Finding Uses for a Pest - Water Hyacinth

Water Hyacinth - its the scourge of the waterways of the warmer bits of the planet, including Kenya.

As I have posted in a previous blog, while I was in Kenya, we had a day trip to Bungoma - it should have been longer, but the car hire charges didn't allow us to stay - and I was amazed at what these people are doing with this weed.

But our visit was to advise them on the use of water hyacinth as a feed stock for a methane generator. Of course, any organic matter can be used, but some are easier to use than others.

The problem with water hyacinth is that it is a floating weed, so if it is put into an anaerobic digester untreated, it will just float. It is also full of water, being an aquatic plant.

It floats because, on the leaf stem, under the leaf, there is a bulb which is hollow and filled with gas (air?). These have to be burst or removed. Crushing the plant seems like a good idea. Then not only would these little gas bulbs be burst, but some of the water would be expelled as well.

So, to my mind, to make water hyacinth suitable for anaerobic digestion, it needs to be crushed and chopped up.  This can be done manually, but wouldn't it be good if we could devise a machine to do it? Or better still, to reduce costs, use or adapt an existing machine to do the job!

This has been on my mind since my visit to Bungoma, where I was shown a press to make briquettes for cooking. They now have three presses and I started imagining putting two of them together and adding some sort of press across the two of them which would crush the plants, bursting the bulbs and squeezing out excess water. Hopefully, I will soon be able to put ideas to paper.

While I was cogitating on the weed problem, I was contacted by someone in the USA who pointed me to a YouTube video. This showed how to prepare water hyacinth for human consumption. Apparently, it is very nutritious, and as there is an abundance in countries where there are food shortages (e.g. Kenya), I am now wondering if there is a way to use the plant as a regular food source. After all, there is a lake full of the stuff in SW Kenya - and I am sure it exists in other lakes and slow-running water as well.

Water hyacinth apparently makes a very good fodder for cattle. In Florida, USA, they spend millions on removing and destroying the weed. They also spend millions on cattle feed - well, there's a no-brainer!

If you have first-hand knowledge as to where water hyacinth is prevalent in Kenya, please let me know in the comments. In fact, if you have any experience in the use of water hyacinth for anything, please contact me.

Food Crisis in Kenya Pt III

Despite President Mwai Kibaki declaring the food shortages in Kenya a national emergency, and appeals for Ksh 37 billion (£321 million) in aid, a delegation of Kenyan legislators are making their way to Washington for the inauguration of President Barak Obama, despite the fact they have not been invited and will not be attending the ceremony.

Courtesy of Daily Nation 17/1/09

Needless to say, this little jolly is being paid for out of taxes, or to put it bluntly, the Kenyan people. This despite these same legislators refusing to pay tax on their bloated expense allowances.

The crisis is so bad that even areas considered the "bread-basket" of Kenya are suffering food shortages. The price of food is rising to staggering heights, so even if there is food to buy, it is expensive.

People are blaming corruption within the Kenyan Government for the food shortage. Far be it for me to comment. All I know is what I see, and what I see is a delegation wasting tax money on a jaunt to Washington to watch the inauguration on TV in their hotel rooms!

Our Goals for 2009

As regular readers of this and the KCIS blog already know, we have several projects just waiting to be started up, but with the food crisis gathering pace in Kenya, I have had to juggle the priorities about a bit.

We have our plot just outside Kisii, a particularly fertile corner of Kenya, which is doing nothing worthwhile at the moment. We are going to start our River Cottage project here.

Our priority at the moment must be to produce food. With luck, we will be able to produce a surplus which can be sold.

We have a band of kids who are more than willing to work, but as most are 9 to 12 years old, and the soil is never really dry as it rains all year round in Kisii, I can just imagine the state they will be in after a short while, digging and preparing the soil for planting - filthy!

So, we need a means of letting them clean off afterwards. Needless to say, there is no tap water at the plot and the river at the edge of the plot is down a 1:5 path, so carrying up enough water to wash of half a dozen muddy kids would be a big effort.

So, we need water collection off the roof of the existing hut and anywhere else we can find. Then, behind the hut we can build a simple shower with bamboo screens.

All this can be done at a minimal cost, and falls in quite nicely with another project title, Scrapheap Challenge.

There is a UK charity in Kisii who gives out gardening tools to "worthy causes". I just hope that an orphanage trying to grow its own food will be considered a worthy cause!

Food Crisis in Kenya

The BBC reports that the Kenyan Government is to declare a national emergency due to drought.

President Mwai Kibaki's government warned that nearly 10 million people - more than a quarter of the population - were at risk from food shortages.

But even where food is in reasonable supply, prices have already shot through the roof during the past couple of months and we are struggling to feed our kids, despite the fact that Kisii is situated in one of the most fertile areas of Kenya, supply and demand, I suppose.

Food shortages are believed to be caused also by suppliers hoarding, forcing the prices up - some people are willing to make a quick buck out of other people's suffering - not just in Kenya, but the world over.

We need help to buy food and also to get the River Cottage Kenya farm up and running. I am sure that we could be self-sufficient by this time next year with a little help.

Can you help us? Do you know someone who can?

Also posted on the KCIS website.

Another Year, Another Resolution

I don't really hold with New Year's Resolutions. I am of the opinion that it is daft, making up resolutions that will not be adhered to for more than a couple of days or weeks (if you are really good!).

But this year, I am going to make one or two.

Firstly,my glass will always be half-full, never half-empty.

Secondly, I am going to attack (if this is the right word) the projects I have set up through KCIS with renewed vigour - somehow.

The most important, at the moment, is to find some regular funding for the Kids' Home, which is finding it difficult to pay for the food required to keep 38 tummies full.

Then, River Cottage and Scrapheap will have to be tackled.

Then there is the malaria control project. I have started this, working in the UK, but sooner or later, I am going to have to get out to Kenya. I need a friendly doctor, bio-chemist or similar for advice on this one, just to clear up a few questions that are bugging me.

On another tack, I will be promoting a new (-ish) project, commercial this time. But the excess profit (profit? What's that?) will go into the KCIS coffers.

So, short of finding a benefactor with deep pockets, with a particular interest in Kenya, the commercial project is probably the only way we are going to get funding. KCIS is too small for most foundations and other charities to take any notice of us - but watch this space. We are going to grow. We are going to make a difference, maybe just a small one, but we will succeed.

So, for the first time in ages, I have made my resolutions!

Annan set to unveil deal!

From BBC website Friday, 15 February 2008, 11:18 GMT

Former United Nations head Kofi Annan is set to announce the details of an agreement reached after two days of talks to end Kenya's political crisis.

Both teams have returned to the capital from an exclusive tourist resort [I hope they enjoyed themselves!] after the talks were adjourned on Thursday.

A BBC correspondent says the teams may have agreed in principle to share power but details still need to be finalised. Whoopee!

However, my concerns are more immediate. There are over 300 refugees in Kisii, mainly women and children. Some have died. I have contacted every aid agency working in Kenya, including the UNHCR, asking for food to be sent to Kisii as they have received nothing since the troubles forced them there.

To date, I have not received a reply from a single agency, not even an acknowledgement that I have sent them an email!

Is it that these people are so self-important that they consider small NGOs, who are usually at grass-roots, too insignificant to worry about?

It is these little NGOs and other organisations who could give so much information to the big boys. They know the people, they can organise food distribution.

Or, are these big fellas so clever they don't need help from local people?

Mr Annan, once you have sorted out the political crisis in Kenya, can you please have a look at how major aid organisations are run, including the UNHCR?

Someone is seeing sense

Maybe Tweedledum (Kibaki) and Tweedledee (Raila) cannot agree on anything other than not to agree on anything, but there is a glimmer of hope.

Kenyan business people held a meeting because as well as the ordinary Kenya being slaughtered in the street, these people are suffering.

OK, losing your income when you are worth millions is not suffering in the accepted sense of the word, but, without these businesses earning income, there can be no Kenya. These businesses employ ordinary Kenyans. A lot of these businesses rely on tourists, who have been scared away by the violence.

These businesses are closing because they have no workers. The workers are scared to go to work, or have been displaced and cannot go to work.

And, without businesses, there is no tax to be levied. No tax, no government.

I hope and pray that these business people of Kenya can make Tweedledum and Tweedledee see some sense and get on with whatever they have to do to get Kenya up and running again.

Who do I contact to get aid to refugees?

I am amazed. In Britain and the United States, there are organisations which raise money in order to do good work in the World, especially in the alleviation of suffering and poverty.

My charity/NGO has the same aims and although we can raise small amounts of money, raising the sort of funds we need to really make a difference is impossible.

So we have approached the big boys, the foundations set up by such people as Pres. Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, etc.

We don't even get replies from these people. OK, I hear people say. They get hundreds of requests every day for money and they can't deal with everyone. Really? That is what they were set up for. If they can't deal (and I mean, reply to correspondence) with requests, where is their administration. These foundations are not run by volunteers, but salaried people - usually specialists in their field.

Other organisations try to remain "anonymous". They don't even tell you where you can apply for grants. They raise millions of pounds every year, but, in come cases, there is no means of applying for aid, there is not even any way of finding out what is happening to this money!

Yes, I am ranting. But I am frustrated. I have people on the ground in Kenya, trying to help 3,000+ refugees with no help. The major aid agencies in Kenya are missing a lot of people, because they are off the main roads - naturally. We know where they are. We have told the agencies, but will they listen? NO!

If you work for one of these agencies, please, please contact me. We are struggling to feed thousands of people with no resources and no help.

Rant over - for the time being.

Stop Kenya burning, says AU head

From BBC - Thursday, 31 January 2008, 10:18 GMT

African leaders at their summit in Ethiopia have been told they must get involved with the crisis in Kenya.
AU commission chairman Alpha Oumar Konare told them they could not just sit by. "If Kenya burns, there will be nothing for tomorrow," he said.
Mr Konare - the AU's top executive - said it was the AU's duty to support the mediation process which is led by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

'Special responsibility'
The current UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Kenyan leaders to find a peaceful way out.
"President [Mwai] Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga... have a special responsibility to solve the crisis peacefully," he told the summit.
Mr Kibaki is among more than 40 leaders present at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, even though the ODM called on the AU not to recognise him.
Mr Odinga, by contrast, has not been invited.

All eyes
The BBC's Will Ross, reporting from the conference, says all eyes will be on Mr Kibaki.
He says Mr Kibaki is likely to brief at least some of the African leaders on events in Kenya, especially the talks between government and opposition.
The Kenyan crisis may then be pushed away, which could be convenient for an organisation which often struggles to tackle the continent's problems with any great urgency, he says.
Despite Mr Konare's plea, the official theme of the AU summit is industrialisation.