Solar install at orphanage in Kalay, Myanmar

In March 2014 I was offered the privilege to help Solar Roots install a solar electric system in Myanmar. Solar roots is an American non-profit NGO offering free renewable energy hardware and expertise to the people of Myanmar http://www.solarroots.org/. It was founded and run by a retired electrician from California named Bruce Gardiner. 

On March 18th I flew from Bangkok to Mandalay and met Bruce at the bus station where he informed me we were about to jump on a 14hr bus ride. Our destination was an orphanage called 'Emanuel Children's Home' which is situated in a town called Kalay, very close to the Indian boarder. 

The road was worse than most farm tracks from NZ. Steep dirt hills riddled with potholes and cutbacks. This area is completely cut-off from the major centers during wet season because the goat track we travelled on becomes inpassable. We couldn't really sleep on the bus (which was crammed to the brim with people and luggage) so Bruce told me a lot about Myanmar's checkered past.

We arrived in Kalay at 3am, but our pickup wasn't till 6am. We killed a few hours in a tea house with the bus staff. Communication was limited but we managed to share a few details about where we were from and what we were doing. After a while the driver retired to his bus for some shuteye, but not before paying for our tea and breakfast. A very generous gesture from one who was obviously not a wealthy man. 

Pastor Joel (the foundered and overseerer of the orphanage) picked us up and drove us to the site. On the way I was amazed at how many houses had solar panels in their roof. Nearly every second building was equipt with a solar system and many of the shops had panels out the front for sale. We later learned that the government does not provide electricity to this area, so the people fend for themselves.

We arrived to many curious faces at the orphanage. The crew consisted of 13 orphans, Joel's family, Grandad, Grandma, Great Grandma and a hord of curious neighbours all eager to see what the white people were up to. Everyone was very shy and respectful towards us. 

Here's a selfie of Bruce and I with a few of the kids. 

We did a quick site evaluation, wrote a shopping list and jumped on the scooters to go and buy our solar hardware. Joel took us to a shop we called 'Solar Heaven'. The place was completely stocked with every sort of solar component one could wish for and all at a very good price! We were amazed that in such a remote place we could find every piece of hardware we desired. After an hour of shopping we filled a TukTuk with all sorts of solar goodies, paid the shop assistant who was helping us (a young beautiful Burmese woman) and headed back to the orphanage where we were greeted by a lot of smiling, thankful faces. 

This is Grandma thanking Bruce for all the equipment we bought. 

We spent the following week installing the system. Usually this would be a lot quicker but because there was no existing electrical infrastructure in the house we had to completely wire the entire building.  This was a great learning experience for me as I had never done any such electrical work before. Here's a few pics from the build. 

Myself, Joel and the builder taking measurements for the panel frame. 

Grandad and the boys painting the frame. 

The proud lads with their new frame. 

Installing the solar panel

Fixed in place and ready for testing. 

Bruce taught me how to wire a house. I learnt a lot of very useful things from Bruce during my stay. He has been working in the solar industry for the last 3 decades and has a wealth of knowledge. 

There was no shortage of helpers. The kids would rush to be the first one to hand me the pliers or fetch some more wire. 

This is the upstairs classroom before the solar system. They had one small light that was run off the neighbours generator which only ran from 6pm-8pm. They also had to pay a monthly fee. 

This is what it looked like after. Unlimited free green lighting! 

This is the living room before we installed the solar system. 

And this is after. 

This little dude is pretty stoaked he doesn't have to wash the dishes in the dark any more. 

This is the security light we installed outside their front door. It stays on all night to ward off strangers and animals. 

The crew with their new lights. 

Asleep is Pastor Joel's son, Caleb. The orphans (aged 5-11) took turns looking after him. These girls are going to break some hearts when they grow up! 

Me and the crew. They were such great kids. Very friendly and always so eager to help. 

It was very humbling to live/eat/work with these people, especially the orphans. They sleep on the floor, their diet is nearly solely rice and they have no possessions (toys, photos etc) but they were always so happy. They would follow me around all day handing me tools and fetching bits and pieces. I would strip the plastic insulation off the wire and drop it on the ground. The kids would scurry in and collect the pieces of plastic, competing as to who had the longest and the most pieces. They didn't speak any English but would repeat everything I said. By the end they were all walking around looking at the system saying "Veddy gud!" 

Before leaving I bought them a volleyball net and ball, a football and some other toys. The toys cost me about $5NZD but the look on their faces was priceless! Since leaving I've sent money to Pastor Joel. I asked him to use the money to make the kids happy. He is a very honest Christian man and lived up to his word. He sent me a detailed receipt of what he spent the money on and photos of the kids eating ice cream in new clothes. 

If anyone would like to donate please email me (hamish.richard@gmail.com) and I can put you in contact with Pastor Joel. It's a good place to donate because 100% of your money will go towards helping these people, whereas corporate charities take a large cut of your donation to cover their overheads. These are lovely, honest, thankful people and I know any help you can give will be most appreciatd. 

This was an amazing and humbling experience for me. I feel very thankful that I was given the opportunity and must extend immense gratitude to Bruce for the invitation to come and help him. The Myanmar people are some of the most loving, respectful, kind people I have ever had the privilege of meeting. I would strongly recommend travelling there and helping. By giving a little, I learnt a lot. I can't wait to go back!  

Global Housing Village visit

Whilst working for NRG Solutions in Phnom Penh I was given the opportunity to visit the Global Village Housing Project site. http://www.globalvillagehousing.com/ This Australian run initiative provides affordable housing to some of Phnom Penh's poorest families. 

The families live in a large landfill on the outskirts of the city. They forage through the rubbish and make a meager living selling valuables they find. Recently the landfill has been decommissioned so trucks don't bring the rubbish that these people rely on, rendering them even poorer than before. 

The Global Housing Village system raises money in a similar fashion to the TOMS Buy One, Donate One Shoes sceme http://www.toms.com/ Essentially how it works is someone buys a new house in America and a small percentage of the of that money is used to build a house in Cambodia. The houses cost around $1500USD to build, a small amount in comparison to the cost to buy a new house in America. The sceme then employs personal from the landfill community to build the houses. 

These are the houses and some of the people living there. 

Our connection to the village was made because NRG supplies the solar systems that provide lighting for the houses. 

Even though the landfill is decommissioned, the first thing that struck me whilst driving to the village was the amount of rubbish about. A thick blanket of plastic and paper covered nearly every available section of floor space. A lot of people were rummaging through the litter trying to squeeze out the last valuables from this dead resource. 

We drove into the village area and were instantly greeted by a swarm of toddlers waving and screaming "Hello, Hello" through huge smiles filled with rotten teeth. Two of the bravest quickly clung onto my calves and sat on my feet insinuating they wanted to go for a ride on my hairy white legs. Amidst plenty of laughs and smiles I stomped around the yard with these two clinging to my legs with a vice-like grip.

All the children were covered in a think layer of dust and most were only half clothed, but they had the raddest hairstyles. Plenty of mullets, rats tails and Mohawks with splashes of belch thrown in there where ever they could. 

We had a look around and fixed the system that wasn't working (the power switch was turned off haha). We talked to the woman and they said they were very happy with the solar systems NRG had provided. Due to the abundance of sunlight and the high efficiency of the LED bulbs they have unlimited free lighting. 

Inside they have 2 of these lights and the battery shown here in the orange box. 

Daniel and I outside one of the houses. You can see a solar light at the top. They can leave this light on all night for security purposes. 

This little dude was hanging out in one of the pots they use to collect rainwater off the roofs. As you can see it hadn't rained here in a while. 

When I'm sitting at a desk designing systems one thinks of them as a technical collaboration of figures and specifications, not their use or impact. It was very uplifting to see how the systems actually benefit the users quality of life. I (we) take electricity for granted in NZ and it was humbling to see how much of a positive impact a few lights can make. The system allows the users to cook/work/study at night, provide 24hr care to sick individuals, comfort children who are scared of the dark and security lighting at night. 

Daniel told me a shocking story about one of NRG's clients. It concerns a lady who voluntarily provided care and accommodation for abandoned children. The children in her care had been abandoned because they had HIV. When asked what she thought of her solar lighting system she replied - " It's really helping us. Now that we can keep a security light on all night, the children are getting raped less"

A very disturbing thought. 

NRG Solutions, Phnom Penh

In February/March 2014 I spent a month volunteering for a company called NRG Solutions in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Half of their business is designing/building custom solar electric systems for individuals and business. The other half is distributing small off-the-shelf solar systems for rural households, like these http://www.barefootpower.com/index.php/products/item/130-connect600 These systems are big enough to power a few lights and charge cell phones (cell phones are surprisingly abundant in far off areas void of electricity) 

Through customer feedback, NRG identified a need for a bigger system so that users could watch a few hours of TV per day. The off-the-shelf systems were too small, but the users could not afford a full scale custom system. We needed to provide something in the middle. The problem brief sounded exactly like those I was given in university assignments, except this was real life. 

On the first day I was given a desk and introduced to the crew. 2 British, 2 French, 2 Cambodian and Daniel the CEO who is originally from Venezuela. All the team were young, passionate and intelligent people. A really great bunch. I was paired up with my partner in crime - Antione, a really funny and clever 23 year old dude from France. We got to work straight away. 

Firstly we brain stormed with the other experienced engineers regarding the sizes of the different components. These are typically the maximum power produced by the panel, the maximum storage capacity of the battery, the maximum allowable current through the controller and the energy consumption of the TV and lights. We prowled the internet for these components but due to shipping costs it was not financially viable to import from foreign countries. We had to source locally. 

This proved difficult for 2 reasons:

1) Local suppliers spoke very little English, and we no Khmer. 

2) The local suppliers did not have websites so we had to physically travel to these shops/factories to inspect the components and negotiate price. Every price in Cambodia is negotiable. 

To aid in this task we called upon my good Khmer friend Micky the TukTuk driver. He always wears a smile from ear to ear and his slogan is he's the happiest TukTuk driver in Cambodia. He reminded me a lot of the character Prabaker from Shantaram for those who have read it. 

Mickey the friendly TukTuk driver. 

It took us a couple of days cursing around bustling Phnom Penh but we managed to find good components our system. It was time to close the laptop, don the screwdriver and test our system. 

It worked perfectly. Users would be able to use four separate lights for 10 hours and watch TV for 8 hours everyday. On my last day we shipped 3 of the new systems (named the NRG50*) off to the shop, ready to be sold. 

* originally referred to as the HAMTIONE3000, named after it's creators. 

I really enjoyed my month living and working in Phnom Penh. Everyday I saw deferent and interesting things such as chaotic traffic, weird food, 6 people riding 1 scooter, construction projects that use people with spades in place of diggers and bulldozers and children living in rubbish bins. All of which made me so thankful I was born and live in New Zealand. 

A huge thank you to Daniel and the team at NRG for making me feel and home and teaching me so much. I look forward to following their progress into the future. 

Samart School library build

In November/December 2013 George McIldowie and I spent a month building a library for a rural school 20km from Siem Reap, Cambodia. It turned out to be an amazing experience and the highlight of our 4 months in South East Asia. 

Previous to arriving in Siem Reap we had spent a lot of time on the internet trying to find a volunteer program that suited us. There were heaps of programs advertised on the net, but all were very expensive. Luckily, we found a small flyer in a hostel detailing a rural school that was just about to start building a library and needed some volunteers to help. We rang the number and started the next day. 

The ride to the school took us through lush green rice fields as far as the eye could see. After bouncing along dusty roads and getting very lost we arrived to find a beautiful, humble little community comprising mainly of children, a few foreigners and a couple of Cambodian adults.

Introductions were made, followed by a tour of the grounds. Food, drink and banter were a plenty. We eventually retired to our dorm style bedroom, which was actually Mummy and Pappy's (the elderly couple who hosted all the volunteers) bedroom. They insisted we use the double beds while they slept on a thin mat on the floor. The first of many gracious acts of kindness from them. 

The following day began with a hearty feed of rice, coffee and fruit. Construction began straight away. At this stage the construction crew consisted of 5 Cambodian builders, 8 foreign volunteers, an infinite supply of local children and our fearless leader - Song Samart the monk. Song was the only person who could speak Khmer (Cambodian language) and English. Therefore all instructions from the buidlers to us had to be translated by Song first. Consequently whenever Song wasn't there, communication was done through pointing, grunting and laughing. 

This is Song Samart (pictured below). A monk at the local Pagoda from age 13 to 25. In 2013 he left the monk life to help his sick mother, who unfortunaly passed away not long before we arrived at the school. In between all that he started this school which provides free after school English and IT lessons to 350 local kids. He's also in full time study at university. A real character, a good friend and a true inspiration. He's only 25 years old. 

 

The first days construction went well. After spending the last 18months building a house in New Zealand, I was amazed at the building techniques and tools adopted here. The entire tool kit consisted of 1 hammer, a few nails, half a broken tape measure, some fishing nylon, a rubber tube and a few shovels. My initial thought was that there was no way we were going to be able to build a strong/straight building with such limited tools and materials, I was very wrong. 

Here are a few pictures from the few first days constructing the foundations. 

The local builders prooved to be extremely resourceful. They used tree branches as stakes and fishing nylon as string to set the profiles. Then they filled up the rubber tube with water and used the meniscus at either end to insure the stringlines were level. Very simple and accurate solution. One of the many acts of cleaver ingenuity I've seen throughout 'undeveloped' communities. 

The day ended with the monks scrubbing us clean in the hand-pump well, the schools sole water source. 

Our main job was mixing concrete. Even this was done very differently to home. We would pile a mound of sand on the grass, sprinkle some cement on top, then mix it using shovels. A depression was made in the sand/cement mix and small stones were piled into the depression. Water from the well was then bucketed onto the mix and left to penetrate. After a while we would again attack the mound with shovels mixing the sand/cement/stones/water until we had concrete. It made ringing a concrete truck at home seem like cheating. 

Construction was progressing well until we started to run low on sand. With no money to buy more, Song opted to go down to the river and dig up our own sand. This was easier said than done. The only sand was in the river bed under 1m of water. The children/monks/teachers would wade into the water with buckets, fill up the buckets with sand then we would carry them to the tractor and empty the buckets into the trailer. A physically demanding job in the heat, but many hands make lite work. 

We built during the day and aided with the English lessons in the evenings. Some of the crew were great teachers and I use to love watching their lessons. The guys had such awesome energy and the kids lapped it up. You could see everyone was learning and having a great time doing it. 

The lessons at our school were completly optional. Every student was there because they wanted to be. They would go to normal compulsory school during the day, then come to us in the evenings for extra English class. From 3pm to 8pm approximately 350 students would come through the Samart School doors. Their thurst for knowledge was incredible and it made me think of how I was a terrible student. Only going to school because I had to and having no real drive to learn. These kids had a fraction of the opportunities I had and were great students. Made me feel like a spoilt little shit. 

I helped in the English lessons for the advanced English students. The youngest in my class was 12, the oldest was 29. I enjoyed teaching English, but felt I could offer more on the building site than the classroom. 

Life at the school rolled by very effortlessly. We had a great crew of volunteers from all over the world. A total of 14 people at its height. Our host family transitioned from strangers to be more like family. We would go back into Siem Reap on the weekends to indulge in luxuries like a toilet you can sit on, the internet and food that wasn't rice. Every time we left Mammy would give us a big hug and kiss and wish us well. Mammy and Pappy were great people and came to be like grandparent to us. I miss them a lot. 

This is Pappy with our good friend Dom. 

Here's a selection of photos from the build. 

On 22nd December we had a huge party to bless and celebrate the completion of the library. The Cambodians really know how to throw a party! 

As a thank you gift from the volunteers we bought and spit roasted a pig. The process consisted of going to the pig farm and selecting a beast, killing and butchering it, building a spit roast and then cooking it. None of us has ever done that before, but we figured we could give it a go. George killed and butchered it and I made a spit roast from the left over building materias. It's was a real success and tasted delious. The entire thing was devoured in 10mins and not a single trace of it was ever seen again, not even a bone. 

The celebration was also used as a time to bless the new building. The monks from the local Pagoda came and we were offered the privilege of being blessed along with the building. This was a very interesting and spiritual experience. We were told that elderly monks, like the ones that blessed us, are very rare because most of the monks were executed by the Khmer Rouge in the 70's. 

Just before Christmas we had to leave the school for the last time. This was very hard as we had made some very strong bonds with lots of people from the community. It was tough saying goodbye to Mammy, Pappy and Song for the last time. They will forever be in my heart and the lessons they taught me will stay with me forever. 

It was equally as hard saying goodbye to a lot of the other volunteers that we worked and lived with. Some truly beautiful humans who I know I will see again some time. Hopefully when they come to visit George and I in New Zealand. 

I would thoroughly recommend anyone travelling in Cambodia to go to Samart School. It's a place where you can give a little, but learn a lot. I think the people saw us to be donating our time and money to them, but to me it felt more like an exchange. We gave something and in return learnt a lot of valuable life lessons. 

At $5/day (this includes all food and accommodation) it fits any travellers budget. 

This is the finished product with the crew at the end. 

George and I then jumped on our motorbikes and made a bearing for Vietnam for our next adventure, that's another story. 

Thank you so very much Samart School. I'll be back.....