The rice terraces of Ifugao Province, Philippines are legendary.
A couple of years back I had the opportunity to help out BTHumble with a project in the Fiji Islands, where we upgraded a small computer lab at a school. We went back the following year and repaired and upgraded the site.
Should you wish, you can read about the first trip I helped with there from my posting here:
http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2007/6/5/85322/76409
Unfortunately, the only airline to that remote island has gone out of business, which means that in order to go back there to service equipment, repair or upgrade, a plane would have to be chartered, or a lengthy boat trip, which for the moment puts a return trip out of my budget or allotted vacation time frame.
Still being a part of that project, and helping others, is something that I am extremely proud to have been a part of. I have been looking for a location to try to replicate that type of project. We can make some things that will benefit people for years, meet new and interesting people, and see things we most likely would not otherwise.
In August of this year, Calzia , had posted a story looking for ways to provide lighting to a remote area of the Philippines.
http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2009/8/8/22246/68646
Dnix71 contacted me about maybe doing something to help him out, and I contacted him. From there we discussed the feasibility of doing something there via e-mail, along with BruceS, BThumble, and Ghurd as well. He has family and contacts there, as well as knowledge about the area, which makes such a project possible.
The plan has evolved into a trip in early November so far, just by me, to check out schools and other facilities in the area to see what we could do as a project for next summer or fall, and to install some simple stand alone solar lighting kits for which assistance was originally sought. This would be followed up by a trip next summer or fall by BruceS, myself and any others who wish to contribute to this endeavor for the purpose of putting in a solar powered computer lab.
Since the initial planning of this years trip, a couple of bad hurricanes have struck the Philippines, which may impact the trip, it is too early to know for sure. One hit the Manila area, and one north of the target area. The need for the supplies we can bring to bear will be greater however, not less, and the trip is still currently a go unless the logistics become impossible, or my presence will be an impedance to the recovery efforts. I've already got the airline tickets to leave on 2 November and return on 12 November.
A little bit of information about the specific area is as follows:
Ifugao Province is a mountainous agricultural area. Many of the villages do not have access to grid power, and rely solely upon candles or lanterns when available for light at night. The village schools feature no electricity, and do not currently teach any typing or computer skills because of a lack of available equipment. The village schools tend to be lower grades, and students are forced to go to the larger cities in the area such as Banaue if they wish to finish high school.
The basic idea for the mission next summer is to provide a small solar powered computer lab using donated equipment to a school which would benefit from such a facility. This would enable such a school to teach typing and basic computer skills. This will be a more substantial installation, and the equipment and specifics can't be determined until the specific location and needs are known.
For this year, I plan to take as many stand alone solar lighting kits as I can fit into my checked luggage. It is basically too late to ship anything there for this year, and my past experiences with shipping things to remote areas is less than stellar. For the trip next summer or fall, we would likely be pre-shipping much of the equipment.
The stand alone solar systems for this year consists of the following parts:
Solar panel to harness the power of the sun. I have obtained some of the solar panels by ordering them on-line. I tried to pick solar panels with a glass-eva-tedlar standard construction which should last for many years. They range from 10 to 15 Watts.
Charge controller to prevent over charging of the battery. BruceS is working on the charge controllers with technical assistance form Ghurd so that we can hopefully keep his magic smoke inside for a long time.
rechargeable battery such as a lead acid or nickle cadmium battery to hold the stored power. The batteries will likely have to be obtained locally from what is available. This is too bad because BruceS has access to those Nickle Cadmium batteries he is famous for, but transporting them in quantity onto a plane is a concern. We will likely use sealed lead acid batteries, such as batteries used for emergency lighting in buildings. A 7 amp hour battery should be more than enough for these small lighting kits.
Low voltage disconnect circuit to prevent damaging the battery by discharging it too deeply. Again, BruceS is working on this with assistance from Ghurd.
Switch mounted on a wall near an entrance or in another convenient location to control the lights. I have obtained heavy duty toggle switches, and plan to build an enclosure for them before I go.
Rugged and high efficient lights designed to last a long time in a harsh environment. I built a quantity of small LED lights for this trip a bit similar to these but with one disk instead of four:
http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2008/3/14/55046/0695
The one fourth size version draws about 350mA in use. I will post a picture, but I don't have one on the computer I am at right now.
The connecting cable, fasteners, and hand tools required will be sourced locally to save on luggage weight. All of the parts should ideally be ready to assemble in the field with minimal requirements for tools and manpower.
These systems should also require minimal skill to operate and maintain as the recipients may have no or minimal prior experience with electrically operated equipment.
The current plan is to take at least 10 such kits on this falls trip if I can stuff them into my luggage.
The parts completed thus far are waiting to be packed into my luggage. BruceS is working on the charge and low voltage disconnect controllers. Dnix has a Harbor Freight kit he's contributing, but we have to get it there, so it will probably be installed on next summer's trip. BT has also offered financial support for the mission.
If anyone from here is interested in contributing material, or making one of the trips, please contact me. I don't expect it to be luxurious it may not even fun - although hopefully it will be, but it should be rewarding to help people and have the fun of building stuff. I also don't claim to be a whiz at building stuff, but we will hopefully get something useful done. Rich
had to resection this to get it to display as the events section seems to be a little broken at the moment.
Kurt
