Bonniface on NPR!

On my way to a job Monday morning in the van, I'm listening to NPR. The next story is on biofuels in developing countries, in this case, Kenya. Turns out most of the reporting was done in Kibwezi, the town center two miles north of Usalama! AND, to make this even more wild, Bonniface, a Usalama villager who was first described to me as the local 'MacGyver,' was interviewed for the story.

You can listen to brief story here.

Bonniface & family (with drip irrigation piping)

The Usalama team is happy to announce the safe and successful completion of our most recent implementation trip. With a generous donation from Global Power of Literacy, Matt Sisul and Charles Newman traveled to Usalama to construct the new library for the Usalama Primary School and surrounding community. Completed within Budget and on schedule, the new structure is ready for the delivery of books. More posts will following to exhibit our construction methods and decisions.

EWB-NY T-Shirts!

100% organic cotton, EWB-NY t-shirts! Mens & womens cuts, all size available.

Water + Education + Health + Energy

Contact your project lead for purchasing instructions.

Trespa Fundraiser!

Thanks to everyone who helped out and made this such a successful event! A special thank you goes to Gail Carrino and Zach Brewster of Trespa who were fantastic hosts! From this one night we raised over $2500, enough to send one of our engineers to the village to help fix the water system AND advise on the new library construction!

brief presentation on the organization & project

and the event begins...

photos by Annie Malii

the Usalama Project presentation boards

Usalama Fundraiser!!!

Join our team on the 10th to celebrate the beginning of the 1st phase of our expansion and development project! Food and drink will be graciously provided by TRESPA and photos of the community will be for sale by the great Annie Malii. Support us in our efforts to provide true sustainable development for the people of Kenya.

Preliminary Library Designs 2!

Above are the two building concepts Sophia & Charlie created. Focusing on their basic program diagram, three basic spaces were carved out of the local architecture vernacular. Using minimal materials, they have provided both fundamental spaces (book storage and reading area) and a peaceful outdoor reading/sitting area. Which ever design, the students will surely have a new reason to attend school!

Preliminary Library Designs 1!

Because the final site will not be known until just prior to start of construction, architects Sophia Vincent & Charles Newman have created 4 different site plans that incorporate different library locations and orientations. Each site carries it's own pros and cons, and ultimately will be determined by the school & village leaders after careful consideration.

5/5/09 Meeting Minutes

Kibwezi Kids - Preston Vineyard

This past Tuesday we held our latest team meeting at Buro Happold. Thanks Joe and Danielle for hosting again, lately you have become a second home for EWB-NY! The following is a list of topics we discussed:

- last week Charlie, Matt, & Dave held a conference call with a EWB-USA project manager to review our latest implementation submittal. we seemed to have a solid grasp on our project and were given high regards!
- today (5/7), two days after the team meeting, Dave presented our concepts for the library to the EWB-USA TAC committee and again was given high praise. next week an approval will be emailed to the team.
- on Thursday, May 14th, Mwikali's Gift will be holding a fundraiser to raise funds for the school and their mosquito bed net program. any Usalama team members interested in attending please email Dave, space is limited to three people.
- our library donors have an official name: Global Power of Literacy. they will also be holding a fundraiser on Thursday, May 28th. additional info at this time is unknown.
- the village had some big news last week: they have begun construction of a secondary school on the school property. apparently the students have performed quite well on their exams, and the district government took notice. it is fantastic news that the students are excelling, we are concerned that there is too much going on in the village, and it's capacity to handle such drastic changes has yet to be tested. for a community that lives their lives equivalent to rural farmers, these events may be beyond their abilities. the administrative infrastructure isn't in place to successfully handle more than one or two projects at once. we hope that while on site, we can better analyze the current conditions, and convincingly prioritize all.

- the remaining of the meeting was spent reviewing the library designs Sophia and Charlie have come up so far. (following posts will detail the different concepts) at this point in time, a site has not been confirmed for the library. during the GPL trip and the beginning days of the EWB-NY trip, siting and therefore the building design will be determined. Sophia and Charlie have done a great job adapting their designs to each site location. all design parameters are met while deftly meeting programmatic requirements while adding simple yet beautiful aesthetic qualities.

- lastly, our fundraiser with ASHRAE has been canceled due to some internal problems. in the future we hope to try and work with them again. Danielle will still be pushing for a project fundraiser, though not on our May 20th date.