Projects (14)
Building an IBC tote flood-and-drain aquaponic system
Written by AdministratorAAF built an IBC tote flood-and-drain (or ebb-and-flow) aquaponic system using the super simple constant drain with adjustable flood depth control tube.
At this meet-up that was organized by David Pennington in Dallas, we went over the fine art of sawing a 275 IBC Plastic Tote in half, building the wooden frame supports, drilling holes, hooking up the plumbing, washing the gravel and planting some transplants, and setting up the timer and pump. All of the parts needed for this aquaponic system are readily available from local sources.
This is about the easiest and simplest aquaponic setup you can build, and it only costs about $200 to build one and took roughly no less than 1 hour to finish it. When you compare that with some commercial offerings it's a real deal, and a great way to try out aquaponics as a hobby.
Millions of children caught in food crisis need urgent aid.
More than 10 million people across the Horn of Africa are in dire need of humanitarian assistance due to a deadly combination of drought, escalating food prices and armed conflict. Hundreds of thousands of children are facing death due to starvation.
Among the most vulnerable to the drought and famine are 2 million children under the age of five in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti.
Getting groundwater – safe wells and waterholes
Written by AdministratorMany communities in Africa have had expensive tubewells built for them by governments and international agencies. One reason for making these wells is to better protect the water from contamination by people and animals. But 4 to 5 years after they are drilled, many of these wells can no longer be used because the pumps break, spare parts are no longer available, or the people who can fix them are gone.
This article illustrates inexpensive ways in which communities can access the water that is naturally stored underground in many places.
In raising community awareness, it is important to understand the root causes of problems. Many illnesses related to water security come from poverty and exploitation. Amsha Africa Foundation is taking steps to improve water supply in the rural communities in Africa by working together with community based organizations to assess existing water supplies and develop a plan for community water security.
This article is about water scarcity and what happens when people don’t have enough water to stay healthy.
When people have raised community awareness about the problems they face in meeting their water security needs, they are ready to take the next step. Communities can work together to plan for water security.Planning needs to start with an assessment of current water security. This could take the form of a Water Watch activity. AAF follows these planning methods and encourages all rural communities in Africa to follow these steps to find suitable sources of safe drinking water.
What is a Water Watch?
A Water Watch activity can help a group choose the best sources of safe drinking water. It can also help find sources of contamination now, or possible problems in the future. A Water Watch activity can be a long process that involves the whole community and includes many of the steps in planning a water project, or it can be a shorter process done by a small group responsible for community water safety and supply. The most important thing is to listen closely to the whole community, especially those who collect and treat water every day.
AAF together with Comfort Experts Inc , a company that provides airconditioning, heating and clean air service, have partnered up the Tune Up for a Cause Program.
What is Tune-Ups for a Cause?
Comfort Experts, Inc. / Hobson’s Air Conditioning, Inc. will provide a Tune Up & Safety Inspection that takes 1—1 1/2 hours to perform & 100% of the $39 service cost goes directly to Amsha Africa Foundation!!
This program will be able to raise money for AAF to benefit and better serve our communities! Homeowners benefit from regular maintenance on their heating and cooling systems. Comfort Experts will benefit from new customers, that will and in turn potentially become life-long customers.
To visit our website created by Comfort experts, please click on the following link: http://www.acgenius.com/tuneupsforacause/amshiafrica/
Fundraiser for Aquaponics in Rural Kenya with Give2gether.org
Written by AdministratorAmsha Africa Foundation has partnered up with give2gether.com to start a fundraising campaign that will raise funds for our Aquaponics for Rural Kenya project.
We encourage our supporters to go to this link: http://www.give2gether.com/projects/amsha-africa-foundation/ and help us with our fundraising efforts by spreading the word to all their friends.
Amsha Africa Foundation staff distributed over 100 pairs of reading glasses to the community living around the Pentecostal Church of Deliverence located in the Kangemi slums.
This distribution of glasses is part of the ongoing partnership with Eyes on Africa with a mission to provide eyeglasses at no cost to people who would otherwise have no access to them.
Project Update from Executive Director - March, 24 2011:
I'm writing this update because many non profit organizations (NGO's) that my organization has partnered with that have good intentions are getting frustrated and giving up working with rural communities in Kenya because of corruption, intimidation, vandalism, and just lack of common sense by the local communities.
My organization and EABL Foundation are jointly funding a water project in the Majengo area in Mwatate, Coast province and we have been having serious setbacks working with the local community in this area.
During the initial project evaluation in 2009-2010, we partnered with a group called Mwamuko Mashinani -a Community based group working hand in hand with other C.B.Os in Taita Taveta County. We held several meetings with their leadership team, identified their needs - water being the crucial need - and came up with a budget that we would fund to build a solar powered bore hole complete with storage tanks and rain water collection devices.
When the project kicked off in February 2011, our field project lead (Robert Mwakio) visited Mwatate and was surprised to be told by some members of the Mwamuko Mashinani group led by a man called Mnjala Mwaluma who is the coordinator of this organization, that we should stop any work related to the project with no logical reason or explanation (See attachment-Mwamuko_Mashinani_Letter.jpg ).
Requests for meetings and follow-up phone calls to find the root cause that prompted Mwamuko Mashinani to write the letter were not answered. Some members of the group, including its chairman, said that they had no problem working with the NGO on the project but it seems that there was some in-fighting within this group and after some additional fact finding, it dawned to us that some members of this group were looking for kick backs (bribes) in order to let the project start.
When they realized that they will not be receiving any kickbacks, they went around the community and spread malicious rumors about the project and told the local youth to jeopardise the project by issuing threats to our project teams, workers, and hiring youths to vandalize installed and stored equipment.
We had a crisis meeting and our field project team met with local authorities and moved to another project location, working with a different group of people. We hoped that this second location in Mwatate would not be affected by the issues we had at the previous location but we were wrong.
We were given land by a local owner (Mkawughanga Maganga) to get the bore hole project started, did a second expensive geological survey, and drilled a small test hole to the aquifer to sample the water and see if it was fit for human consumption and got approval from the Government after tests of the water samples in Mombasa to conduct the drilling.
When all was said and done and our teams were getting ready for the actual drilling, the same group and their affiliates that had stopped our drilling efforts in the original project location started issuing threats to the land owner (Mkawughanga Maganga) and demanded that he stops working with our NGO. He wrote a letter telling the NGO to vacate his land claiming that their is a case being resolved - see attachment (Mkawughanga_Maganga_Letter.jpg ). ;Local youths were hired to stop any work and now we are forced to look for other alternatives. . We are still wondering why he volunteered to give his land in the first place and change his mind since this project would have been equally beneficial to him and the community around him
My question is - When will Kenyans living in poverty ever use their common sense and see that there are people and organizations that are willing to help them live better and healthy lives without having to always offer kickbacks? When will communities just come together and think of their common good and work towards it?
As the founder of this organization, I have worked with many communities and my organization has funded several successful projects, however, I find it very frustrating when a few corrupt members of a community try to jeopardize projects that are only meant to help them.
I strongly believe that we should educate communities of the importance of community projects and how vital they are in alleviating poverty among them.
Sincerely,
Tony Abuta
Founder & Executive Director
Amsha Africa Foundation is working with grassroots community movements in rural Kenya to educate and help build simple and sustainable aquaponic systems from locally available materials.
These aquaponics systems will provide a viable option for Kenyans seeking to grow their own vegetables and ensure adequate nutrient consumption.
The closed circuit aquaponics system produces both vegetables and protein and reduces dependencies on other variables such as land, water and fertilizers.
Although aquaponics methodologies and technologies have been around for a long time, this approach to growing food is only recently getting the attention it deserves.
The concept of Aquaponics has been successful in the United States of America and Asia and is well suited to the African enviroment.
The warm weather reduces heating costs (solar energy can also be used) and there is a significant water saving as it is a recirculating system and only requires topping up from time to time.
Fresh vegetables and protein in the form of fish are easily produced on a regular basis.
To read some more, please click here
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