Rolex and hub caps - by John

A quick update with two new things from the past week:

#1

This video I made for schools about making a 'Rolex'. Not the time-keeper, this one is edible. Try it, they're tasty!

My new BBQ, made out of an old wheel hub. Proper Ugandan style!

That's all for now. Carry on as you were.

Trial and error - by John

Before I start suggesting that people living in the slums try some techniques out, I want to try them out myself. 

So, my veranda and garden patch is slowly becoming a test bed for a few ideas to see if they work. I'm also very fortunate to be able to make videos for Send a Cow that are useful to them and me too. The solar tyre oven video below is an example of this. It may not be quite right for the slums, but the principles can be transferred to other materials.

The solar tyre oven works on the principle of reflection and a mini greenhouse effect. The glass costs about £5 and so is a bit too expensive for the people we are working with. So, I've tried out a smaller, cheaper (almost free) version that still works, just not as well (pic above). It's made out of a large water bottle, a little newspaper and silver foil. I cut the top off the bottle and inverted it and placed silver foil around this dish shape - this is where the black cooking pot sits. Then, I put the bottle base on top, creating a mini-greenhouse that heats food up, or even just generates hot water in the bottles to wash clothes with.

My other experiments involve growing plants in containers that you can get hold of in the slums. The idea is to keep the plants well fed with manure and 'plant tea' so that they do well in a small container. I'm also trying out growing an amazing tree called moringa (3 times the Potassium in bananas, 7 times the Vitamin-C as in oranges, 25 times the Iron in spinach, 4 times the Calcium in milk, 4 times the Vitamin A in carrots, 46 Antioxidants, 36 Anti-Inflammatories, Omegas 3, 6, and 9!) and an anti-malarial called artemesia that will both be very useful for the communities. Other than that, I'm drying out orange peels in the sun to use to light fires, and to repel mosquitoes. They burn really well due to their sugar content (thanks for the tip John and Sue Hill!) and are usually discarded and wasted in the slums. So, these are just a few things that I'm looking into during this research phase, as well as talking a lot with the community members and other NGOs.

I'll let you know how I get on!