Appropriate Solutions - Simple and Low-cost Ways of Improving People's Lives

8/10/2019 Appropriate Solutions - Simple and Low-cost Ways of Improving People's Lives

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Appropriate Solutions

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

collected by


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Why this document?Due to our work with tribal communities in India, we wanted to get simple and (very) low-cost ways

to impact peoples lives. The cheaper materials or upcycling/recycling methods we can use the

better. And more than trying to create what is already created, we based ourselves on inspired

ideas and wonderful projects that we found on the internet. This document is just a collection of

some of the solutions that we found useful, always giving mention to the source because we just

want to spread what need to be spread, especially among the unprivileged ones. Standing on the

shoulders of giants, and passionately delivering what we have learned to another kind of giants.

Which are the methods in this document?

In this document you will find instructions on how to build stuff helpful for your life in terms ofwater and hygiene, food, home and lifestyle. For instance:

Two types of solar cookers

Heat-retaining cooker

Two types of efficient cooking stoves

Briquettes as fuel to cook

Refrigerator without electricity

Washing machine without electricity

Rain harvesting methods

Solar dryer

Simple water filter and treatment

Organic farming and drip irrigation

Composting toilet that produces trees

Hand-washing device

Earth bricks for building homes

Pinhole camera for awareness projects

Who is Sapana?We are a young non-profit organization that aims to solve what delays peoples lives, focusing on

social and economic empowerment of people and communities; with projects in Portugal and India.

Our motto is Empowering livefrom passion to action!and you can get to know us at:

http://SAPANA.org/en/

What is the context of Appropriate Solutions within Sapana?This research was conducted during the initial phase of Sapana India, the branch of Sapana focused

on developing projects with tribal communities in India. Our aim is to empower underprivileged

tribes to be tribal-micro-entrepreneurs using innovative and eco-friendly livelihoods (which can

provide them a stable source of income while increasing their quality of life, like the ones presented

in this document), towards their dignity and self-sustainability instead of dependency and apathy to

change. You can see more information at: http:/SAPANA.org/en/india/


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Build a solar cooker

Why (this is helpful)

You can cook using this cooker when its sunny and youll save wood and time, because you dont

need to be around to take care of the fire, so you can do other activities while cooking. Also it

provokes less smoke so will not damage your health (red eyes, breathing diseases, etc).

What (you will need)

A piece of flat cardboard, about 60 cm wide by 120 cm long (you can also measure with your

arms, for example, pick a cardboard that has the same length as your two arms wide open,

it can be bigger (it will be better because you will have more surface to reflect the sun), the

only thing you need to check is that the width need to be half the size of the length) Aluminum foil, shiny silver gift paper or chips packages turned inside out

Glue (mixed with water 50-50) or you can do rice paste by mixing one part of rice flour and

six parts of water and heat it while mixing to a smooth consistency

An old cloth or paper towel to spread the glue on the cardboard

Three pairs of small nuts and bolts, or string/rope/wire to hold the funnel together

One black cooking pot (the black color can retain better the heat)

Some black paint (in the case you dont have a black pot and want to paint one of your own)

A simple block of wood (you can measure with fingers, cut the block with five fingers width

and height, and two or three fingers thick)

A transparent plastic bag (take special care choosing one that will not melt with heat,because you will need the plastic bag to serve as a green-house to your cooking pot, if

necessary test with different kinds of bag until understand which will fit better)

A cardboard box and some rocks, to help the cooker standing

How (you can do it)

1) On one the longest sides of your cardboard, cut a half-circle in the middle of the cardboard as

shown in the figure below. Use a cylinder (like a metal can or a plastic bucket) to help you cut a

perfect half-circle (anything with a round shape and double the size of the cooking pot we will

gone to use in the solar cooker, for example, for a pot with a diameter of one hand palm, cut ahalf-circle with a diameter of two hand palms).

One palm

pot

cardboard

Two palms half-circle cut


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With the funnel formed, this becomes a full-circle and should be wide enough to go around your

cooking pot.

2) Form the funnel, bringing side A towards side B, as shown in the figures below.

Do this slowly, helping the cardboard to the shape of a funnel by using one hand to form creases

that radiate out from the half-circle. Work your way around the funnel, bending it in stages to form

the funnel shape, until the two sides overlap and the half-circle forms a complete circle. After this,

open the funnel again and lay it flat, with its inside part facing up, in preparation for the next step.

3) Glue the aluminum foil to the cardboard by applying glue over the surface (the inner surface of

the funnel), then quickly apply the aluminum foil on top of the glue, to affix the foil to the

cardboard.

Make sure the shiniest side of the foil is on top, since this becomes your reflective surface in the

funnel. Two or three layers of foil will be perfect, just try to smooth out the foil as much as you

reasonably can (but small wrinkles won't make much difference).

4) Join side A to side B (shown on the pictures above) to keep the funnel together. The easiest way

to do this is to pierce three holes in the cardboard that line up on side A and side B (see figure).

Then use the nuts and bolts to secure the two sides (A & B) together, put a string, small rope, or

wire in one hole and out the other, and tie together.


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When A and B are connected together (and the reflective funnel is ready), glue a piece of

aluminum foil across the hole at the bottom of the funnel, with its shiny side in.

For stability, place the funnel inside a cardboard or other kind of box to provide support, and place

some stones around to prevent falling due to heavy wind.

Final steps:You should use a black pot in order to better retain the heat (due to the black color), or you can

also use a normal metal pot and paint it black or burn it using fire (the goal is to have a pot with

non-reflective surfaces). At this stage, you are ready to put food items or water into the cooking

pot, and put the lid on securely. Place the wooden block in the inside bottom of the cooking bag

then place the cooking pot containing the food or water on top of the wooden block, inside the

bag. Next, gather the top of the bag in your fingers and blow air into the bag, to inflate it. This will

form a small "greenhouse" around the cooking pot, to trap much of the heat inside. Close off the

bag with a tight twist tie or wire. Important: the bag should not touch the sides or lid of the cooking

pot. Place the entire bag and its contents inside the funnel near the bottom as shown in the picture

above, and place the solar cooker so that it faces the sun and captures as much sunlight as possible.

The design of the funnel allows it to collect solar energy for about one hour without needing to be

re-positioned. For longer cooking times, readjust the position of the funnel to follow the sun's path.


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Tips and warnings:

Sunlight can hurt your eyes, its better to wear sunglasses when using the solar cooker

Vegetables and eggs dont need water tocook on the solar cooker

Its always better to re-heat meat on a normal cooking stove and not in the solar cooker

Each time you finish cooking turn the plastic bag inside out to allow it to dry

If the plastic bag melts itself when touches the cooking pot, you can do a simple wireframe

around the pot to prevent the bag to touch it

You dont need to be around while the food is cooking; even if you leave the food too much

time in the cooker itll not burn (you can do other productive activities while cooking!)

Cooking times: vegetables = 1.5 hours, cereals and grains = 1.5-2 hours, beans = 2-3 hours,

eggs = 1-1.5 hours, chicken = 1.5 hours cut up or 2.5 hours whole, fish: 1-1.5 hours, breads

and cakes = 1-1.5 hours, roasted nuts = 1.5 hours

One of the most important advantages of the solar cooker is to avoid breathing any smoke

that is bad for health, and also you will save a lot of money in kerosene, wood or other

materials you normally use to cook on fire

Keep the inner surface of the solar cooker clean and shiny by wiping occasionally with a wet

towel (this will keep the solar cooker working at its best)

If your funnel gets out-of-round, it can be put back into a circular shape by attaching a rope

or string between opposite sides which need to be close together

Keep the cooker out of the rain and humidity to prevent the cardboard becoming wet (you

can also plaster the cardboard with wax to become waterproof)

Always adjust the funnel for capturing as much sunlight onto the cooking pot as possible.

Look at the pot to see where the light is hitting, and be sure the bottom is not in the shadow

Instead of having a pot inside a plastic bag, you can place it in a glass bowl, and cover with a

lid (like shown in the figure below). Try for a tight fit around the bottom to keep hot air

trapped inside. The metal pot or bowl should be supported around the rim only, with air

space all around the bottom (where the sunlight strikes it). Put a blackened lid on top of the

pot. Then place this pot-in-bowl down in the bottom of the funnel with no plastic bag (you

can check your food like in a normal stove!)

Source:http://solarcooking.org/plans/funnel.htm


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Other model of solar cooker you can make is the CoolKit. For that you need almost all the materials

of the funnel cooker presented above (like aluminum foil, glue, cardboard, etc.) but, this time, the

cardboard should have some exacts measures, more precisely 0.9x1.2 meters. This is because you

need to cut it like in the following schematic (itsbetter to first use a pencil to draw all the lines on

the cardboard and only after cut it properly).

Then you should fold it (following the angles presented above) and glue the aluminum foil in the

same manner as in the funnel cooker. Then you can use it in the same manner, with a black pot and

a plastic bag. Using this model, you can adjust different angles of the flaps to better following the

sun (like shown in the picture below), and another advantage is that you can fold it again to

become flat for better storage when you are not using it.

Source:http://www.solarcooking.org/plans/Plans.pdf


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Build an efficient cooking stove


Because it will burn less wood than the typical three-stone fire so you will not need to buy or collect

wood so often (and you can also use it with the biomass briquettes presented on this document). In

addition, it doesnt produce so much smoke so will not give you health problems (red eyes,

breathing diseases, etc).


Clay (will be the main material of the stove) or adequate soil to produce clay

Sawdust

Two pipes (with 10cm diameter and 40cm long)

How (you can do it)

1) Firstly you need to prepare the pipes to be used in the stove making. They will not be part of

the final stove but rather be used as a mold for the clay. So, the only thing you need to do is to

cut one side of one of the pipes in 45 degrees like shown in the following picture:

2) Now for the mixture that will be the main material of the stove, mix two parts of clay, six parts

of sawdust and one part of water (you can use less sawdust for more durability, but then the

stove will have less efficient heat transfer).

3) Now apply the mixture around the plastic pipes with a two to three centimeters thick layer all

around the pipes. Thicker walls will make the stove more durable, but will take longer for the

mass to heat up, which can cause smoke before the stove heats up. Make sure the clay is

applied with no bigger air gaps because the stove may crack while firing. Also make sure you

level the extremities of the stove, for the cooking pot stands on top of it without falling.

10cm

45 cut40cm


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4) Now you can pull the pipes out of the stove (while its still wet) and put it on the shade for

drying (dont put directly on the sunlight otherwise clay will probably crack). After some days

you can put it on sunlight and after one or two weeks the stove is ready to be fired (you can

notice when the stovesbody is fully dry when it is not cold on a touch).

5) To fire the stove you need to use a kiln (in case you can have access to one) or else make a

rudimentary version of a kiln: dig a pit on the ground big enough to hold your stove (you can

also do a big one to fire many stoves at the same time). Fill the bottom of the pit with a layer of

ten or fifteen centimeters of sawdust, put in your stove and build up layers of sawdust,

scrunched newspapers, dry wood or even dried cow dung around it like shown in the below

picture (you need to add enough material to allow the fire to burn for one or two hours). After

the fire is extinguished just leave the stove cool down slowly (it will be very hot, only dig to take

it out after some hours). When the stove is already cooled down just clean it with a brush or

scrape with some metal tool (like a spoon) and you have your stove ready to use like shown in

the below picture!

Source:http://briquettestoves.com/

http://www.homeschooling-ideas.com/pit-fire-clay.html

http://www.mauipotter.com/article_pit_firing.html

Other simple way of making an efficient cooking stove, this time using metal cans instead of clay is:


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Sources:http://pt.scribd.com/doc/55852309/Booklet-01-Make-Yourself-Ready

Illustrations by Joo Rocha.


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Build a heat-retaining cooker (or fireless cooker)


A heat-retaining cooker is a fireless cooker that, due to being filled with insulating material, you can

put the food youre cookinginside and the heat will not escape. You can use it by, a fter your food

starts to boil on a normal cooking stove or solar cooker, you change the cooking pot to this cooker.

It will finish cooking without burning your food, so you can do other things meanwhile (unlike fire,

its completely safe to leave it unattended). Also it can make you save up to 80% of the wood

because will you dont need to cook your food for so much time in the normal cooker or fire. In

addition it can maintain your food hot for hours, so its helpful if you want to cook your dinner on a

solar cooker during the afternoon and maintain it hot for night time.


basket or box (made of strong cardboard, wood or even made out of bamboo) with enough

size to store your biggest pot while having five fingers of space around it (to fill with

insulating material) and one palm of space between the pot and the top of the basket/box

lid for the basket/box (made of strong cardboard, wood, bamboo, etc.)

insulating material (use whatever you have available for free, can be scrunched newspapers,

dried grass, tailors waste, wood shavings, feathers, wool, dry banana leaves, etc)

cloths

scissors, sewing needles and strong thread

a flat stone more or less the same size as the bottom of your biggest pot

How (you can do it)

1) Fill the basket a third full with the insulating material.

2) Place the cooking pot in the centre of a piece of cloth. Join the corners of the cloth above the

centre to make a bag.

3) Place this bag inside the basket, on top of the insulating material. Firmly pack more insulating

material around the bag and up to the top of the basket.

4) Open out the bag and tuck the edges of the cloth down between the insulating material and the

inside of the basket. Stitch the cloth to the top rim of the basket.

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5) Make a cushion which is slightly larger than the lid of the cooking pot, filled with the same

insulating material.

6) Insulate the lid. Turn the lid upside down and fill it with insulating material, then cover with a

piece of cloth. Tuck the edges of the cloth between the insulating material and the inside of the

lid. Stitch the cloth all the way around, along the inside corner of the basket lid.

7) Add a shiny lining like aluminum foil or shiny gift paper to the pots nest to reflect the radiantheat back into the pot (this will also help keep the insulation dry).

Thats it, your heat-retaining cooker is ready to use! You can cook by following this:

a) Heat your food with some water and let it simmer for the recommended time (see below)

b) At the same time, put the flat stone in or at the edge of the fire to heat up

c) When simmering time is over, put the heated flat stone at the bottom of basket/box

d) Put the pot on top of hot flat stone, quickly cover with the pillow and the insulated lid to stop

the heat escaping, and leave to cook for the recommended time.

In terms of recommended times, you need to test for yourself to understand in which kind of times

your heat-retaining cooker is able to cook, but you can start by following these illustrative times:

a) Riceboil for 8 minutes in a normal cooker and then leave it 25 minutes inside the basket/box

b) Chickenboil for 20 minutes and leave it 35 minutes on the basket

c) Vegetable curryboil for 10 minutes and leave it 30 minutes on the basket

d) Beansboil for 30 minutes and leave it 3 hours on the basket

4 5 6


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Some tips:

Keep the steam in the pot to preserve the heat, do not lift the lid to check right before to

put the pot on the basket/box

It is important to keep the insulating material dry (if it gets damp, it needs to be replaced)

When you use a pot that is a lot smaller than the basket/box, wrap up with cloth or a

blanket to fill the empty space around the pot

Remember that food does take longer to cook comparing with fire, so preparations need to

be made earlier(this is perfect for preparing the next meal right after you eat the previous

one, and leave it there on the heat-retaining cooker while you do other activities without

worrying because of unattended fire or food getting burned)

For health reasons, meat dishes should always be reboiled before serving

Sources:www.paceproject.net/Userfiles/File/Energy/make%20a%20fireless%20cooker.pdf

http://reap-eastafrica.org/blogs.info/reap/pdf/MakeFirelessCooker.pdf

http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Heat-retention_cooking


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Make waste-material briquettes for cooking


You can use waste materials with no cost to make briquettes to burn for cooking, saving a lot of

wood and also being a product that you can sell on the market.


Waste materials to use as biomass to burn, they can be agricultural residues (coconut

husks/fibers, cob, stalks, leaves, stems, straw, sticks, shrubs, hay, sugar cane waste,

groundnut shells), waste from bio-product industries like sawmills, plywood or furniture

factories, or other locally available products that will burn fast, like shredded newspaper

A material that will work as binder of the materials above, like fish waste, algae, animalmanure, corn or wheat starch, resin, sludge, tar, pitch or asphalt

How (you can do it)

1) Collect some of the waste materials proposed above to use as biomass (from the woods, trash,

etc). Try to see what you have available for free that you can use.

2) Grind/chop the materials in to a big container. If some materials are not completely dry (for

instance shrubs) dry them out on the sunlight (protecting from rain/moisture).

3) Mix everything with some of the materials proposed above that will work as binder. You can

test different amounts of binder and also water, to see what will bind better and afterwards

test to understand what will become better to burn.

4) Press this mixture using some mold/press, to a shape and size that will be easy to store and

burn in your typical cooking device handle (can be balls, cubes, disks, etc). A possibility is to

make a press like the one in the figure on the right or, if you dont have this possibility or access

to other kind of press, you can try to find a strong but small box (made for instance of wood or

metal), put the mixture there and press with a brick or a stone with a flat surface (its important

that the briquettes end very consistent and packed together, like in the pictures of step 5).


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5) Let the briquettes fully dry on sunlight to increase the heating capacity (dont forget to p rotect

them from rain/moisture).

Sources:http://www.watchman2012.com/articles/spout18.shtml http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=36054

http://ngureco.hubpages.com/hub/Homemade-Briquetting-Presses-Simple-Briquette-Press-and-Briquetting-Machines

http://www.joe.ie/uploads/story/28138/eco2.jpg

http://pol-lux.pl/userfiles/image/brykiet/brykiet1.jpg

http://home.fuse.net/engineering/ewb_project.htm


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Build a solar dryer for food processing


Dried fruits and vegetables have more longevity and you can use this to make products to sell on

the market and raise your income. Also dried fruits can be an excellent source of nutrients, so its a

way of improving your health regardless the hot weather and other conditions that can spoil fresh

fruits/vegetables. Also dried products can be used in vegetable and curry preparations without any

changes in taste, allowing for instance the consumption (or selling with higher prices) of products in

their off-season.


Bamboo Wire mesh

Black plastic sheet

Strong string/rope or malleable wire

Nails

Stones

How (you can do it)

1) The easier way of doing a solar dryer is to build a structure that will convert sun light into heat

and will retain this heat to dry the food you putted inside. For doing this, you can pick fourstrong bamboo sticks with one meter and half up to two meters (but all of them with the same

size), and place them in a pyramidal manner, nailing on the top where all of them touch each

other with two nails in a perpendicular way.

2) Use smaller bamboo sticks to make three or four horizontal shells as shown in the picture

below, attaching them to the main structure with nails, strings/ropes or wires. With these

bamboo sticks putting together the other four, the whole structure should be stable.

3) Even so, to prevent falling due to strong winds, you can attach heavy stones to the structure

foots using some strings, ropes or wires.

4) Attach to the shells some squares of wire mesh to serve as shells floor.

5) Cut and/or glue the plastic sheets in order to fully cover the whole structure, taking into

account that its better to leave one of the pyramidal sides with easy access to see the

fruits/vegetables inside.

6) Then you already can use the solar dryer to put food and vegetables and let the sun process

them for you!


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Remember that, in order to conserve the processed food, is always better to package it using small

plastic bags, glass/plastic jars or even reuse water plastic bottles (if cleaned and dried). But consider

that if you have better packaging it will be easy to sell in the market and with better prices, because

your customers will have more confidence on the quality of the products you are selling (for

instance plastic bags or jars will prevent the food spoilage, so it will be more attractive to buy).

Regarding this package, is very important that you let the processed food cool down before putting

on the final packages, because otherwise the products will sweat inside the container, ruining

their quality.

Sources:http://capart.nic.in/scheme/food_procesing.html

http://vigyanashram.com


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Build a refrigerator that runs without electricity


Storage fish, vegetables and fruits avoiding the hot weather spoil them. Itll be better for your

health and if you sell your products on the market youll have better prices for them.


Two clay pots (one bigger than the other, and the bigger the better)

A cloth to cover the pots

Sand

Water

How (you can do it)

1) Before start to build the refrigerator, please check if the pots have no holes in the bottom. If

they have it, cover them to become fully isolated. This is important to prevent the sand and the

water to running out the pots.

2) Put a small amount of sand into the larger pot and place the smaller pot inside the larger one.

The tops of the two pots should be at the same level, so you can add more or less sand in the

bottom of the larger pot if needed.

3) After placing the smaller pot inside the larger one, fill the space between the pots with the sand

(this will create the isolate layer of your refrigerator).


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4) Now put water on the sand until it can absorb. This is the most important part of the cooler

effect, because it will be the evaporation of the water that will help the temperature inside the

inner pot to become lower than the outside temperature.

5) Put some vegetables (or other products that you want to cool down) inside the inner pot, put a

cloth on the top to cover and leave it like that. After some hours you will be able to perceive the

cooler temperature inside. Actually you can maintain for almost one month some vegetables

that normally are fresh only for three or four days. For that you just need to maintain the sand

wet, so it will be needed to put more water at least two times a day.

Source:http://www.appropedia.org/Zeer_pot_refrigeration_(design)


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Build a washing machine that runs without electricity


This will save you a lot of time that nowadays you spend doing the laundry, so youll have more

time to other activities, for instance taking care of your children or doing things to earn money.


Plastic bucket and its lid (for example an old 20-liters bucket commonly used for paints)

Bicycle tire

Nylon rope or other kind of plastic-fibers rope

Neoprene fabric (or alternatively, a large and tick cloth that fit around the bucket)

A needle to sew the fabric or cloth

Six nuts and six bolts (and a proper tool to screw them)

A sharp object to punch holes on the plastic bucket (even a knife will work)

Eight PVC pipes (approximately with a diameter of two fingers and a length of one hand palm)

or other kind of resistant pipes (you can try it with bamboo)

Four metal connectors that fit in the pipes (two in T-shape and other two in L-shape)

Two plastic rollers, one with an outer diameter of five fingers and other one with a two fingers.

Its very important to choose rollers that can be docked in the pipes (therefore having the same

inner diameter the pipes you chose) and with the shapes of the rollers marked below:

How (you can do it)

1) With a sharp object punch some holes around the

bucket like marked with circles in the figure.


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2) Cut a piece of the bicycle tire with the same height as the bucket. Now you need to secure it

inside the bucket as in the figure below. For that, you will need to punch another two holes in

the bucket but they must have the same size as your bolts. Also be sure that you are doing the

holes aligned in a vertical position along the bucket. After you punched the holes, place one

piece of tire as in the figure below and screw it to the bucket. After that, you just need to repeat

this task on the opposite side of the bucket.

3) Now you need to secure the plastic rollers. The bigger one will be used to roll the rope, and is to

be screwed on the bottom side of the bucket, like in the figure bellow (the left one). For that

you need again to punch some holes of the same size in the bucket and also in the roller. After

screwed the bigger roller, you need to secure the smaller one in the center of the bucket lid. Forthat you need to make a hole in the lid with about two fingers where you can place the small

roller in a way that will not be displaced. It will be useful to use some strong glue to be sure that

the roller will not fall. In the end, you should have made the same of the scheme drawn below

(the right one). Please make sure that all the pieces are firmly fixed.

the bucket viewed from the top

pieces of tire

nuts and bolts

to secure the

tire

big roller

small roller

pieces of tirebuckets lid

holes in

thebucket

bolts and nuts


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fabric). Just make sure that the neoprene/cloth becomes a cylinder, very tight when putted on

the bucket. Also be aware that this machine is powered by foot, so when you are using it, you

will need to roll up the rope around the bigger plastic roller and leave the two ends hanging.

Now make a knot in each piece of rope to become a foot strap, as in the figure below. So, to do

the laundry, you will simply pedal like if you are riding a bicycle, and the bucket will spin and

wash the clothes inside.

6) Now your washing machine is fully built! So, for using this device, you just need to assemble thepipe system and stuck it into the ground (you can use a hammer or a rock to help you while

sticking into the ground), and after put your clothes inside the bucket.

7) Now open the small lid (the one made on the fifth step) to add some water and detergent (you

can use a plastic bottle cut in half to work as a funnel).

rope rolled up around the

bigger plastic roller

foot straps

to pedal

hole used to add

water and detergentposture while using

the machine

neoprene or cloth sewed

to become a tight cylinder

around the bucket

foot straps

to pedal


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8) Roll up the rope around the plastic roller and secure the foot straps. Now pedal like you were

riding a bicycle! This will spin the bucket and wash your clothes as an electric-powered washing

machine. While the bucket is spinning, you can use the outsider neoprene/cloth to rub other

clothes that have stains. You can do this by turns: half of the clothes are inside the bucket being

washed while the other half are outside for you to spot the hardest stains and rub them on theoutside surface. After that, you can switch and put the clothes that you rubbed inside the

bucket to be washed while you rub the other half already washed.

9) After some minutes pedaling and washing the clothes, its now time to get them out. Start by

removing the outside neoprene/cloth (and then the water will leak through the holes on the

bucket that were covered by the fabric). But still it will be a lot of water inside the bucket so you

need to roll again the rope on the plastic roller (but this time with only one end hanging, the

other one stays firmly fixed on the roller). After roll the whole rope, just pull hard to the bucket

spin as much fast as you can (this will help the clothes to dry out).

Now you can take the clothes out and hang for drying. Also when you are not using you can

disassemble the pipe system and put them inside the bucket to save some space.

The main advantages of this system are reducing the time and effort while doing the laundry,

increasing health in general due to not being needed to carry heavy loads of clothes to the river or

other place with a source of water, also avoiding bad postures like bending and tiring activities like

scrubbing. Note that the overall quality and durability of your clothes will also increase, due to not

be needed to scrub and to wring anymore, tasks that normally ruin the fabric after some time.

Source:

http://eliotcoven.wix.com/dev-world-laundry#!home/mainPage

at the

same

time

at the

same

time


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Some cheap methods of rain harvesting


To prevent scarcity during the summer its recommendable to collect as many water as possible

during the rainy season, using the local resources and cheap techniques.


To collect some information, like rainfall data (the average rainfall will give you information

about the amount of water you can collect, the rainfall intensity will give you an idea of the size

needed for the water structures, etc.), information about the soil and water courses of your

land (is the soil impermeable?), water demand (how many families will use the collected water

and how many liters they need?), quality needed (is it for drinking purposes or to feed cattle?,to do the laundry or to irrigate your farm?, or just to recharge water on the ground and

maintain the soil moisture?), legislation and incentives (ask for help in your municipality, maybe

there are government schemes to provide money for this kind of community constructions)

To study the site for knowing, for instance, if there is some slope on your land, what are the

possible catchment areas to collect the rain, where they are located and how much big they are,

which is the space available for the water facilities, if there are some old structures that you can

reuse (pipes, tanks, bore wells, etc.)

To make some decisions, for instance you need to choose how many structures youll need,

their type and size, and which kind of filtration methods you should apply

Some materials but thats discusses below because depend on the method chose!

How (you can do it)

This is a big project so it needs some planning and also the engaging of the whole community, if

possible. You can also ask for help from others (e.g. your municipality, making partnerships with

non-governmental/non-profit organizations for advising or companies for asking leftover materials

theyll help you in the construction, etc).

So, before starting the implementation itself, you need to decide how the water structures will be

depending on the information you collected (explained above in the what section). If the place you

live has not intensive rainfall, uniformly distributed and with a high amount of rainy days, its betterto store the water; but if you live in an area where there is unimodal monsoon, with the rainfall

concentrated only in a few months, its recommended that you store the water but also recharge

the groundwater to survive better in the summer months.


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Regarding the conditions of the land you have available, you should consider:

So depending on the local conditions you can choose one or more of the following harvesting

structures:

Bore well (deep well to recharge deep aquifers)

Soak pit (a well, for instance one meter wide and two/three deep, with three filtration

layers on the bottom made by boulders (the lowest one), gravel and coarse sand (the upper

one), where the water will be filtrated and infiltrate to recharge shallow aquifers)

Trench (same as soak pit but in form of canals, for instance 0.5m wide, 1m deep and 20m

long, and also with boulders, gravel and coarse sand in the bottom)

Kund (area to catch rainfall with a slight slope to direct the water to a soak pit)

Sandy soils easily

infiltrate the water

They are good for storage

water and recharge the

groundwater

Silty soils have moderate

infiltration rates



groundwater

Clayey soils are more

impermeable

They are better to

storage water

(for instance with ponds)

Flat or alluvial terrain



groundwater

Fractured or faulted rocks



groundwater

Hill and hard rock terrain

They are better to

storage water


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Sub-surface dams (create underground dams on slopes by building sub-surface dykes

perpendicular to the slopes direction, made of an impermeable material (for instance by

digging trenches and filling them with clay) to catch the water that run underground along

the hill, but only if there are a shallow impermeable layer on the land as rocks)

Gabion (small streams harvesting, by building a wall of wire mesh and boulders, to create

small dams but allowing some water to pass thru the wall and continue the stream)

Lakes/Ponds (dug on flat lands)

Percolation tank (artificial lake made with a wall after a small slope, in order to recharge

shallow aquifers)

Chal (various ponds along a hill, increasing size while reaching its base, where the water is

stored in a big pond or percolation tank)

Bund (same purpose of a chal but made with small dykes along the slope to maintain the

water and preserve the soil moisture)

Roof water harvesting for houses or other buildings (and directing the water through pipes

for a well, soak pit, water tank, etc.)

Some examples of rain harvesting techniques:

Soak pitSub-surface dam

Percolation tank

Trench

Chal

Trench or soak detail


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To decide the size of the structures size (for instance a tank), you should taking into account the

water demands of the families that will use the collected water. To help you making the

calculations, the average water wasted in typical activities is (in liters):

One person taking a bath with a bucket (1-2 buckets): 15-30 Brushing teeth: 1

Hand-washing dishes/utensils: 30

Hand-washing clothes: 30-45

Drinking and cooking: 6-10

Then you need to multiply the demanded water per day with the amount of time that you will have

water scarcity. And, therefore, the total demanded water should be equal to the rainfall catchment

area, multiplied by the rainfall and by a coefficient to take into account the average of water

evaporation and other wastes:

Total water (in liters) = area (in square meters) x rainfall (in meters) x 0.8

This works if you are planning to do roof harvesting in your house or, for instance, a kund. The

collected water can be direct it to the groundwater aquifers, natural storage structures like

lakes/ponds or water tanks. If you will build some of these storage facilities like a tank, you then

need to do it with the volume equal to the total demanded water.

In terms of types of materials for water structures, you have plenty of options:

pavement area (cement) or unpavement (soil, grass) for the catchment area on the ground

concrete, galvanize iron or corrugated sheets for the catchment are on the roof galvanized iron, pvc, bamboo or betel trunks for the half-pipe gutters

reinforced cement concrete (RCC), ferrocement, masonry, plastic (polyethylene) or metal

(galvanized iron) sheets for the storage tank

Regarding to the tank itself the cheapest and easiest option is a ferrocement tank, that can be done

by only two or three people without requiring high skills and with less materials (and cost) than the

other options. In this type of construction, thin layers of cement are spread by the two sides of a

wire mesh in a cylindrical form (and with the floor and ceiling also covered with ferrocement

plates), with a tap on the lower part to take water out and a hole on the top for allowing the escape

of excessive water.


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Also depending on the time of utilization that you will give to this water, you should think about

filtering the water. If you will go to use it for irrigation of your crops you dont to filter at all. If you

will use it to wash clothes or utensils, a simple filtration with a clean cloth it will be probably

enough. But if its for drinking purposes you need to apply better water treatment techniques. Takeinto account the type of catchment area (if its available for contamination of oil, pesticides or other

chemicals you will need to apply heavy treatment to this water and probably you cannot use it to

drink). But if youre doing roof harvesting or harvesting in natural lands, its most probable that you

can follow the following rule:

Drinking

Cooking (if boiling)

Cattle feeding

WashingFarming

You can use the water!

You can make a cloth filter by placing a fine cloth (even and old piece of clothing, like a saari or a

dhoti) on a bucket and pour the dirty water through it. You can also do this, for instance if you have

a pipe to carry the water from catchment area to the storage structure, by fixing the cloth to a part

of the pipe itself. But dont forget to clean the cloth sometimes, as it will become dirt after a while.

Regarding the solar treatment and the charcoal/sand/gravel filter, they are explained in other

section of this document.

Some last notes about water harvesting:

In structures like soak pits/trenches and in water filters, when you are using sand to filter

the water, remember to clean the upper layer of the sand because will become with all the

dirt filtered;

When digging and moving soil, for instance for doing chals or dykes, always keep separated

from the rest of the soil, the one palm of soil that its on top. This is the soil rich in nutrients

and organic matter, essential to be on the surface of the land for growing plants. You can

use this special soil to put on the surface of dykes and grow some crops there;

Its better if you plaster the small ponds and lakes with clay, in order to become more

impermeable and retain the water;

Always perform a first flush on the first rains, allowing the water to pass through all the

water structures without storing it, in order to clean all the dirt accumulated;

Always build the water structures with good accessibility, in order to be easy to perform

maintenance and cleaning;

Cloth filter Charcoal/sand/gravel filter Solar treatment


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When mounting pipes to connect the catchment area and the storage one, don t forget to

take into account the intensity of the rainfall in its peak, dont use pipes of fragile materials

and with narrow diameters, because the amount of water will no flow freely and can

damaged the pipes system;

Its always crucial to teach the whole community how to use and maintain the structures,

and also to take care of the collected water in a hygienic manner.

Regarding this hygiene topic, there are some golden rules for safe water:

No defecation or urination near or in a source of drinking or bathing water (for example the

ponds, catchment areas, etc);

Animals have to be kept away from water collection areas; Drinking water need to be kept in a clean container, and when you take water make sure

you do with a clean recipient and that your hands do not touch the water inside (the best

method is using a tap to not touch the water inside);

The clean water recipients have to be covered against flies and dust, and also be washed

and have its water replaced from time to time;

Always hand-wash with water and soap (for example with a Tippytap, explained in other

section of this document) or rub your hands with ash before preparing food, eating or

feeding children, and after defecating or handling waste.

Always remember, drinking safe water and washing hands are the most effective and inexpensiveways of prevent diarrheal and acute respiratory infections, which are the biggest responsible for

child death in the developing world.

Sources:http://rainwaterconcepts.co.in/index_htm_files/Design_Methodology_Structures.pdf

http://nopr.niscair.res.in/bitstream/123456789/1716/1/IJTK%207(3)%20485-493.pdf

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/hygiene/settings/wsh9204.pdf

http://pt.scribd.com/doc/55852309/Booklet-01-Make-Yourself-Ready

http://www.ieham.org/html/docs/Caixa_%C1gua_Ferrocimento.pdf

http://www.indiawaterportal.org/node/7354

http://samvardhan.co.in/rwh_technique.phphttp://cseindia.org/node/1162

http://cseindia.org/node/1147


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Build a low-cost water filter


It will help you to have better water for your family, cleaning the dirt and most of the bacteria, and

itll be even better if you use it together with solar the treatment explaining in this document.


Filtering materials like charcoal, sand, gravel and stones

A clean container for the water, for instance a drum, bucket or a clay pot

A small tap

How (you can do it)

You can make the filter in a drum, bucket or even a clay pot (but make sure itll not leak water, or

else you should plaster it). Just place the charcoal, gravel in sand like in the picture below, and

attach a small tap on the bottom of the pot you used (using a strong glue or some isolating material

to make sure itll not leak water). If you dont have access to charcoal, other option is to use just

sand, rocks and gravel with different sizes, as your filtering materials.

You can also make this in an outdoor manner, with a simple bamboo tripod with layers of clothes

for the gravel, charcoal and sand, and pouring the dirty water from the upper layer to have clean

water in a pot below on the floor (like in the first picture below). Or even using a simple plastic bag

hanged on a tree. Also you can do it a portable manner by using a big plastic bottle, as shown in thesecond picture below.

10cm of gravel (+/- five fingers)

10cm of charcoal (+/- five fingers)

25cm of sand (+/- one palm)

25cm of gravel (+/- one palm)

safe water!


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If you have a little bit more money, you can do this in a more professional way like in picture

below, and even manufacturing this water filters to sell as a income-generator activity!

When after some weeks the water starts to flow slowly, it means that the filter needs to be

cleaned. You can do it by scraping off the part of the materials that will be dirt, probably the top

layer of sand. After some cleanings maybe you will need to add more materials, just drain the filter

in order to be easy to fill again with the layers of materials like shown in the first picture of the

water filter. Make sure you always have the water container closed with a lid, for preventing dirtand flies to spoil the water. And if you fill other containers with clean water, make sure that when

youre taking water from themyour hands do not touch the water inside, because you will spread

bacteria again to the water.

For drinking purposes is better to also apply solar water treatment to kill all the bacteria, a

technique explained in other part of this document.

Sources:

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/hygiene/settings/wsh9204.pdfhttp://www.emergencyhomepreparation.org/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=251

http://www.thetruthsource.org/diy/make-your-own-water-filter

http://practicalaction.org/support-us/appeal_community_info

http://www.whentechfails.com/print/27

http://cseindia.org/node/1147#filter


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Solar drinking water treatment with plastic bottles


Because its a free way to have safewater to drink as if you have expensive water treatment

systems and it only takes sun and a little patience.


Water

Plastic bottles (water or soda bottles, from one up to two liters and with a PET sign)

Newspaper

How (you can do it)

1) Choose some plastic bottles that have a sign similar to this (probably in the bottom):

This is the best material to use in this method.

2) Wash the plastic bottles and fill them with clean water (if you are using water with dirt, you can

use a clean cloth as a filter).

3) You can check if the water is sufficient clean by placing the bottle over a newspaper headline.

Now look to the bottom of the bottle from its neck, if the letters of the headline are readable

you can use the water, or else you will need to filter a little more.


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Simple organic farming and irrigation techniques


Doing organic farming will help you to have better prices in the market (people pay more if the

products are organic) and its possible to save money by using fertilizers and pesticides made of

organic matter. Youre also protecting the environment and your future yield by not damaging the

soil with chemicals. Also a good irrigation system will help you to save water and money, by

increasing the yield of your crops.


Plastic bottles or unglazed clay pots

Some waste materials (like coconut husks, straw or newspapers) depending on what youhave available (more details below)

Hoses

Nail and needle or pin to make holes

Small pieces of cloth and strings

Plastic sacks

Cheap plastic films

Bamboo sticks

Others, depending on the options you make (more details below)

How (you can do it)

1) For preparing your land for farming, besides the typical actions performed in normal

agriculture, you can apply some tricks to increase your yield. One is, in case you have a river

nearby, mixing some sand from there with your soil it will be a good way to enrich your soil with

nutrients.

2) Applying drainage is a good option if you live in a place with an intense monsoon season, where

the heavy rainfall can flood and damage your crops. This method simple consists in doing small

canals to carry the excessive water to a small excavated pond, preventing too much water to

stay where you are farming (and with the advantage that you can store water for using for

other purposes).

3) As a fence to prevent animals to enter your farm, you can make a simple structure to promote

greenhouse effect around your crops, providing your plants additional carbon dioxide.

Depending on the climate, neither heating nor cooling are essential for raising the yield, and

considering that carbon dioxide is heavier than air and therefore will accumulates near the

ground, you can do a greenhouse without roof (that would increase the cost of the structure),

so you can simply surround your crops by a cheap plastic film fixed with bamboo sticks stuck in

the ground.


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4) Mulching the land where you planted will preserve the soil moisture and temperature,

increasing its health and productivity and reducing the weeds growth. This is done by covering

the ground with materials like chopped tree leaves, bark chips, hay, straw, sawdust, banana

leaves, coconuts husks, shredded newspaper or cardboard.

5) In terms of fertilizers, besides the mulch (that depending if its made of organic matter can also

serve as fertilizer), you can also use urine and manure from healthy people or animals as your

natural fertilizer. Always use dried faeces to prevent bad smell and insects (for instance you can

mix with ash and soil to help the composite process).

6) Making a side-farm to grow azolla pinnata is also a great option for natural fertilization and

mulching. Azolla is a floating fern, growing on water at great speed, doubling itself every two or

three days. Azolla has applications like reducing aquatic weeds in flooded rice fields, reducing

by 70% the growth of weeds by using as a mulching (you can also add banana leaves to prevent

it to dry), as a biofertilizer (fresh, dried or composed) increasing the yield by 15-20%, as food to

dairy cattle, chicken and fish, etc.

7) In terms of irrigation, a solution that saves water and maintain your crops with a constant

supply of water (but never too much, like flooding) it will be the best option. A way of doing this

is drip irrigation, or using buried containers that allow the slow leakage of water, or by a big

container and hoses with small holes along its length. Regarding the first option, to purpose of

burying a container is to the water directly address the roots of the plants, avoiding evaporation

as a way to save water. For this you can use an unglazed clay pot (one that leaks water from its

surface) with its whole body underground and only with its opening at surface in order to easily

refill with water. Dont forget to cover the opening to prevent the entrance of dirt and insects.

Other interesting and cheaper option is to use common plastic bottles (for instance the big ones

of water or cold drink) instead of clay pots, by making lots of small holes along its body with a

pin/needle, and bury them vertically with the opening above ground to be easy to refill.

Mulching with

organic matter

Azolla pinnata


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The option of having a big container connected to hoses that spread the water along your crops is

also very cost-effective and with the advantage that youll save time by only need to refill the

container with water and not many bottles. This can be done like in the picture below, using a big

and strong plastic sack hanging on a stand made with strong sticks (like bamboo). For preparing thesack, you can use half of a plastic bottle and a cloth to make a simple water filter, as shown in the

picture. Then, cut a hole in the bottom of the sack (made of strong plastic, like a garbage bag, or

you can even use two or three plastic bags inside each other to become stronger, or just a big

plastic bag inside a sack of other strong material like thick fabric), place the water filter inside and

connect to a long hose. Mount the stand, being careful to choose strong sticks that can hold the

water weight, and also that have the sufficient height to hang the sack at least one meter from the

floor (this is important because it will be this gravity force that will give pressure to the water run

through the whole hose system). Dig holes sufficiently deep for the stand not to fall off, and even

use stones around the sticks on the ground if necessary.

Then use the hose to reach to the whole area of your crops, using a heated nail to make the needed

holes. If you can buy some connectors you can make several rows of thinner hoses as shown in the

above picture. Or else, you can also think of using more large hoses, all of them connected to water

filters inside the sack and equally spread over your farm to reach all the vegetables. Makeexperiences and take some attention to the watering range that a hole in a hose can reach,

understanding the best option to have all the area covered. You can also irrigate in a sprinkle

fashion, connecting the hoses to common plastic bottles with small holes made with a sharp object

(you can test different hole sizes, like the ones made with a needle or with a nail, and see what

work best for you). Place them horizontal on the ground and see if the pressure is enough to have a

good coverage of the whole planted area.


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You can also join the sack technique with the buried containers, using the hanging sack connected

by hoses to many plastic bottles or clay pots buried underground, and, therefore, being the refilling

process as simple as pouring water to the big sack, with the gravity taking care of the rest. Other

idea is to use bamboo instead of hoses, in case if you have plenty available in your area.

Lastly, if you are in an area with shortage of water, you should definitely look for crops that dont

need too many water to become healthy and productive. This includes millet, sorghum, corn and

sugar beet. You can try to look for an agriculture cooperative or other organization to ask for help

and advice in the best crops to plant in your area.

Sources:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulch

http://agropedia.iitk.ac.in/content/use-azolla

http://irinab.ecosapiens.ro/azolla-in-organic-farming/

http://www.infonet-biovision.org/print/ct/293/soilconservation

http://greenhouse&catid=13:agri-horticultural-technologies&Itemid=52

http://www.arti-india.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=25:low-cost-http://catherinetoddarchitecture.blogspot.in/2012/04/garden-sprinkler-from-plastic-bottle.html

http://thegreenists.com/the-growing-challenge/tip-of-the-day-another-use-for-plastic-bottles/1546


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Build an Arborloo composting toilet


Itll give you proper sanitation in alow-cost manner, for you not to defecate open air (which is bad

for your health and also not safe for women and children) and you dont need to wait in long lines

in public toilets. Also itll help you to plant trees for you to earn money by selling fruits.


Bamboo sticks or other types of wood available in your area

Leaves, plastic films and other materials to cover the walls and roof

Shovel to dig the pit

Bricks, stones, mud/clay, cement, or others, to build a ring around the pit Strong strings, ropes or wires (optional: nails)

How (you can do it)

The Arborloo toilet consists of a shallow pit (which requires no lining), slab and a light weight structure

which can be moved from one point to another. This structure can be re-used and cost almost nothing due

to being built only with local materials (for instance bamboo, cheap plastic films etc). The purpose is to dig

new pits when the old ones are full, and use the old ones to plant trees or to use its compost matter as

organic fertilizer in your farming.

1) Choose a location away from any source of water and draw a circle on the ground, digging a pit between0.5 and 1 meter deep.


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2) Use cement or clay/mud, earth bricks (as explained on other section of this document) or other strong

materials (for instance if you have available rocks that you can hold together tightly) to make a

protecting ring around the pit (to prevent the top of the pit from falling in). To build this ring, place a

series of bricks (or rocks) end-to-end around the pit to form a circle, and slightly rose from the ground

where the toilet is being built. Then make mortar (using cement, mud or clay, etc, as long as it will

become strong when dried) and using a trowel add the mortar between and above the bricks. Then add

a second layer of bricks on the first layer. The upper layer should sit on the joint between bricks of the

first one, and, again, use the mortar to hold all the bricks together. Put some of the soil that you dug out

of the pit, around the protecting ring and rammed hard in place to make the ring stronger.

3) Make a slab (made of cement, bamboo, wood, etc) which sits on the protecting ring:

4) Build the moveable structure to protect the toilet from weather and give privacy and safety. Start

building by placing four sticks with 1.2m tall (for instance bamboo sticks) horizontally on the ground to

form a square. Place other four sticks vertically on the corners of the sticks placed on the ground, tied

together with strong string/rope or wire (or you can also use nails). Then use more bamboo or other

materials to support and add strength to the structure, by attaching them in a horizontal way to the four

posts (four at the middle and other four at the top to join the middle and uppermost parts of the vertical

rods). After joining the middle and uppermost parts of the vertical rods, more straight woods or

bamboos should be added and tied together with strong string/rope or wire. Then add grass, banana

leaves, plastic film or other materials to cover all the walls (in order to give privacy and safety to the

toilet user), attaching it firmly with string/rope/wire. Then make a roof with the kind of materials used

on walls, to prevent rain and give privacy (you can also add a plastic water bottle as a solar lamp to give

you light in the toilet during the day, as explained in other section of this document).


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5) If you have a pvc pipe or a large bamboo stick that is hollow and can work as a pipe, it'll be good to place

inside the toilet and with one of the sides coming out through the roof, in order to ventilate bad smells.

For this is very important that both sides of the pipe, the one inside the toilet and the other one outside,

aren't obstructed with objects or, in case of the inside one, leaned directly on the floor. Use some strongstring/rope or wire to attach to the toilet wall. Also the outside opening should be protected against rain

and flies, so you may use some plastic to cover it (but without obstructing the air outlet), and attach to

the outlet a small piece of net to prevent the entrance of flies.

6) Place a bucket inside and keep it always with wood ash and soil (mix two parts of soil for each part of

ash), it's very important that after every use of the toilet the person add a few handfuls of this mixture

to the pit hole to cover the faeces, reducing the bad smell and helping in the composting process.

7) Make a lid (for instance with wood, or some plastic founded in trash) to cover the pit the whole time

when the toilet is not being used (this is very important because of the smells, flies and infections).

8) Build a hand-washing device beside the toilet, like the one explained in other section of this document.

Its crucial for your familys health that everyone hand-wash with water and soap after using the toilet.

9) Teach the whole community on how to use the toilet, the importance of always throwing some few

handfuls of soil/ash to the pit and cover it with the lid. Also ask to everyone being responsible to refill

the soil/ash bucket when it's almost empty, to maintain the toilet as clean as possible to prevent any

diseases, and to never throw garbage, plastics or everything else that is not organic to the pit.

10)After some months of using the pit will be full, so it's time to dig another one nearby and move the slab

and the toilet structure to the new one. The old pit should be cover with soil and will take a year to

become compost and, only then, you can take out and use in farming as organic fertilizer to grow bettervegetables (in this case you can reuse the old pit again for toilet after you take out the compost). Other

option, in case you don't do farming, is to plant a fruit tree on each full pit, so you will not reuse this pit

for toilet but the tree will grow because of the compost and you will have fruits for eating or sell on the

market as a new livelihood.

Source:http://www.wateraid.org/documents/plugin_documents/arborloo_construction_means.pdf

http://www.instructables.com/id/Arbor-Loo-Composting-Toilet-for-Haiti/

http://crs.org/water-sanitation/downloads/WATSAN-innov-arborloo-final.pdf

http://labspace.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=453841&printable=1


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Build a device for hand-washing (the Tippy Tap)


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Make earth bricks for low-cost construction


Its a way to build good houses using local and free resources like sand, mud or crop waste.


Soil

Sand, clay, lime, cement, straw or rice husks, depending on the available soil

Water

Metal or wood for making the brick mold

How (you can do it)

1) First of all we need to collect the soil and perform some tests to see if the soil is good to use in

construction. Note that soil for bricks should never be taken directly from the floor, due to this

surface soil being loose and containing organic material. It's better to dig at least one or two

palm and extract soil from the resulting hole. Its also better to extract samples of soil from

different places to compare and see which will fit better for the earth bricks. The first tests you

can easily do is to check if the soil that you collected has bad smell (if it has dont use it,

probably is spoiled with vegetable elements) and its color: the red or brown soil is good to use

in bricks, light-yellow is even better, but if its black or white (like sand) you cannot use it.

2) After that, you can do a sedimentation test to understand the kind of soil you have. To perform

this test, pick a transparent jar or glass and mix two thirds of soil and one third of water with

two spoons of salt (the salt will help to separate the various elements of the soil). Mix very well

and wait for the elements to separate, and after you can measure and understand the

approximate percentages of sand, clay, etc. For instance if you end with 5cm of sand and 10cm

of clay, it means that you have two parts of clay for one of sand which is not good for bricks. For

instance a good soil for bricks is composed by two parts of sand for one of clay, where you can

also add other materials to give more strength to the brick, but well talk about it later, now

lets continue to understand if we have good soil to use.

water

clay

sand


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3) For that, lets do a contraction test making a malleable mixture with the soil and putting in a box

of 40x4x4cm. Let it dry in the shadow and when its complete ly dry, see if the mixture made

some curve on the centre like in the picture below, if not the soil is good to use. Also, when

doing this test the mixture usually shrinks and cracks. Push the mixture to one of the sides of

the box and measure how much it shrank. The soil is good for using if the mixture didnt shrank

more than 1/10 of its total size, so, in a 40cm box it should not be more that 4cm.

4) Other test that is good to do is making a strip with a mix of soil and water, with 20cm length,

2.5cm width and 5cm thick. Put on your hand and start pushing out with your thumb until itbreaks. If it breaks until 5cm is out of your hand, the soil mixture is too sandy, is it breaks after

15cm is too clayey, but if it breaks in the interval 5-15cm it mean that the mixture is good for

bricks. Now lets make the bricks!

5) Note that you can improve the performance of the soil mixture by adding sand or clay to

become a mixture of two parts of sand for one of clay, as mentioned on step 2. Or if needed,you can add a maximum of one part of gravel, straw or rice husks (always chopped before

adding to the mixture) to help strengthen the earth bricks. If there arent these local and cheap

materials available, a little bit of cement or lime can be added for that purpose (for instance one

part of cement for twelve parts of soil it will work).

6) Mix all together with one part of water until the mixture appear to have a uniform color. If you

didnt need to use cement on the mixture, you can mix it for instance with your barefoot feet,

or else use some strong stick to mix it well. Now put on a mold (for instance made of wood or

metal) with the measures of the bricks you want to do. The most used measure is 30x15x10cm,

but other fine examples of sample measures are 40x10x8cm or 20x10x5cm. Regarding themold, you can do it already prepared to do bricks in bulk (see the two examples on the picture

below) and always keep in mind that if you use wood, you need to use a clean and flat one, and

also that you need to apply a layer of burned oil to the whole surface of the mold to become

waterproof. In addition, the best way to apply the soil mixture to the mold is, firstly, using water

to wet the mold, then dumping some mixture without filling the whole mold. Now apply some

pressure on the corners to compact the mixture and after dump the rest of the mixture to fill

the mold, using your wet hand to level/smooth the upper surface. You can also use a wooden

board of the same size of the desired brick to compress the mixture as much as you can.


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If you have some kind of press that you can use it will be even better. The compression is important

due to the fact that, depending on the quality of the bricks, the walls made with them may need to

be protected from rainfall (higher compression means less porosity and better isolation from the

water). Otherwise you can plaster the walls with a layer of cement and clay mixed together (50% of

cement with 50% of clay, also a good mixture for using as a mortar) or, in the last case, cow dung.

There is also the possibility of making bricks with holes inside (also called hollow blocks). This

technique is used to produce lighter bricks and save from 0 to 30% of soil mixture. You can performthis by placing small objects in the middle of the soil mixture inside the mold. Some cheap and good

examples of objects are shown in the picture below, respectively metal cans, small bottles, boxes or

corn cobs.

Other thing you can do is using a modified mold to make bricks for round corners as in the picture

below.

7) Now slowly and carefully take the wooden mold to have your bricks ready to dry. Its suppose

for the brick to hold its form after you take the mold (if not, its because there is too much

water in the mixture) and also its suppose that no mixture will stay glued on the mold (if itstays, its because the mixture need more water). Let the bricks dry for one or two days but not

on direct sunlight, to prevent cracks or deformations. Its better to put them on shadow or

cover with leaves/straw, and on afternoons wet them a little bit. Now, after they dried, lets test

them to see if they are solid enough to use in construction!

8) The three simple tests you should do are:

1. Place a brick on two other bricks like in the picture below and stand above it (its suppose

that the brick will not break)


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2. Soak a brick for four hours and after break it to see the amount of depth that became wet

(its suppose not be more than one centimeter)

3. Soak a brick during four hours and place it on two bricks, with six other bricks above it like in

the picture below (its suppose to hold all the weight for at least one minute before it breaks)

9) If the bricks you made passed successful all these tests, they are ready for construction and you

can start making them for your villages houses or for selling as a livelihood opportunity! If the

tests didnt went so well, its better to change the soil mixture and try again. Worst case

scenario, if all the bricks you make with the soil we have available cannot be successful on these

tests, you can still use them for other applications that dont require the support of heavy

weight (walls that dont need to support roof, community ovens, etc). In addition, two good

practices that you should perform when you start to make bricks serially is to leave the soilmixture rest with a little bit of water for three days before using it for the bricks and, after

dried, leave the bricks without using for construction for about 15 to 20 days, standing on their

side and in open rows for ventilate them, like in the pictures below.

Source:http://www.amazon.com/Barefoot-Architect-Johan-van-Lengen/dp/0936070420

1 2 3


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Build solar lamps with plastic bottles


If your home is too dark during the day, this is an almost free manner to have light during day time.

Youll not waste energy with light and it makes your indoor tasks easier.


Plastic bottles

Liquid bleach or klorin

Some surface of the same material as the roof of your house (e.g. galvanized iron sheet),

like a square with one hand palm as the size of the side

Material to cut an hole in your roof (e.g. a nail to make the first hole and a metal cutter) Isolating material (epoxy, silicone, etc.)

A small piece of sand paper

Some tool to bend the metal sheet (like pliers)

Something to hold the metal square surface to the roof (like rivets or screws and bolts)

How (you can do it)

1) Collect some used water bottles, wash them as much as you can and remove labels. Use bottles

of water or soda (not juice or milk) and in terms of size, the bigger the best!

2) Fill almost the whole bottle with clean water (as much clean and purified as you can). Now, grab

a bottle of bleach or klorin, and throw three teaspoons of it into the bottle. The bleach or klorin

is important to prevent the water to become dirty, and consequently, less bright.


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