Really Cheesy PC Work Report

If you thought Peace Corps was all fun no paperwork, guess again!  Here is one of the recent ¨success story¨ work reports I submitted.  Note heavy use of international development buzzwords like ¨grassroots¨ and ¨sustainable¨ and ¨dissemination of information¨.

If you want, you can send me one of your work reports as payback for making you read this.

 

As a volunteer with the Peace Corps, it is important to take note of the resources of the community and develop innovative ways to improve those resources.  As an agricultural volunteer in Nicaragua, I have to look at ways to improve/create food security and income generating opportunities for the people in my community.  In one of my recent projects, I was able to rectify my roles of international development volunteer and member of the rural community in which I live and work.

Water has become an increasingly valuable resource throughout the world, especially in agricultural production.  Nicaragua is a country that has a wet and dry season dynamic where, during the wet season, there are heavy, inundating rains.  During the dry season, there is little to no rain for months on end.  Many places, however, have rivers or streams that continue to flow for almost the entire year.  However, because the manual lifting of water is so strenuous, river water is rarely used for irrigation.  I saw this as an opportunity to help the people in my community to tap into a resource that could both help increase food production and possibly even create income generating opportunities through dry-season production of cash-crops.

In collaboration with Peace Corps staff, we were able to develop an existing appropriate technology that I had learned about in college which was relatively new to producers here in Nicaragua: hydraulic ram pumps.  The technology has been in existence for at least 3 decades now, but its application to small-scale farming has remained largely unexplored, especially in Nicaragua.  We wanted to change all that.  So on one hot and sunny day (all days are hot and sunny) using all locally-sourced parts and using a fixed low budget, we were able to build a functioning hydraulic ram pump in the community where I live.  We were able to explain how it works and demonstrate its effectiveness to many members of the community.  What really surprised them, though, was at how inexpensively it could be made.  Traditional electric or gas powered motors can cost in the hundreds of dollars (well out of the price range of many members of my community) and carry a high operating cost in the form of gas or electric bills.  The hydraulic ram pump only costs around US$65.00 to make and since it runs on gravity power only, carries no additional cost to operate.

After the initial construction of pump, I was fortunate to have been involved in the construction and installation of several more hydraulic ram pumps in various other communities.  As we built more and were able to see and understand how this technology worked, we were able to streamline the design of the pump and further reduce the construction cost and increase pumping efficiency.  Peace Corps staff even held an In-Service Training event to teach all the other agricultural volunteers how to construct and install hydraulic ram pumps.  This dissemination of information has led to several other pumps in other communities across the country.

But the sharing doesn’t stop there!  I was also able to organize an informational session with several members of the host agency INTA (Instituto Nicaraguense de Tecnologia Agropecuaria) where we invited them out to help with a hands-on installation of a hydraulic ram pump.  INTA has since shown great interest in working with this technology as it shows great promise in helping small-scale farmers as an inexpensive and effective water-lifting  technology.  Peace Corps has also continued to work with INTA and at the grass-roots level with local producers to continue promoting this technology.  Hydraulic ram pumps built by volunteers and members of their host communities are currently being used in irrigation of home gardens and pumping water to the house for home consumption, and with zero operating cost. Adelante!

Extreme Home Makeover – Nicaragua Edition

Im a proud Nicaraguan home-owner!!!!!!!!!

Actually I rent.

But having my own area will be an incredible change anyways.  The house is what you might call a fixer upper, but I still don’t think it is as bad as the house Bob Slack rented us junior year at Dayton (I can only hope that house has been destroyed by a meth lab explosion).  I know it doesn’t look like much from the pictures, but I’ve been busy cleaning and furnishing it, so I will post some updated pictures when all this repair happens.

Also, to get into the spirit of Home Improvement, I just finished reading Don’t Stand Too Close to a Naked Man by Tim Allen.  Unfortunately it had more to do with the differences between men and women according to the ultimate man’s man.  Not the best book I’ve ever read, but I did find out that Time Allen’s real name is Tim Dick.  Did you know that?  If you’re like me than you grew up with Tim Allen aka Tim the Toolman Taylor as one of your rolemodels/father figures and cut out your head and pasted on a picture of Jonathan Taylor Thomas’s body with Tim rubbing his/your hair wearing a Detroit Lions sweater.  Okay I’ll admit that last part went a little too far.  But It is true that whenever I work with power tools I still make the Tim Allen grunt.  HA, I actually did that very recently in front of a bunch of Nicaraguans when I had a skill saw after I cut a wooden board.  They didn’t get it.  Para este tipo de trabajo, prefiero usar mi cierra electrica Binford 2000 auuuuh auuuh auuuh.

Okay so maybe stream of consciousness writing is dangerous in some hands.  Just look at these pictures:

The Approach

Front door

Tree frog friend

living room

The kitchen. I think im just going to quarantine this room because its beyond saving

The bedroom. I looks like a cave in this picture because it IS a cave. I looks alot homie now that I have spruced up the walls with things

this window need a little love

living room bench…i have since thrown it out

Dia de Panaderia

As part of one of the grants that I recently got, I have been building ovens for a womens group in my community that I started.  I unfortunately have no pictures of the oven building due to data loss.  However, recently, as part of the women’s group’s wishes, I brought out the lovely and talented Nicole (a third year volunteer) to the sleepy town of La Danta and had her help me by putting on a baking class to help them learn how to use their new ovens for things other than the traditional Nicaraugan baked goods, rosquillas.  While I have come to enjoy rosquillas in this country, they can be unpalatable, cardboardy, and generally unsavory little morsels made out of ground corn, cream and salt.  I decided that we needed to diversify this monopoly on the baked goods market and show Nicaragua the finest in obesity causing agents.  We made carrot cake, vanilla cake, brownies, egg white frosting, sugar cookies and tasty breads.  Thanks to Nicole, we all now hold the keys to the bakery!

Also, the response was so good that we are going to continue holding baking class/recipe swapping every two weeks!!!  Not too shabby

Visiting Janelle

As part of my increasing involvement with the hydraulic ram pumps, I went out to help a great (and now conspicuously absent) friend and agriculture volunteer to help her install a hydraulic ram pump for one of the producers in her community so that he would be able to water a citrus tree grove and garden that he maintains throughout the dry months.  After the long and unfun process of applying for and reciving the grant money to get the materials, the day was finally upon us.  Janelles site was as beautiful as it was adequate for the ram pump (not my best simile) and her host family was incredibly accommodating.  Our friend Mary also came up with us to help.

On the first day we got there, we worked with the producer to build the pump and give it plenty of time to dry.  I believe it was one of the best that I have made.   We also went to go see the site where we were to install the pump.  It was a hell of a hike, but definitely worth it as you will see.  Later, Janelle, who is an aspiring yoga instructor, taught me about true muscle pain with such moves as “the warrior” the “three points” position, and my favorite – the corpse position where you just kind of lay there and relax all your muscles.

The second day we invited our INTA counterparts out to help install the pump and teach them about how it worked.  So after we lugged all of the equipment out to the site, we spent about 8 hours installing the pump because the first place we put it in didn’t work.  It was incredibly hot, so I decided it would be a good idea to turn on my “nica AC” which means you roll up your shirt exposing your belly.  Bonus points for occasionally fingering your belly button and sticking your stomach out as far as it can go.  The result is a somewhat less-professional look, but a much cooler belly.  We also took a couple of swim breaks in the waterfall.  Finally we got it to work and relaxed for a while before having to go all the way to the house and eat a 3:30pm lunch.  Food has never been eaten faster.  We all yoga’d again (I did a little better this time) and went to bed.

The third day we took a trip into the mountain town of San Francisco del Norte and picked up some internet time and baking supplies to make some tasty treats in the oven that Janelle had built.   Other than that we played scattegories, watch telenovelas with her family, tried to name world capitals, tried to guess the meanings of various random words in the dictionary, and played with Janelle’s cat, Sunny (aka Sunny Buttons  aka Sunny Boy, you drive me craaaazyy).  Another song sung way too many times that weekend was “if you get lost between the moon and New York Ciiiiiityyyy” by Chicago.  Shut up. This is how we entertain ourselves in the campo.

Fiestas Patronales!!!

May 15^th marks the celebration of the patron saint of La Danta, San Isidro.  He is the patron of (who else?) farmers!  The patron saint celebrations are ubiquitous throughout Nicaragua and range in size and debauchery depending on the size of the town it is held in.  For example, Managua’s patron saint celebration includes huge beer tents, all kinds of sponsored stuff, a hipica (which is like a horse show), half naked ladies dancing on floats, etc.  I had been to one of the bigger ones before, but I was very excited to see the small-town vibe of the La Danta celebration.  Needless to say I was surprised when I came into my house one day to see it filled to the roof with booze.

Turns out the alcaldia (mayor) pays for all of this booze up front and then sells it to the small vendors at wholesale prices to promote the event.  I know very well how hard and costly it can be to transport anything out to where I live, let alone a mountain of alcohol that would put most MSU frat parties to shame.  It must have cost thousands of dollars.

Anyways, the celebrations last 3 days culminating on the 15^th with baptisms when I got to see my little host sister Diana Benadice get baptized,

a procession of the image of the patron saint up to the church,

and my favorite part, cock fighting!!!!(not pictured)  I was able to learn the intricate system of weighing and betting on the roosters, and how to root for your favorite cock (a series of unintelligible screams followed by something like andale, cometelo jodido!, or when you’re losing, que gallo mas caballo!

And finally I leave you with a picture of me eating cake…

Chicken Vaccinations and Visiting Goodhue

As part of my work I have been working with my INTA counterpart with a few families in the area about making family gardens, using drip irrigation systems, and most recently, promoting chicken vaccination at the start of the rainy season against Newcastle Disease (at first I thought it might be a form of chicken alcoholism but really it’s a respiratory disease) As you can see, we had to round up all of the chickens from the yard and do a lot of bending over and putting eyedrops in the chickens little eyes.  All while trying to maintain the eyedrops in ice in the hot Nicaraguan sun.  The little kids were our assistants for the day.  I think that their favorite part was hurling the chickens as far as they could after we administered the vaccination.

Then I went out to visit my good friend Goodhue who is the closest other agricultural volunteer to me but somehow it still takes me the better part of 5 hours to get there.  We might live 60 miles apart.  Anyways we were building a stove and an oven for one of the families in his community and just hanging out and enjoying the countryside.  His site is gorgeous as you can see from the pictures and I have been back several times since.

Still workin hard

Just another successfully installed hydraulic ram pump. hooray science!

Fotos

The vacation I took with my grandparents this last 10 days was nothing less than amazing.  The only problem (which I did not think would be a big deal) is getting readjusted to Peace Corps living.  Im not talking about the food, the lack of AC, or the delicious coffee every morning; I mean being able to see someone from my family for that many consecutive days will make it hard for me to go back to 3 week intervals of communication and really makes me that much more homesick, even though I never left Nicaragua.  Nevertheless, it was an amazing experience to be able to spend that much time them, to teach them a bunch of stuff about what I do, and show them a beautiful country.  Here are pictures:

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Things I Sometimes Do…

Sometimes I make biofertilizers…

This is a project I started that uses cow manure, sugar, milk, and leaves to make organic fertilizer by fermenting it in these special containers made painstakingly by me, Samuel L Jackson.

Sometimes I set up drip irrigation systems…

I have been promoting and setting up drip irrigation systems with several families in my community.  They are great at conserving water during the dry season and help families grow food for household consumption or for sale.  Pictured is a young squash plant. We also plant a lot of tomatoes, peppers, and canteloupe.

Sometimes I build shit with my bare hands…

This is a picture of the water hammer pump that me and my Project Specialist made in my site.  It is a pump that runs completely on the force of gravity from the water running through the pipes you see in the picture.  I built it using nothing but dirt, leaves and gumption.  Actually its just a little PVC tubing.  This particular model was able to pump water to 10 meters vertical height.

Sometimes I make phone calls…

This is the view from the mountain that I have to climb in order to get cell phone reception in my site.  If I ever talk to you on the phone, this is what I am looking at while I am talking to you.  Notice the big volcano in the background.

Sometimes I design company logos…

(You have to click on the little box to see it)  This is the logo for the company that we made with a youth group during training.  Not sure if I already put this up or not… We specialized in making banana bread.  Take a minute to notice the intricacies such as the un-tied shoelaces, the chefs hat, and the attention to detail on the hands.  All made on Microsoft Paint.  Copyright Panaderia El Recreo.

Thanks for tuning in. Also I included the link for the random Ken the Falconer Mortimer reference below:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/1590/saturday-night-live-the-falconer-time-travel

You Want Some Pictures? Here

Well, there comes a point in every persons life when they just need a fucking vacation.  I believe that I reached that point about 2 months ago.  But as the 1 year anniversary of my departure from the greatest country on earth, Amuurica, draws ever so near, at last I will be vindicated.  My grandparents are on a plane as I type these words to come for a 10-day visit to my new home and place of business – Nicaragua.  I know what your thinking, “But Ryan, what does this mean for me, the blog reader?”  I’ll try to overlook how selfish your hypothetical query is and tell you what it means.  It means I will have internet for 7. days. straight.  Never before in the history of my service has this happened so the advantage will taken.  For the next 7 days I will be posting at least 4 pictures a day that have been filling up my feeble netbook hard drive in the recent hiatus I have taken from writing.  Accompanying said photos will perhaps be little blurbs or anecdotes about my service.  Said publications will continue inasmuch as they do not interfere with my beach swimming, swim up bar drinking, sun bathing, grandparent quality time making, or general laze.  However, since I have gotten into the bad habit of getting up at 5:00 am everyday in my site, I think there should be sufficient time. Lets begin.

This is the sunrise as photographed from the road to my site.  If I have to be anywhere important (like Managua) at a reasonable hour, I have to get up at 3 am and ride my bike out to the highway to catch the 4:30 am bus to Chinandega (which is basically like the transportation hub of my department).

My host family making their first-ever advent wreath.  I agreed to oversee the construction but they mostly ignored me and made it how they wanted anyways.  (From left to right: Briyan my brother, Doña Julia my grandmother/mom, and Analili my host mom/sister). If you think it might be confusing living in the same house as someone named Briyan, don’t worry, it is.  This confusion is compounded by the fact that no one in my site can pronounce the name Ryan, so they just call me Briyan as well.

Our pigs.  The big one is named Pancho.  The little one is called Panchita.  She likes to sleep on top of him.  Its pretty cute if your into that kind of thing.  They are both going to be killed for meat.  Whomp whomp whomp.

Community Bank meeting!!! This is probably my favorite project I have going right now.  In community bank, people basically save their money in a group and with the saved capital, they can make loans, invest in bulk commodities like basic grains, or even do bake sales to generate a return on their saved money.  After a year cycle, all of the money is returned to the members plus the money earned from interests and such, and a new cycle is started.  I had that lovely wooden box made to store the money between meetings.  If your wondering if the money is secure, well, The box itself has 3 locks on it and each of the 3 committee members you see in the picture has a key for one.  Also the box is guarded in someones house.  So its mostly secure.  (Pictured from left to right: Rosibel the secretary [Im teaching her how to keep the books], Franklin the treasurer, Alexia the president, Santana my host dad making a deposit at one of our bi-weekly meetings)

 

That’s all you get for today you greedy Americans.  Also, I will be available to Skype pretty much all week but probably mostly in the early morning and at night. My username is ryan_lemier.  Off to go pick up Alma and Dan from the airport.