Everybody Poops

I'm overdue for an update, but I'm sorry to say that I really don't have any crazy adventures to share. For the last week, things have been all about ISP (independent study project). As part of our program, we're each required to complete an independent study during the month of April. We can pretty much study anything, go anywhere, and do anything...as long as we come back with a forty page paper at the end of the month. For the last few weeks we've all been stressed out trying to finalize our topics and make contacts. My adviser neglected to tell us that in Kenya in order to successfully get in touch with a person or organization, a call or email hardly ever works, and you often have to just go track them down in person. Thankfully, I got lucky...

Considering I've spent the past week writing my ISP proposal, I figure it's a good opportunity to share what I'll be doing next month. I came to Kenya knowing that I wanted to study something related to energy use and alternative energy. When you think of alternative energy, the big five come to mind – wind, solar, biofuels, hydropower, and geothermal. But, I can bet that when you think of alternative energy, you probably don't think about poop. But let's remember the wise words of Mama Ham - “poop is always funny”. And, if you're the Denver Zoo which has just unveiled its new poop-mobile (see here, courtesy of Alexa Freedman) or a rural Kenyan farmer for that matter, “never underestimate the power of poop”. So yes, for the month of April, I'll be studying energy from poop, more specifically, biogas digesters.

For my project, I'll be working with a business, Takamoto Biogas. My aunt in Michigan is good friends with the aunt of the guy who started the business (small world, right?), and she had given me his contact info before I headed off. My new friend Kyle is a recent Brown grad and started the company just about a year ago. He and his childhood friend Graham have worked hard to get the business up and running, and Kyle's sister Laura has also recently come over to help out. They also have an extensive local Kenyan staff. A biogas digester is essentially a big sealed hole in the ground that you throw a bunch of poop and other organic waste into (they say cow poop is best). You wait a while while bacteria eats away at the poop, and then you're left with methane gas which you can use for cooking and some really great fertilizer. So, for my project I'll be studying the economic and social impacts of biogas digesters on rural farms north of Nairobi. I'm very excited because it really means that I get to have a two hour matatu adventure every day, visit families to talk about their cow poop (among other things), and drink a whole lot of chai (Greg Mortenson's story is debatable, but he's definitely right about the tea). My goal is to visit about twenty sites throughout the month, so I don't think I'll have too much time to sit and pick disgusting black Nairobi boogers out of my nose.

In other news...in order to give us time to prepare for our ISPs, we haven't really had any formal classes this week, but we had a visit on Thursday...to America (sorry I didn't come visit you all). Actually, we just went to the US Embassy to visit the USAID offices, and I guess technically it is US soil (at least I think that's how it works), but if I were to have been drugged in America, taken to Nairobi, and woken up in that building, I would never have known the difference. How could you when there are US power outlets, American style bathroom stalls (you're questioning me, but really they exist), and automatic flushing toilets? It then became clear why Mr. Embassy who came to visit us during orientation had never ridden in a matatu and likely knew five words of kiswahili...

I'm sorry I don't have anything more exciting to share now, so you'll have to hold out for next week. We're leaving early on Sunday for our “educational” excursion to Tanzania where we'll be spending time in a Maasai village, going on some game drives, and climbing part of Mt. Kilimanjaro (be jealous). So I'll talk to you in April!

Ali