Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park 3/25/11

Highlights from our trip to Marjorie Rawlings State Park:

-Dr. Wilkie and 3 of our group members took a tour of Marjorie Rawlings home in Cross Creek
-Marjorie Rawlings spent most of her time in her home writing many of her famous novels, including Cross Creek and The Yearling
-Marjorie hosted a "toilet party" for the first flush of the toilet installed her house
-The most important highlight of the tour (at least for our team) was the outhouse
-The outhouse (which is the background to our blog)

• Constructed from pieces of wood
• Inner seating area consisted of 3 planks of wood with a carved hole in the middle
• The 3 planks were removable
• The system is that all the excretion is collected in a pot or some vessel which is kept beneath the planks and the planks can be removed to remove the vessel in order to empty or maybe throw it.
• There is a red flag on the outside suggested by Marjorie Rawlings for privacy
• The top of the outhouse was angled for ventilation

-After the tour, Dr. Wilkie treated us to some dinner at The Yearling Restaurant
-The Restaurant featured historical photos of Majorie Rawling's home
-We noticed there was another outhouse located on the side of the Restaurant
-This outhouse had two holes, "His" and "Her's"
-The outer structure was similar to the outhouse in Marjorie Rawlings house

-Dr. Wilkie suggested that shrubbery can be put to absorb the urine and thus the feces can decompose to manure efficiently

-Dr. Wilkie suggested the back of the outhouse have an opening in order to shovel out the build-up

-She also suggested there may also be a metal rod beneath, to mix up the sludge

Notes from 3/22/2011

Today we reviewed the REB-VIP Latrine drawing and information that Jon put together. We discussed what documents to send to Soknay. In addition to the REB-VIP Latrine drawing, we are sending a list of materials for REB and squatting plates to get information on availability and cost, and Laureen's EarthBag presentation.

Don't forget: Trip to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Park with Dr. Wilkie this Friday March 25th @ 3:15 pm

Notes from 3/20/2011: Skype with Soknay

Highlights from our conversation with Soknay:

• Latrines should not only be raised (flooding ~0.5-1 meter), but also fenced to protect from animals.
• Thatching (bamboo, palm fronds, etc) is readily available. Local families generally have some access to and knowledge of how to construct thatched structures. Thatched structures have ~2 years durability but can be easily fixed due to widespread availability of the materials. This means that our model can exclude the surrounding structure and cost can be saved by having families build their own.
• Soknay asked us to send him drawings of our potential design along with lists of materials.

Next meeting: Tuesday March 22nd @ 9:30 am in Library West

We will be brainstorming the drawings and material information to send to Soknay. Also, David will be sharing important information that he learned at a recent social entrepreneur seminar.

Notes from 3/15/2011

Today's meeting was a skype session with a new guide, Mr. Ronald Mierau. Here's what we learned:

• During the 1960s and '70s, Mr. Mierau worked as a civil engineer with a humanitarian group in Vietnam.
• Projects that he assisted with: (1) constructing a 26 mile irrigation system of canals for water distribution and (2) refugee housing. Houses were built simplistically to maximize the number that could be built with the group's funding.
• One lesson learned from the irrigation project was that it did not carry water to families farther away, partly because of social constraints.
• Mr. Mierau gave the team helpful information about outhouses and also mentioned how he encountered toilets built over fishponds. As for the outhouses, Mr. Mierau emphasized the importance of including a screened smoke stack painted black; wood is not a suitable material to build with in Cambodia; 1-3 years for 6 people to fill latrine pit.
• Confirmed that he is able to help the team with working in an Asian culture. (Can be a social adviser)
• Suggested that the team look for latrine information from the WHO, Peace Corps, and IVS

The team also discussed upcoming events:

• Skype with Soknay on Sunday March 20th
• REB demonstration Friday March 18th @ 2:00-3:00 pm
• Meeting. Sunday March 20th @ 2:30 pm
• Farm trip with Dr. Wilkie: Dudley Farm and/or Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park
• Remember to watch the video of the $35 latrine that Richard sent us. Here's the link.

Notes from 2/27/2011

Agenda/what we accomplished:

• Organized Powerpoint slideshow presentation for the March 2nd meeting with Richard and Susan
• Discussed what to include in a Handbook for Richard and Susan:

- overview of contents

- 512

- copy of the Powerpoint presentation

- Post-it reminder for for banquet and winter break assessment trip target

- contact info

- list of questions

- timeline (to be prepared by Jon)

- first half of post-assessment forms

- notes from skype meeting with Soknay and Polin

- assessment trip goals

• Formulated a list of questions for Richard and Susan:

(1) What are some pressing needs of the Cambodia people that you feel are important to address?

(2) Is this latrine project feasible?

(3) Does it address the most current pressing needs of the Cambodian people?

(4) Are you knowledgeable of other latrine initiatives in our target area?

(5) Do you have any knowledge on a good price limit to make our project cost efficient and affordable?

(6) With knowledge of the government program, does it affect your stance on the project?

(7) What are your thoughts on Soknay’s proposed education project?

(8) What are your thoughts on Soknay’s proposed seed funding project?

• Contacted the following people:

- Soknay for the government official contact info (Jon)

- SNV representative for a skype date (David)

- Mr. Ronald Mierau follow-up (Briana)

- Dr. Lindner for Dr. Greene's contact info, March 2nd's meeting, etc (Alex)

• Proposed stages for our project:

Stage (1): All contacts and documents input - Friday April 1st

- Dr. Greene's latrine designs (plan a visit in March)

Stage (2): Solid latrine design (research) and Education Program

- Option ideas for latrine design - Wednesday April 20th

- Rain collection (ceiling runoff?)

Stage (3): Assessment Trip

Stage (4): Build our latrine at Dr. Wilke's digester (experiment)

- Reassurance

- show SC

Stage (5): Method of Implementation

- SC method?

- Instruction manual?

• Discussed the following items:

- contacting EWB-International Cambodia group

- when/how to begin preparing educational program

- contacting/linking up with photojournalism student for documentation

Next Meeting: Tuesday March 1st at 9:30 AM in Library West- we will be practicing our presentation for Wednesday night's meeting. Be prepared to talk about your slides.

(Ps. Sorry the formatting is a bit messed up)

Notes from 2/22/2011 Meeting with Dr. Lindner

The goal of today's meeting with Dr. Lindner was primarily to show her our presentation for next week's meeting with Richard. Dr. Lindner approved the presentation, but had a few suggestions:

1) Change title from "Design Specifications" to "Proposed Design Elements (or Options)"

2) Add the slides from the last meeting with Sokany

3) Prepare a notebook for Richard that includes:

- a list of questions

- our contact information

- a copy of the presentation

Other items discussed:

• In the future, plan to have 1 meeting per semester with Richard
• Maximum cost of latrines (~$50)?
• Remind Richard of Banquet on April 6th
• Add a couple of days to our assessment trip and conduct a program about engineering. Ask Macedonia about their education program. Connect with schools in Cambodia, Cambodian engineers, and university faculty.
• Create a fundraising project for home gardens
• Address water management issues in a second phase, overlapping with the latrines (Phase 1: Latrines --> Phase 2: Water Management). *Set intentional target dates
• Develop a means of gaining photo permission (ie. signing a statement of consent) to address ethics

Next meeting: Sunday February 27th @ 8:00 pm

Notes from 2/20/2011: Skype with Polin & Soknay

At tonight's meeting, the team skyped with Polin and Soknay. Here is the information gathered from our conversation:

• Latrines are considered a good project, however:
• The Cambodian government plans to implement 1 latrine per family by 2025
• Starting in the urban areas and working their way out into the rural areas
• Soknay will give us contacts from the Cambodian government who are a part of this latrine project
• We would create a latrine design that can be shared with the government to implement

Other possible projects:

• water management (community pond, canal, dam) to help with the 6 month period of no rain; mainly concerning agricultural purposes*
• introduce engineering to students going to university during a 2-3 month stay**
• small home garden project (~$1000-2000)

* Soknay stressed that the water management project would be very helpful and important for the communities. The team discussed the possibility of incorporating water management into the latrine project.

** Since a 2-3 month stay seems a little unfeasible at this point, the team discussed the idea of offering engineering workshops during our assessment trip, as a small side project, since local students expressed a lot of interest in the project during the previous assessment trip.

Other updates:

1) To maintain effective communication, we will be skyping Soknay and Polin once a month- Alex added these future dates to the calendar.

2) We discussed skyping SNV within the next week or so.

3) Unfortunately, the IC replied that there are not any Cambodian students currently available for us to talk with. We discussed other options of native Cambodian contacts.

4) We will be meeting with Dr. Wilke within the next couple of weeks.

5) The meeting with Richard and Susan is officially set for Wednesday March 2nd at 7:00 PM.

6) Our next meeting is Tuesday February 22nd at 9:30 AM in Dr. Lindner's office.