September report

This past month has been one of assimilation comfort. Not comfort in a luxurious way, but rather becoming comfortable in my surroundings. I have turned my house into my home and my community into my neighborhood. I have received a lot of questions regarding what it is that I am doing over here? Hope this answers some of those questions.


In the development office I have 2 projects that have taken up the majority of my time. The first is a charcoal briquetting project. The Charcoal Briquette project is a new project run and managed by the youth group “SKEP” of the Greenfields deanery. It will act as both an income generating project for the SKEP and a business laboratory to train young entrepreneurs in practical business knowledge. The fundamental program objective is to economically develop our community especially the youth through empowerment and experience. It is my hope that sustained economic development can be achieved by showing marginalized people that they can achieve far more then they believe is possible. We chose to make charcoal briquettes because that will provide relief to the environment by economically fighting the deforestation that has been so devastative to the Philippines. The profits will go towards funding SKEP activities, a scholarship fund, and the receiver to giver program.

Biodegradable materials such as rice husks, leaves, grasses, rice and corn stalks, corn cobs, and coconut husks are abound in backyards and in the dumping areas. These are left to rot or are just burned. Few people decompose them to serve as organic fertilizer. The project intends to convert this bio-waste into a charcoal that is very useful in cooking food. Currently, wood charcoal is made by cutting down trees and compounding the deforestation problems that have been plaguing the area for years.

My other major project is a solar powered water system in the village of Cabatuan. The Episcopal Church of the Philippines has installed two solar powered water systems previously, and both have since failed. My job has been to design a repeatable water system that will use a solar powered pump to elevate pond water to be accessible to all villagers. I must also troubleshoot all potential threats to the survival of the water system, and prevent the threat from coming to fruition. I have greatly enjoyed combining my engineering education and experience working with contractors to give this project the best possible chance for survival. There is not an exact timeline for the water system, but it should be taking much of my attention until 2011.