Wow. Have things happened since I last talked with you. Everyone knows about the earthquake in Haiti (the factory we work with is far away from the earthquake and received no structural damage), of course. That has both tripped up and invigorated Wash U EWB's work in Haiti.
Beyond that, I took exams for last semester, spent a week at Urbana, spent a week in San Diego, and started a crazy busy semester, planning for summer, planning a trip to Haiti, and doing some homework from time to time as well. (Okay! Just kidding! I'm doing my homework I promise.)
I imagine the most interesting thing in my life at the moment is the Haiti Project. I'm leading 3-4 students with the help of a professor and two professional engineers to help a factory in Haiti run by Meds and Food for Kids. They address the needs of Haiti in a holistic way: curing children of malnutrition with a special peanut butter, employing ~30 Haitians to make the peanut butter, buying as many peanuts as possible from local farmers, and working with peanut farmers to increase crop yields and reduce mold. We were in Haiti when this video was being made. I confess, it made me cry:
The factory was unhurt, however civil unrest threatens the security of Cap Haitien. Refugees are flooding the area, and MFK is now living in temporary housing under the protection of the UN. We decided, due to increased security risk, the near impossibility of being approved for travel by EWB-USA, and the burden we pose to MFK and Haiti's infrastructure, that it is best to wait to travel to Haiti until the summer. We will continue our projects here in the States and will have even better stuff to bring them then.
Our design efforts continue. Among several other things we're doing, we're working with some students from St. Louis University to make a larger (2' high by 18" dia) chimney to carbonize peanut shells for charcoal. The design-prototype-test process is a lot of fun: it's really neat to see the ideas you've cooked up in your brain and on paper actually turn into a real object that works.
Because there is so much going on with this project, I've been forced to delegate. I had no idea when I bugged my mom about delegating tasks to people for Girl Scout Camporee, how terribly hard it is to delegate. It has been a new experience to ask people to help you on something and count on them to come through. The people working on the Haiti Project are awesome, though, and we've accomplished and learned a lot.
I have read too many blogs that apologize over and over for not posting enough and have resolved myself not to emulate. The truth is that at sometimes I am very busy, and at other times very lazy. But, I suspect, if you called me and asked me to post more, I would do it--even if not, we'd still get to chat for a while. :)
