Wednesday – August 28th, 2012

…typically refers to a gas produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen.

Organic waste such as dead plant and animal material, animal feces, and kitchen waste can be converted into a gaseous fuel called biogas. Biogas originates from biogenic material and is a type of bio fuel.

The biogas scheme. 

Biogas is produced by the anaerobic digestion or fermentation of biodegradable materials such as biomass, manure, sewage, municipal waste, green wast, plant material, and crops. Biogas comprises primarily methane (CH₄) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) and may have small amounts of hydrogen sulphide (H₂S), moisture and siloxanes.

The gases methane, hydrogen, and carbon monoxide (CO) can be combusted or oxidized with oxygen. This energy release allows biogas to be used as a fuel. Biogas can be used as a fuel in any country for any heating purpose, such as cooking. It can also be used in anaerobic digesters where it is typically used in a gas engine to convert the energy in the gas into electricity and heat. Biogas can be compressed, much like natural gas, and used to power motor vehicles. 

Example of biogas plant in a rural environment

In the UK, for example, biogas is estimated to have the potential to replace around 17% of vehicle fuel. Biogas is a renewable fuel, so it qualifies for renewable energy subsidies in some parts of the world. Biogas can also be cleaned and upgraded to natural gas standards when it becomes bio methane.

Thursday – July 26th, 2012

...Environmental consciousness is imparted in Antitorona. 

A house cannot be erected on unconsolidated land, as a road cannot be built on a marsh. It is of little use to treat malaria if there are millions of mosquitos in your own garden. Living in clean, stable and well organized environment gives humankind the possibility of projecting itself mentally into an evolving future.

Seeing structures like roads, schools and bridges arising around oneself stimulates the urge to be part of the system creating them. Man identifies himself with the places he lives in, it is his strength and the banner of his pride. Instilling the knowledge of belonging a community gives strength and stability, and thus we have set out to render the environment we live in functional and tangible.

Plans for the safeguard of the territory must be taken into account in every social development enterprise. In our village at Nosy Komba the awareness of environmental protection is more and more present. Children know that rubbish must not be thrown out in the street but taken to the incineration plants,  the zebus (local cattle) must not trample the surfaced village roads, trees must be protected and be part of the urban environment; the public spaces should be left unoccupied and available to everyone.

We are all aware that the important structural works that are being undertaken are to prevent that the village is washed away from under our feet by the rains.

Ø 1993 - Removal of stagnant water. We reclaimed, dried up and cleaned the terrain to greatly reduce the risk of illnesses like malaria, parasitosis and dysentery.

 Ø 1997 - Earth consolidation: Terracing has been important to stop erosion, which is typical during the rainy season, and to acquire a greater surface for the natural expansion of the village.

 Ø 2001 - Initial urbanization: Surfacing the road which would become the backbone of the village and the symbol of urban unity.

 Ø 2003 Reforestation: The Nosy Be administration altered the status of Komba island to a protected area for tourism use. Thus rice cultivation which has a high environmental cost has been forbidden and reforestation has been instated in its place.

23 luglio 2012

…sono il frutto dell’esperienza di Stefano applicata alla tradizione locale sull’utilizzo della foglia della Palma del Viaggiatore, il ravinala.

Il ravinala (foglia in malgascio) ha una fibra molto resistente e flessibile e quando viene montata in serie, con lo stesso principio di sovrapposizione della tegola, ha la caratteristica di essere leggera e perfettamente impermeabile.

Un'altra importante qualità di questa tecnica di costruzione è la caratteristica di rendere i tetti particolarmente resistenti ai cicloni. Il ravinala pur non permettendo nessuna infiltrazione esterna è estremamente permeabile dall’interno, ossia permette all’aria, che si incanala durante le tempeste tropicali, di uscire verso l’alto senza provocare nessun danno rilevante alla struttura.

Le modifiche apportate da Stefano riguardano in larga parte l’ossatura portante del tetto. Un resistente e leggero sistema a capriate collegate tra loro da pali traversi sui quali vengono poi fissate le foglie stesse. La struttura, essendo montata sull’ultimo degli anelli in cemento armato dell’edificio in costruzione, ha una base solida su cui ancorarsi, risultando quindi anche estremamente duraturo nel tempo. Le prime case costruite con questa tecnica risalgono a venti anni fa e sono ancora perfettamente funzionali, l’unico problema è la vulnerabilità della foglia stessa agli agenti esterni che ne obbligano la sostituzione ogni dieci anni, contro i tre o quattro della casa tradizionale malgascia. La differenza, oltre che nella solidità della struttura, è nella pendenza stessa del tetto, che evitando la formazione di ristagni riduce la velocità di deterioramento della foglia.

Friday – July 20th, 2012

A little island in the Indian Ocean

NOSY BE (also Nossi-bé) is an island located off the northwest coast of Madagascar. It has an area of 312 km2 and its population was officially estimated at 36,636 in 2001.

Nosy Be means "big island" in the Malagasy language. The island was called Assada during the early colonial era of the seventeenth century. Nosy Be has been given several nicknames over the centuries, including "Nosy Manitra" (the scented island).

The first inhabitants of Nosy Be were small bands of Antankarana and Zafinofotsy, before the arrival of the Sakalava, who represent the most numerous ethnic group on the island. These people were joined later by some Comorians, Indians or Antandroy.

Nosy Be made its first major appearance in Madagascar's history when King Radama I announced that he intended to conquer the whole west of the red island up to the sea. That plan was eventually achieved when the Sakalava Kingdom of Boina came into his possession in 1837 when Queen Tsiomeko of Boina's army was defeated.

Nosy Be is located about eight kilometers (5 miles) from the coast of Madagascar in the Mozambique Channel; several smaller islands are located nearby, including Nosy Komba, Nosy Mitsio, Nosy Sakatia, and Nosy Tanikely. The island's main town is Andoany.

The volcanic island has an area of about 312 km2 (120 sq mi), and reaches its highest peak at Mont Lokobe at 450 mt. (1476 feet); the volcano is of Holocene origin but has not erupted in recorded history. There are eleven volcanic crater lakes on the island.

A female black lemur and her offspring at the Lokobe Reserve, Nosy Be, November, 2001

The island is known for having the world's smallest frog and chameleon. The Lokobe Reserve is one of Madagascar's five Strict Nature Reserves (Réserves Naturelles Intégrales). Nosy Be is also home to a specific color of Panther chameleon (Furcifer pardalis).

Nosy Be has a tropical climate. It is most humid in summer (December, January, February). The Tsaratanana massif partially protects the island from the strong north-east winds affecting the region in August or during tropical depressions.

Monday – July 9th, 2012

Weather today… ☀

  http://www.weatherreports.com/Madagascar/Nosy_Be

Project activities!!

-Working ad the new building for the Agricultural Project.

-Building of barriers against the erosion at the garden.

Social activities…

-Italian for adults.

Yesterday…

-At the theater we saw “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” by Walt Disney.

Friday - June 18th, 2012    

child at playing 

Monday – July 2nd, 2012

Weather today… ☀☁

http://www.weatherreports.com/Madagascar/Nosy_Be

Project activities!!

-Working ad the new building for the Agricultural Project.

-

Yesterday happened…

-Yesterday we had the annual meeting of the Economy and Development Commission. The EDC is delegated to control and analyze the develop projects proposed by Stefano Project. 

Social activities…

-Tsisy, we just rest…

WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO PROVIDE ELECTRICITY to The Village at very low costs and the social and emotional impact of this realization is huge and continues to be so.

Children have much more time to do homework, mothers to be better Moms and the men can prolong the time dedicated to craft activities and social relations.

It's hard to talk about development without giving due importance to the factor "energy". The primary sources of energy used here are coal, wood and oil. We have chosen hydropower.

All this has been made possible thanks to an almost fortuitous encounter with Claude-Alain Nissile, a Swiss engineer who along with some of his friends created the Association ADEVE and a customized project for our energy needs.

One of the members of this association is Sergio, a smelter in Switzerland famous for having created the bell of the Olympic Games in Athens. With him we have built the mechanical parts of the bronze turbine "Pelton" which along with the electrical components form a machine which can be easily reproduced in Madagascar by local artisans.

This is an important aspect, that these micro-turbines be easily reproduced in Madagascar which would allow for the exploitation of river water, which is so readily available in this country, and thus giving several villages the possibility of producing electricity cheaply for themselves.

In our village the water reaches the turbine forced through 600 metres of pipe starting from the catchment area and then passes into the basin set in a circle and after a steep descent, arrives with its load of kinetic energy to drive the turbine.

The result is that all homes have access to electricity, the streets are lit, the cinema can show films and the children can recharge their electronic learning devices.

• 2000 - Electricity becomes available in Antintorona. To provide energy to the school, a solar panel system is installed.
• 2006 - Construction of the pipeline. To allow the installation of the hydroelectric turbine we first had to prepare the ground on which to run the conduit for the forced water.
• 2007 - Installation of hydroelectric turbines. The turbine uses the water of the river which is channelled through a penstock down from 600mt.
• 2008 - Installation of an electrical network. The energy produced from the hydroelectric turbine is continuously distributed throughout the village.
• 2010 - The Cinema. With the simple use of an old projector and the unused cloth from a sail , a cinema has been set up in the Atelier of Mechanics and movies come to life for everyone in the village.

Friday - June 22nd, 2012

Weather today… ☀

 http://www.weatherreports.com/Madagascar/Nosy_Be

Project activities!!

-Working ad the new building for the Agricultural Project.

This will be the long weekend of the Independence Day

>Tuesday, June 26th <

Social activities…

-Theater: Terminator

-Italian Class… yesterday we had the mid-term test.

Wednesday - June 20th, 2012

Weather today… ☁

http://www.weatherreports.com/Nosy_Be,_Madagascar?units=c

Project activities!!

-Working ad the basement of a new building for the Agricultural Project.

-We are organizing the garden with terraces in order to have new useful fields and to decrease the erosion and surface run off.

Social activities…

-Italian for adults:

Friday - June 15th, 2012

Weather today… ☀☁

  http://www.weatherreports.com/Madagascar/Nosy_Be

❖ We still have problems with the internet connection at the Village. 

We apologize we cannot update our pages every day ❖

Project activities!!

-Working ad the basement of a new building for the Agricultural Project. 

Social activities at the village…

-Theater: Transformers III 

…The story of We Work It Works begins 20 years ago when Stefano Palazzi arrived to the village of Antintonora on the island of (Nosy*) Komba in Madagascar.

During those years Antintorona was in a state of medical emergency against malaria, parasitosis, chronic bronchitis and dysentery.  Stefano offered his help to the locals, and thanks also to the support of some doctors from Reunion Island, Antintonora overcame the diseases. In the meantime drainage and reclamation were started to prevent resurgence.

The next stage was to lay the foundations for the future development of the village. Children are the future and with this in mind schools were the first things built. That was a small revolution taking into account the fact that in Madagascar 2 million children under the age of 15 have no access to any scholastic institution. The final result is extraordinary: today Antintonora has a nursery, a primary and secondary school, and a boarding school for children from other villages.

The school was a stimulus for the growth of the village, as it required the building of infrastructure:  waterworks, electricity network and roadworks. Day after day, and project after project, Antitorona set itself to work to put all this to reality.

With the help of Swiss engineers of the Adeve Association, Stefano built a 4000W hydroelectric turbine using locally available components and materials so that the indigenous craftsmen could build others. The turbine uses water flowing down the mountain to provide free energy to the whole village. In this way the children of Antintorona can make use of almost 200 laptops, which were sent to the island through the One Laptop Per Child project.

Water reach the village by a system of pipes linked to public drinking fountains. Small handicraft and commercial activities grow around those fountains. 

Thanks to a system of paved roads, the children can go to school without walking on the bare soil.

During these years Antintorona has seen many positive changes and this still carries on:  work continues every day on new projects with the conviction that better things can be done. Today the village is a lively community in which the children study and the adults build the future with their own hands. It is a daily chore in which everyone's contribution is important. Yours too.