We have decided to organise a bit the posts and to sort them into categories in order to change a bit the mood for time to time. So here we are Tech corner 1: Power!
One does not need very long in Philippinnes to figure that the organic way of life, where organisation and schedule is a lot more flexible that in the UK, is also reflected in the way electricity works. Or doesn't. So in Manila, no problems reported so far. In smaller towns like Cauayan, power is supposed to work but often, say 20% of the time it is not the case. A walk down the streets of the city center shows that small shops often own very small generators that they put on the pavement. Middle size structures such as restaurants were out of electricity, which have to be accounted for when choosing a meal. Big structures like the hotel we stayed had a massive generator which can nicely power the whole place including the air conditionning and WiFi but for some fortunate reason not the TVs. I am not sure what to make of this. Anyway this was our experience of Cauayan and in some similar places like where we stayed today, there was only 10 minutes with no power, during my shower naturally.
Do not worry as hot water does not exists in Palanan, the place where our study takes place, so the last two months of fieldwork makes me feel ok about fresh showers. In fact in our little town power is available from midday to midnight and provided by a generator situated about 10 miles to the north on the seaside. I guess this makes it much easier to refill the tank rather than having to transport the combustible all the way. So in between the different Agta camps visit, we are coming for a day or two in the town for some culinary delights, more when I have all the pictures ready, and charging all our devices.
Amongst them is powergorilla. This is a clever piece of gear in the form of a battery that can hold 10 phone charges or 2 laptops ones in a small 700g brick. We also use his brother called solargorilla which is nothing more than a solar panel which in theory give lots of watts and in practice is ok to charge the smartphone and occasional gameboy when the sun is out but not much more. For example, the panel is supposed to replenish the powergorilla but so far our attempts did not prove sucessfull, maybe the summer sun will help. Update: it takes around two days to fully charge the powergorilla on a bright sunny beach...not so bad.
The last piece of kit I have in stock is a gravitylight. I was very proud of it when I bought it via a crowdfunding project, even more when I received it after one year and an half of waiting and only 5 days before flying. So the concept here is to use the gravity, in the form of a bag filled with 12kgs of rocks/bricks/small amounts of dark matter to create some vertical force and move a dynamo. In fact the system is very similar to a grandfather clock with the weights giving the energy for the system. There the rocks moving from 3m to the ground create about 0.1Watt for 20 minutes which with the modern, LED lamp efficiency gives the same sort of light that the one from your smartphone torchlight function. I was really excited to receive it and meet the makers in London and have tried it in UK. Here it is a bit more tricky as we usually have lot of weight already when packing so I haven't tried it yet. Same for my intention to give it, notdone so far as I have only one lamp and am looking for the place it could be the most benificial.
I know this post does not have much information on our life with the Agta so I add here what power they are using: for the lights in the house most places use empty glass bottles filled with kerosen, a sort of unrefined petrol, and a piece of rope to support the flame and avoid to burn the whole oil at once. Unfortunately this precarious solution can sometime claim lives as the glass explodes. I also witnessed for the first time yesterday a house wih a light bulb powered by a motorcycle battery.
Oh and just one last thing as we speak power. During our holidays with Family we went to visit a friedof a friend in Manila. She works for a NGO helping young in Slums getting jobs. The project in question is called 3S and a simple business: solar panels on top of a container which charge many small lamp situated inside. The lamp are then rented out for 5 pesos a charge to the families in the slums providing them with aeconomic and sustainaible way of getting light in the evening. What a great idea and it seemms to work very well as the place was crowed as we visited an hour before sunset.
Next tech corner will be about transportation.
Love to all,
Wasabi.
Photos:
1. Gravity light.
2. Inside the container for the 3s project.
3. Gorillapower and Solargorilla
love to all,
Wasabi.
Great technical update. Thanks x
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