The Team Takes On Home Depot!

Last week, we met as a group to discuss and update our direction, goals, and individual responsibilities. We are feeling purposeful and energized as we head into the last six weeks of the quarter (how time flies!). In their weekly meeting, Isabelle and Ananya received exciting news from Ayisha – a member of our Biochar team who is currently working remotely (we miss you!). Ayisha successfully met with two potential partners on the Malawi side – Pam Haigh, a General Manager at Ripple Africa, an established organization that aims to empower Malawian communities toward a sustainable future – and Rodger Makwinja – a groundwater and quality researcher from the Addis Ababa University who has worked on the ground in southern Malawi. Haigh expressed interest in our work, offering to host us in the future and support and collaborate with our biochar production and water filtration efforts. Makwinja provided useful insights about community attitudes and preferences as well as the importance of a preliminary, exploration-based survey. Based on this information, we decided to simultaneously focus on testing the biochar kiln, building and evaluating the water filter, and conducting more contextual research about Malawi while reaching out to stakeholders. We divided our group into 3 sub-teams in order to streamline work and accomplish our goals efficiently. The biochar production group (Julia and Sebastian) will test the kiln with various feedstocks (husks – the wastestream in Ghana – and corn – that in Malawi) as well as different shapes and sizes of these inputs. They will document results using our newly-purchased scientific instruments as well as observation. The water filter group (Nomunzul and Bryana) will first construct the filters (as referenced in the last blog)with the acquired materials. On this note, another milestone last week was acquiring all the necessary materials for our sand filter from Home Depot. After a successful trip, we found storage for our materials and can begin prototyping the filter in the PRL over the next few weeks. Once built, the filters will be tested with local creek water, known to be contaminated with E. coli. We plan to use water tests like the Colilert kit to see how effective our filters are. Lastly, the research group (Isabelle and Ananya) will continue to develop a clear picture of the reality in Malawi as well as the different partners in the area. We hope to create a draft of a User Study by the end of the quarter that will address important concepts such as distance to available water and daily schedule, which will inform our designs and conceptualization of potential solutions. Many group members are motivated to travel to Malawi at the end of the summer; we are currently looking into the opportunity as well as sources of funding. And, lastly, next week, we plan to meet with Johannes Lehmann – a soil fertility and biogeochemistry professor, well-versed in the research and use of biochar – to discuss basic methods to assess the quality of the biochar that we produce in our kiln. Overall, we are excited to be working on this project with a newfound sense of direction and local connections that will help us build a useful and meaningful product. 

Pictures of the team at home depot >.<