Right to start with i{d like to go throught a few little projects I have been working on outside of a work, some that will eventually be encorporated into the Seeds of Help work.
This is a typical bottle light, the type I first seen on Youtube and the inspiration for the others. It literally takes five minutes to make this type and with a cost of less than 3 euro in total. I think the photo is pretty self explanatory. Today I was walking by a hardware store and seen a lenght of guttering that is pretty much the exact size of a clay roof tile here. Cut it in 5 to make it the right lenght. I was thinking of suggesting using only the wall lights in houses with roof tiles but to be honest the ones in the roof are way more effective. The wall lights are still worth doing when the roof is not an option (for instance a floor upstairs preventing light from the roof), especially in houses without electricity. With the 3 options Lamina, wall and now roof tile, bottle lights I think all eventaulities are covered. We plan on introducing them to the womens groups in the afternoons this week and are going to have a workshop next Sunday.
Had to repair my wall bottle light because the first epoxy resin I used was crap so let the water out. This is why we tested them out first though. Went a bit mad painting, few reasons for this, the first was to reflect the light arounf the house a bit more, the second was to use up the white paint because I want the tin for making carbon, and the third is because I was going a little bit mental. I was trying to live off 10Q or 1 euro a day for the month of Febuary. This effectively meant no drinking, eating meat, leaving La Cumbre. To be honest I failed but I am not a bit ashamed. I lasted 28 days off drink which beats my former record by about 22 days i would imagine. I spent about 430 Q or 43 euro in 21 days on food. I eat chicken twice and fish once in 20 days. For me this is amazing, I normally eat meat at every meal never mind every day. I done it to try and see how half the people of the world live on 2 dollars a day or less. I still dont know for sure becuase I wasnt able to do it only spending 2 dollars on food, never mind anything else that is required in life. I am guessing that they have shockingly bad diets, solely rice or tortillas, and go hungry a lot of the time.
What did I get out of it? I hope I have retrained my brain a little that I dont need to drink every weekend, and dont need to eat meat every day. To be fair I am not going out this weekend by choice and fort the last week I havent eaten a whole lot of meat. I will say one thing though, I am a social person, I really know that now, the last week before I stopped with teh experiment I was going a little mental. Prooh is in the pictures I suppose, but other than that not being a fluent spanish speaker means that to really express yourself is impossible and I was starting to get very kranky. At this stage I knew what was wrong with me and it would have been totally counter productive of me to stay at it and be no use to anyone. I headed to Xela and the lake for some R and R and it was the best thing I could have done. Had a few drinks, nothing too wild met up with a few cool people and had good conversation. Every second or third weekend I need this and when I recognise it I would be a fool to ignore it.
Below is one of the less healthy creations I had, homemade chips with, fried red peppers, onions and garlic with mayonaisse, ketchup and hot sauce.
My cooking stove wasnt working due to no draw becuase there were leaks all around the flu so with a little extra sand and cement I had left after patching the bottle light I fixed this. Works a lot better now, still needs an outside air intake the same size as flu afront of fire but that is on the way...
Below is my budget chicken coop in progress. 12 euro for all the timber bit rockedy now but on my Mammys orders I have to insulate it so the chickens will lay the eggs. And we all know I have always done what my mother has told me. As far as I am aware there was a discussion with Auntie Mary as well so god love me going home if I ignored the two of them. Anyway my little chickens are gonna be the warmest in La Cumbre when im finshed lining it with sacks and stuffing them with saw dust. Might get one of the young lads that do call the odd time trying to sell me things, to look after them for me when im not around, thinking an egg a day might do the trick.
Right so what ye make of this little buety hey. Went to the dentist for a filling the week before, white filling and the lot, looked perfect, said to me that I needed to come back for a coating the week after. To my suprise I got some mouth jewelry for free ha ha ha. Was going to go back for a cleaning but dunno might end up like jaws from James Bond. Didnt get an injection the second day for pain either, blood spattered on my face afterwards, Hard or what? A to be honest it didnt hurt the second day at all and did get an injection the first day. Thinkin bout getting changable covers for it made what ye think?
Below is a totally community funded and built new classroom being built at Nuevo Pregresso. At the minute there is 134 kids in one room with 3 teachers. Nice to see the Adobe in progress. When I say Adobe I mena the blocks are muck and clay mixed together and cut into a mould then left to dry. The mortar is muck again mixed with lime, mixed together by stepping on it and hacking it with a pick. Very labour intensive but a cheap, relatively warm solution. The house in August will definitely be Adobe but we will need to stabalise it a bit for lateral movement due to higher risks of earthquakes in Chiantla. La Cumbre sits on 1km plus of rock so not really a worry.
Right so what we have been working with the kids on since Christmas, amongst others, was organic material and inorganic material. Discussing what can go into a compost heap and what cant etc. This week we have been teaching them (and me) how to actually make a compost heap.This is also at Nuevo Progresso.
I have also been doing a bit of English teaching. I know I know need to learn how to speak it properly myself first but there ye have it all the kids in La Cumbre are going to be mumbling English in a Wicklow accent now. I have to tell you this story. I was teaching them numbers and the kids are really interested in speaking English and were asking what all kinds of things, names etc were in English before and after the class. One kid pipes up and asks what a gringo is in English well I couldnt stop laughing for about five minutes...
Valentines day we happened to be at Los Cushumontanes the school very close to my house. The fundation and the school had organised an activity which included games and giving gifts and eating cake mmmmmmmmm cake.............
Some of the gifts the kids made with Seno Sessy
mmmm ive got an idea.........
why not bring up two plates.................
Some of the cake actually went into their mouths
After school on tuesday we had a pancake and fruit feed at my house. Pics ill have next week they werent taken on my camera. Big thanks again to Mammy for working out the right weights and amounts in "mugs". It was carnival too so got destroyed with eggs too, luckily they were filled with paper.
Still cant get over the view from the oul half door. Yes I do lean out and look at the sheep. Ye proud Al?
On a bit of a sad note I have to mention something. Dona Carolina the woman who I lived with in La Cumbre before christmas had a stroke the other day. Now I found out because I asked Brenda what happened her the next day. I called in to her the other morning and she had a scarf wrapped round her face. She told me she got an infection but the truth is that she had a stroke. Her youngest child is one next Saturday. Now my first question naturally was why wasnt she in hospital. The answer I am sad to say is that there was no point. There is no doctors in them and definitely no specialists. So Dona carolina is just getting on with it, her husband didnt get time off work, she had Wilfred tied to her back doing the house work when I called in the other morning. Crazy....
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