PCV Cribs

I’ve become rather accustomed to the Malagasy life style and at times it’s so easy to forget just how different it all is from life back in the states; one just takes it as it comes, and that’s that. I’m proud of my home and in many ways it’s one of the better crafted ones in my village, which at times is quite a badge of honor despite the fact all the houses are essentially grass huts. But just this last Monday I took part in the construction of a new roof for my neighbor’s house, and it was at this moment that I discovered something really unique about ourselves as a people. Getting in the trenches I quickly found the same work environment that I was so accustomed to in the states, here we were, the local carpenters, all working together and making a serious dent in the project; material was being burnt up, coffee was slammed, jokes were cracked, and then the roof was complete. Although a Ravinala house differs greatly from houses even in the Highlands of Madagascar let alone the United States, we weren’t just building a house were building a home, and there’s a universal bond in that, that I believe every carpenter can understand.

Berlin, St. Albans, & Ambalona?

"It's Good To Be King"

With that said, I think it’s also long overdue for me to present you, the reader, with a relatively tour of my own living establishment from the inside out.

Here’s my professional kitchen complete with a hand built eucalyptus counter top and 3 burner gas range. This is where the majority of non Malagasy food is prepared in Ambalona: everything from oatmeal to eggs & homes, chili, pasta, and my specialty fish ‘n chips.

The kitchen opens into a large living & dining area complete with state of the art LED lighting, which then extends to a writers nook complete with an integrated bookshelf. The structure of this space is softened by one of a kind drapes that also divide it from the neighboring sleeping chamber, which features a full bed, stamped steel armoire, and studio.

Double French doors open to an inviting garden that encompasses the homestead.

The charming path leads to a petit conservatory and pepinaire

In the rear yard one will find the steel framed shower complete with a state of the art rain collection system, and conveniently located composting center.

Exiting through the rear gate past an array of Spanish Flag and Indian Spinach one will be quite pleased to find the restroom situated quaintly under coffee trees and also unreasonably close to neighboring homes.

Salama

Nick

Tragedy & Treasure

So the end of January brought a little bit of excitement to my village and I’m sure a whole lot more of excitement to the driver of a Renault Magnum heading south bound on Madagascar’s RN12. On approximately the morning of January 24th 2013 said camion caught fire due to a mechanical malfunction. The fire quickly spread to the fuel system and then proceeded to consume the camion and its contents. The driver escaped without injury however the wreckage remained at the roadside for the next three weeks. During this time various members of my community and other neighboring ones, scuttled the remaining cargo, which apart from: mattresses, batteries, and sardines was predominantly nails, hinges, and roofing metal; all things that respond well to ServPro practices. So all of a sudden I found the majority of my village the proud new owners several Kilos of nails, hinges, and roofing metal but I’ve still yet to any new doors being built.

I can't beleive Renault would put their name on that

The Great Dine Masacre of 2013

In a positive light, one can be certain in the US that those goods would have been scrapped, reclaimed, and perhaps compose the steel of an entirely new and different product. But in this case the products were reclaimed (stolen, scuttled, however you like), repaired and immediately put to use. While the manufacturer recoups his/her losses, the people of Ambalona have enough hardware to easily support their constructive ambitions for the next decade or two. What’s your take?

Salama

Nick

Lucky Cricket

That’s the name of our first rice dehulling/winnowing machine which came into this world on the 22nd of February 2013. We had a basic design and one requirement; the machine must cost less than 100,000 AR ($50). Now that seems pretty difficult in states alone, but in here in Mada there simply aren’t the same materials available and that forces one to return again and again to the drawing board. Initially we thought that we’d be able to source most bearings and gears from bike shops in Manakara however although these materials were sometimes available, they quickly drove our build cost over our limit; if we can’t build it for less than that then there’s no way someone in the Ambany volo (countryside) can. So from here we realized that a majority of the parts would have to made from wood, there simply is no other material that blends strength, workability, and cost like wood. This meant that instead of buying the parts and putting them together we would be spending most of our time carving and sanding the machine bits of Lucky Cricket.

The Soon To Be Legendary Lucky Cricket

So on that first Monday mornin’ Leo and I hit the lumber yard, bought the frame material for our machine, and hired a pos-pos (rickshaw) to haul it back to our build site in Manakarabe. We then spend the rest of the day cutting the boards and posts by hand, but not until we had settled on our design could we assemble the frame. After biking ‘round the market it was time to rethink our initial idea of using PVC for rollers coupled with bike bearings, they were simply too expensive. We slept on the idea and the next day decided that it would be possible to make the same rollers from wood. We spent the better part of the morning tracking down dowels only to discover that store that sold them was closed for lunch and would reopen after 2:00; most stores close @ noon, and it’s difficult when you’re not really sure what you’ll need and when, to complete a project. Now we had our rollers which would gently pinch the husk from the rice leaving that germ that the Gasy know and loves so well. But what we didn’t have was a sound way gearing the rollers and against each other and ultimately attaching to a bicycle, you can’t buy single gears of the same size. So we realized we could make our own gears by fixing nails bent into a U along the rollers. We got inventive and the by the next morning we had our rollers geared and moving in opposite directions. Our design features two stages of rollers so that any husks that sneak through the first set are removed by the second but this means that the two stages must be attached by a belt or chain so that they work in unison. We didn’t have sprockets small enough for the job, so building upon the success of U nail gears we thought that we could make nailed teeth that would function with a bike chain. After carefully cutting the nails that would become the teeth, we marked the holes, drilled them, and secured the teeth with a small bit our epoxy. Now we needed to make our machine appealing to the mechanical bits of a bicycle. We selected one roller to be the drive and carved its end to mate with the crank and chain ring of a bicycle. Now Lucky Cricket can be powered by bike or by hand when a bike isn’t available because we fixed a handle to the crank. The machine required some tuning but it performed well, and earned us approval from the top to improve upon our design and eventually apply for funding to develop the machine in mass. Our final budget was 36,000 AR ($18) and that’s about as cheap as we can build it, but now we know exactly how to make little improvements upon the machine and make it easier to build and more reliable.

All this for less than $18

The new AG trainers and I got to duck the heat this past week as we designed the training for the new volunteers in Mantasoa. It was amazing at night a blanket became a must and during the day there was nice chill from the breeze off the lake. We discussed improvements to the training and then we selected our training areas and weeks. I’ll be training the first week of April on Seed Selection/ Preservation and Integrated Pest Management, along with work in the Tanibary. Since my training in 2012 the PC Training Center in Mantasoa has build a large terraced garden and rice field and it’ll provide a far more complete training experience for the new volunteers. So until then I’ll be heading back to site to care for the school gardens and to harvest my rice field with a little help from my friends.

Salama

Nick