The termites are essential to making the soil the perfect consistency.

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Changing social economic environment-changing roles.

New social economic challenges have continued to affect and change roles and responsibilities traditional society prescribed to family and the community at large. Factors that have contributed to the social economic challenges include: Population increase, changing weather patterns, disease especially HIV/Aids, civil unrest, moral decay, poverty, modernization / westernization and policy among others. Many of the factors are interrelated with one factor aggravating the other.

Social –economic changes have stressed the traditional social system in which parents, grandparents, relatives and the community played different but mutual roles in children upbringing. Child upbringing was a collective community responsibility and it was intended to groom children into functional members of society. The system also provided for a social security system in which the young, vulnerable, disadvantaged were supported by other strong and productive members of the family and community.
Every parent strived to groom his/her children into productive and responsible members of society such that when he/she became older and weaker, his children would be able to take care of him or her. The parents had to provide for, love and take care of their families. “Family” in traditional society meant parents, children, grand parents and any other relatives. At family level, the man was in charge of family leadership, owned all family property and was responsible for all critical family decisions. The role of the woman was bearing children and taking care of the family. Women had limited access to education and productive resources say land, they lacked independence in decision making.
Parents taught their children skills relevant to their social gender roles. Boys learnt by working with fathers, while girls learnt by working alongside mothers. Boys learnt skills like metal works, carpentry, diviners, while girls learnt skills like basketry, pottery. Blame for a socially mal- adjusted child was put on the father or mother. Vocational skills like animal husbandry, farming, hunting, healing, rain making were passed on to children through apprenticeship hence were hereditary. Grandparents with diminished physical energy were supposed to be taken care of with their role inclined to passing on the cores of socialization to their grand children .They taught children stories that glorified and promoted socially acceptable behavior and disparaged undesirable behavior. They were integral and effective socializing agents because they combined personal life experiences and heroics with freedom to broach sensitive subjects like sex. This multi-generation social setup ensured a nearly flawless socialization of children in traditional society. In today society, most of the roles played by the traditional society to groom children like socialization,skills development, and teaching morals have been left to formal schools, however, school socialization often teaches skills and behaviour that are some times irrelevant to local needs.It also relies on a limited number of role models.

The HIV/Aids Scourge devastated communities in Uganda, especially during its peak period in the 1980’s and 90’s. The HIV prevalence rate peaked 35% of the Uganda population. HIV robbed children of their parents. Everybody in Uganda has lost a close relative to HIV/Aids. Its effects are typically evident in the number of total Orphans whose care is left to their grandparents.
In traditional society, the care of Orphans is the responsibility of a close relative especially an Uncle, or the grandparent. Many orphans end up in the care of grandparent since they tend to offer more social stability to the orphans. The devastation of HIV/aids has destroyed the “social security “system in Ugandan communities. Typically, Parents bear children whom they strive to shape into successful adults, who in turn take have to take care of the parents in their senile ages. Typically, it has created a generation gap which makes the traditional social system malfunctioned.

Nabirye Topista, a 68 year old single grandmother living in Buwanzu village takes care of 8 total orphans in the age bracket of 3 to 12. She clearly looks overstretched with her responsibilities. “They all lost their fathers. I am getting less strong every day but I do have to feed and provide for my grand children. We all have to work in the gardens every single day to provide food for us. With God’s grace we have been able to live on” explains Topista . Topista’s only wish is to have her grand children attain an education to help them attain a better future. The story is the same for several other grandparents and single mothers who have to struggle day to day to provide a life to the orphans they are taking care of. Clearly, Topista like many other grandparents in similar situation is going through a tough struggle. The role she is trying to play is neither prescribed in the traditional social system nor is it supported by the prevailing social system. Topista’s social security and "pension" was “robbed” by AIDS through which she lost most of her productive sons. She has to play the role of father, mother, and grandparent all at the same time yet society still looks at her as a “woman”- with no right to ownership of land or property and has never been to school.

Never before have family breakages been as frequent as they are in today society. Customary marriage practiced in traditional society did not provide for divorce or separation. While it is still practiced today, separation is common but there is no provision for divorce. Family breakages tend to negatively affect children and women much more negatively than they affect men. Moral decay leading to infidelity and economic strive are among leading factors for family breakages. This has increased the number of single mothers straining relentlessly to provide for their children. They have no jobs, do not own land or have right to property in most cases. The gender equality campaign by the Government has been misunderstood by the public in certain situations leading to family breakages. This has increase the number of single mothers who were unheard of traditional society.
While the traditional social system is still widely accepted as a basis for family and community management, the customs, beliefs and principles on which it was based have been grossly eroded, and in communities where it is still respected , the social set up does not appropriately allow for its functionality.

There exists a clear need for appropriate legislation to address social injustices which the weakened traditional social system has exposed or social economic changes have created. The domestic relations bill is meant to bridge the legislation gap left behind by the traditional social system but it will not be passes any soon to serve its purpose as it has met stiff resistance from different sections of society for the last 30 years.

Every change manifests with both challenges and opportunities. Solutions to challenges need to be sought and opportunities need to be exploited positively. Don’t you think it is the right time that we looked at grand parents as active and functional members of society who need to be empowered to become fully functional members of society to manage the wide range of responsibilities they take care of? How about single mothers struggling to provide a living and a future for their children? How about the need for a hybrid culture which combines useful aspects of traditional and western culture?

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Ecominc Survival A Major Threat To Environmental Conservation In Kamuli.

Changing weather patterns are a challenge and threat to the human race in the present world more than ever before. Day to day man’s activities have directly or indirectly contributed to the deterioration of weather patterns.

Economic survival in Uganda is tougher today than ever before. This has compelled the population to engage in any activity which will improve their economic wellbeing with no or minimal regard to its environmental impact. Among the many activities that have been on the increase with minimal regard to its environmental impact is brick making.

Focus on brick making:
One of the most noticeable features as one moves around the villages surrounding Kamuli town are giant piles of bricks organized into a sort of oven, ready for firing. The amount of fire wood required to fire and harden bricks in a single oven is enormous.

The growing construction industry in Kamuli town is fueling the demand for bricks. Bricks are a key component in modern building construction. Before the use of bricks, wattle, poles and mud were used.
Among the youth, brick making is looked at as a quick way of making a living compared to traditional activities like agriculture. For many youth, agriculture is perceived as tiring, time consuming, and unreliable especially in the face of unpredictable weather patterns and absolute reliance on hand farming tools like hoes, machetes, etc.
At a cost of about 70shs per brick, a brick maker stands a chance

of making close to $ 70 ( shs 140,000) for a single oven with 2000 bricks made in a period of less than 2 months. With such levels of profitability, brick makers have been depleting trees in their localities to maintain their business. “If I see a good tree in some body’s land, I will buy it from him, make timber out of it and use the remains to fire my bricks.” explains a brick maker only identified as Waiswa. Few community members can decline trading their trees for money.

Big fruit trees like mangoes and jack fruit trees have not survived the determination of brick makers to provide wood for their businesses. It is common to find a fruit trees rid of all its branches. This implies that the tree cannot produce fruit until branches re-develop. Many families rely on fruit trees food. This trend of events is likely to interfere with the nutritional needs of many families and the most affected are kids.

For as long as the demand for fired bricks prevails, environmental degradation through deforestation will prevail unless intervention and mitigation plans are sought and implemented.

Intervention Plans:
The 52kids foundation through its "environmental recovery movement" is creating awareness in the communities it is involved about environmental conservation. Among the campaigns it has carried out is the “ plant a multi-purpose tree campaign” in which fruit shade trees were distributed to and planted by the 52 kids guardians in their homes. The campaign involved increasing the survival chances of the planted trees by erecting a fence around the tree to keep off domestic animals from eating up the tree leaves.

The foundation intends to encourage replanting of local species of trees by using locally available tree seeds. The 52 kids foundation and its partner Local nonprofit organization KAPIDA have worked with communities in Nawigulu sub county Kamuli district to promote fuel efficient stoves to save the number of trees cut down to provide wood fuel for domestic use and encouraged agro forestry

On many occasions the fact that specific challenges require specific interventions means that to reduce the impact of brick making on deforestation, technology to provide alternative bricks to fired bricks needs to be made available to local communities. For now, more trees will be lost to firing bricks in Kamuli by the day after all the demand for bricks remains high.

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Buwanzu community sustains 52kids established water project

Kids pump water from the 52 Kids well.

A 70 foot protected hand dug well, with a manual pump was successfully constructed in December 2008, through a partnership between the 52 kids foundation, and Buwanzu community.

Buwanzu village is located in Nabwigulu subcounty, Kamuli district Uganda. It is a community with a population of atleast 700 people.

It is one of the villages in which the 52 kids live .

The open well where the Buwanzu community previously collected water.

Cattle graze in the vicinity of the open well.

Prior to December 2008, the community's only source of domestic water was an open well. The well was shared by both humans and domestic animals like cattle and goats.

"We now get our domestic water from the "bore hole", we have left the open well to cattle and goats" explains Mr Tenywa, a 35 year old community resident who donated the land on which the well was constructed and current community elected well supervisor. " Gone are the days when one had to spend up to 3 hours to collect a 20 litre jerrycan of safe drinking water,life was tough,our children suffered bad skins and diarrhoea disease from bathing and drinking dirty water from the open well, they did not understand the effect of drinking dirty water," further explains Mr Tenywa.

Left: Mr. Tenywa, the borehole supervisor. Right: A girl happily carries away a 20 liter "jerrycan" of water from the borehole.

Mama Salaama, one of the 52kids guardians and community resident explains that she currently worries less about water and dedicates a lot of her time on other activities like garden work.

"I open the 'borehole' in the morning, lock it at mid day and later open it in the evening.This allows enough time for every family to collect enough water to use. We lock up the well in the night because no body can watch over it in the night," explains Mr Tenywa when asked why a padlock had been placed on a chain next to the pump handle.

The community has put in place a pool fund into which each family will contribute a basic monthly fee. We want that money to accumulate so that in case of any repairs, and maintenance, we can pay for the costs as a community.

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