I arrived in Chad around 11pm Sunday before. Slept in N’Djamena and then awoke in the wee hours of the morning (4am) to catch the first bus leaving the capital. It took nine hours traveling in 106F/41C heat, sweat gluing us to our seats, for us to arrive in Moundou. Later, after we recovered a bit from our travels we met with Aquilas and Ghislain, two Chadians who work for ENVODEV. We made plans and laid out our goals for the next two weeks: test the Eco-Charcoal’s efficiency, streamline production of the Eco-Charcoal, and make a high efficiency cook-stove to better utilize the Eco-Charcoal. Sounds like an easily achievable list, right? Unsurprisingly, our plans didn’t quite work out the way we had anticipated. But, then again, this is Africa. Things not going according to plan almost becomes the plan if you catch my meaning. 

            First of all, let me tell you about the charcoal project. While we thought we would be streamlining the production process and testing the Eco-Charcoal, Chance granted us a new opportunity by damaging 14 bags of bio-char with flooding. How lucky is that? Having discovered the sopping bags we immediately dried the bio-char in the sun. We are now getting to test the viability of the bio-char after it has been exposed to water. While, on our own, we wouldn’t have thought to douse the bio-char in water, Chance thought it might be an innovative idea.  Imagine, either we find out that the bio-char is unusable (which would be an unfortunate waste), or we find the bio-char is resilient after being soaked. While we didn’t plan on conducting this experiment, hopefully the latter result will prove true thereby transforming a setback into an opportunity. Yet, life wasn’t done playing with us yet. We were also given a turn to test our reflexes and ingenuity when violent storms hit Belaba during our fourth day of production, which was the first day we were there to actually visit. When we saw the clouds come, our lightning fast responses were matched only by the lightning itself as we rescued all the drying bio-char from the rains and stored our workstations. The storm was violent enough that it ripped the doors right off their hinges at our production site. Such storms have continued to test our ingenuity and perseverance as they have repeatedly crashed over our production site. 

            We have also had the opening to ferret out the best workers in Belaba. After utilizing a team who were not able to meet the production quota, we have streamlined our crew. Now we have an Eco-Charcoal production crew who, if they aren’t the fastest this side of the Atlantic, Pacific, Southern, Arctic, and Indian Oceans, are at least the best in Chad. Yet, even the most dedicated crews can’t function in a production line if they aren’t communicating with one another. One such issue with the line of communication presented itself when we came upon our bio-char crew lounging around waiting on manioc paste. The paste takes about forty –five minutes to make, and no one had told the paste maker that they needed paste until they needed paste. This left them with about forty-five minutes of wasted production time waiting while the paste was made. While these disturbances can be frustrating, the experience we are getting from all the errors we’ve observed, like the manioc paste not being ready on time, ultimately helps us as we continue to refine our methods.

            Overall, though it has been quite fun to smooth out the production process as well as play dodge with the weather systems, we have decided to begin the process of taking the next step in equipping and empowering the local community. We are currently finding a local business to partner with who can provide a production site as well as a staff to oversee the process. This business will take over the entire production process, as well as full charcoal program responsibilities, and eventually become financially independent. While production this year will be ending soon as the rainy season approaches (the rainy season lasts from May-October) operations will begin again at the end of October, beginning of November. 

            Another exciting development that occurred in Chad this week was the completion of our first high efficiency FIRES (further improved rammed earth stove). These cook-stoves cut down on household pollution (which therefore reduces local risks of pneumonia, chronic pulmonary disease, lung cancer) while also dramatically increasing the efficiency of normal Chadian cook-stoves, which lose 80% of their total energy load. While we are excited to have finished this F.I.R.E.S. we have also found a local woman who builds stoves of her own, which allow for a 50% charcoal efficiency increase. This discovery provides us with another opportunity to partner with local community members by possibly creating a partnership with this young lady who has struggled to sell the cook-stoves on her own. Potentially, our facilities could offer two forms of cook-stoves, the rammed earth version, as well as this young woman’s.

            Lastly, let me give you an update about our valiant Henry Hilux, our faithful truck, who has been wheezing as of late. With the driving we have had to do for the production season, as well as preparing a mould for our efficient cook-stove; Henry has been creaking under the strain. As a temporary solution we began using moto-taxis to get around. While good in theory, it proved dangerous in practice. Motorcycle accidents are all too frequent in Moundou, and the hazards became all too real after our Envodev team member, Ghislain, was involved in an accident. Thankfully he came out unhurt, but we (Envodev and Henry Hilux) realized that we couldn’t continue to risk people’s lives in order for Henry to get a break. Unfortunately, after that resolution, Henry’s alternator took a turn for the dead when Chuck, Aquilas, and Ghislain were in Belaba testing charcoal. This required a large group of people to push Henry for awhile before they could call him back from the grave. Henry has told us that, while he’s happy to help, his 20 some years of faithful service are weighing heavily upon him, and now he just wants to rust in peace. You can help us put Henry out to pasture today by donating at our GlobalGiving page.

            Well, that about sums up my past two weeks. Our time in Chad has been encouraging as I continue to see this Eco-Charcoal project take on its full body as well as see the first production of our F.I.R.E.S.

Till next time!

-David De Armey, International Director, ENVODEV

Partner with us today and support the successful work we are doing in Chad! You can do this in a variety of ways:

1) Sponsor our growing projects by contributing at our Global Giving page.

2) Share our project by emailing or ‘liking’ our Global Giving page, following our Twitter feed (@ENVODEV), subscribing to our blog, or ‘liking’ our Facebook page. (Also, tell all your favorite friends about us!)

3) If you are savvy enough to have a personal website, why not help a friend out and embed our project widget onto your homepage? It’s extremely easy (especially for an informed individual like yourself) and is a fantastic way to raise awareness among family, friends, and colleagues!

Belaba / Chad. ENVODEV is proud to see Eco-Charcoal see the light! After many months of preparation, trips to train villages, follow-up work, communication, we finally see the first briquettes being made! The time is just right. The rainy season is approaching, and with rain comes a higher demand for cooking fuel. Thank you to all who have been supporting this project! The charcoal program has a bright future ahead, and our team in Chad is very thankful for the care and attention all of you have demonstrated these past months to make this possible. 

This is the first official production of Eco-Charcoal since we launched the charcoal program in December 2012. The bio char being used comes from Domane and Badéi. Moundou, fuel is on the way!

Moundou - 20 January, 2013. - The Eco-Charcoal Project, well on its way, has taken our staff to Nya and to new areas outside Moundou. We could not have reached them without local insight and connections that our staff has. The local leadership taking place is a demonstration of one of ENVODEV's core values: That local managers feel ownership of the projects. 

After a preliminary demonstration in Tilo, the ENVODEV team went back to impart a full training session. Dadje Aquilas and Ghislain were helped by two members of APRO-ECO, Ramadji Zizel and Chrisine Dadje.

On January 14, a total of 17 people, all members of KOSGUELBE, learned how to transform biomass (sesame chaff and rice-straw) into char. Well organized, KOSGUELBE is now producing bags of carbonized biomass. On the 6th of February, ENVODEV will return to Tilo to evaluate how well the team is carbonizing the biomass and will pick up the first batch of char bags for briquette production back in Moundou.

Tilo is an exciting addition to the charcoal project. The villagers are motivated and grateful to be part of a project that will provide a new and much needed source of income. The district chief was present at the training, marking the importance of what this charcoal project represents to the local population. 

All photos have been sent directly from ENVODEV's office in Moundou. We know how important pictures are for everyone who is involved in this project. We keep the pictures at a relatively low resolution quality so they can be sent back to our main office in France. 

What does a photo represent?

For supporters and donors, photos are proof of progress. Pictures are some of the most powerful tools to convey a message. We hope you appreciate the ones we send you from Chad. 

For Chadians, to be in a picture is a rare and exciting opportunity. For many, being in a photo is only something they have heard of, and when the act of taking a picture is about to take place, some are afraid; fearing that perhaps the camera will cause pain in order to take the image. Once the picture is taken, and they have the opportunity to see themselves, it is a great excitement to them. They do not take a picture for granted.

On a technical level, a picture is also significant. In a city that only receives arbitrary electrical energy, it is not easy to charge the batteries of a camera. Solar energy is hardly exploited due to lack of infrastructure, and city power can only provide a total of three to four months of sporadic energy a year. Apart from the energy issue, sending a picture from Moundou to France is a technical challenge because internet access is scarce, expensive and weak. A 15-30 kbps connection is the typical speed. This means sending one picture can take several minutes, and cost modem connection several dollars. From 6 am to 8 pm, internet connection is often non-existent, meaning sending a picture has to be done at night. 

Therefore, we are thankful to share any picture that comes from Chad with you. We are also grateful to our Chadian team for the efforts they put into sending these photos and for the work they are doing.

Moundou - ENVODEV Chad is pleased to announce that the tests they have been making on sesame chaff have been positive. Sesame is grown across southern Chad, and like rice-straw, is burned after harvest.

On 09 November our team tried carbonizing sesame chaff just east of N'Djamena. Since those preliminary tests, Aquilas, Ghislain, and members of APRO-ECO have been collecting sesame chaff in Moundou to get enough char to make briquettes.

According to Aquilas, the charcoal briquette quality equals that of the rice-straw charcoal. This news comes at a great time as ENVODEV is in the process of turning this project into a larger sustainable vocational program (Charcoal as Vocation). 

Along with this encouraging discovery for our project, our ENVODEV staff in Chad has been working closely with villagers of Tilo and Belaba to test a new form of binder. The current binder used to make the briquettes is manioc, a root also known as Kassava. But manioc remains our number one cost for briquette making, and the cost is fairly high. That expense will decrease with time as ENVODEV forms partnerships with local manioc cultivators, but in the meantime, a cheaper binder would be more than welcome to find. Women of Belaba made a new binder from a plant that grows in the wild. This plant, used to make a basic sauce called Tan Koul, is much more abundant and available than manioc, and in terms of cost, represents only one fifth of what manioc costs. 

Both the discovery of sesame chaff as a new form of bio char and the wild plant as an alternative binder will inevitably help the eco-charcoal project become more accessible to everyone, and more easily sustainable. 

Development is a loaded word, one which inevitably conjures multiple meanings. We might think of child development, business development, social development, rural development, software development, or even photographic development. The term has become so nebulous that we thought we should take the time to define what ‘development’ means to us; after all it’s part of our name.

As each new partnership opportunity has presented itself over the past year, we have been compelled to return to the essence of our name - Enterprise for Vocational Development. The first two words are fairly straightforward and we read in them the same way Merriam-Webster would.

·        


-Enterprise: A project or undertaking that is especially difficult, complicated, or risky.

-Vocational: Undergoing training in a skill or trade

The last word we have had to wrestle with, particularly because we are very aware of the pitfalls of replicating the failures of traditional international ‘development’ models. The oft unstated goal of donor countries providing AID to ‘developing’ nations is to turn their citizens into consumers who will eventually buy products from them. If a country ‘develops’ the idea goes, it will have the means to purchase more cars, phones, computers, and services from more ‘developed’ countries. As we ponder both the state and effects of ‘development’ in Chad, this idea leaves us disconcerted.

The state of ‘development’ in Chad is fairly straightforward. Over 80% of its people rely on subsistence farming and livestock raising for their livelihoods. ENVODEV does NOT consider this ‘backward’ something that should be ‘developed’ into a more advanced economic base.  We are NOT interested in promoting a move away from millennial agricultural practices adapted to very specific micro-climates. The result of previous ‘development’ initiatives in the country have often had the negative effect of pushing more and more people away from their land and into cities where cramped conditions and severe energy shortages have contributed to the problems ENVODEV is now attempting to address through its programs, namely poor sanitation and deforestation.

Both our charcoal and composting projects continue to be established keeping these key ideas in mind: 

• Positive change will only come about within the cultural framework of the Chadian people.

• We only take on projects relevant within their particular social environments.

• Resources are spent through apprenticeship programs

• Trainings must be relevant to the existing economic context and address local needs.

• Trainees own their business projects and make daily operational decisions about them.

We face many challenges in our development model. Because creating briquettes out of rice straw and encouraging people to compost their human waste  does not create the types of value that many donor agencies are looking for, nor modify existing economic structures, our work often falls outside of traditional ‘development’ funding categories. While we continue to operate on a very lean budget, those of you who have invested in this work have contributed to bringing about much needed reform in the way ‘development’ is done in Chad. While much more could be written about the last word in our name, we trust that if you continue browsing through our site it will speak of our model for itself.