Appropriate Technology

Appropriate technology is seeking to care for the earth as natural resources are consumed, and introducing work techniques that are maintainable. Using appropriate technology, our development projects have involved getting potable water into communities, building latrines, energy-efficient stoves, feeding centers / schools, and obtaining water for drinking, cooking, washing, and cleaning. In the U.S., we just turn on a faucet to have water, but many people in Nicaragua can't. Therefore, cleanliness is a big problem, so people get sick with diarrhea - then there's not enough water to keep them from getting dehydrated and they die.

Without latrines, sanitation is impossible and people get sick. Little children are so malnourished that their bellies are bloated and their hair is like straw. Anti-parasitic medicine and vitamins help to combat the malnutrition that takes the lives of so many children, or at the very least retards their development.

We are currently working on a pumping system that will use minimal electricity to get water to the coffee cooperative of El Porvenir (see Sustainable Agriculture). We are working with Engineers Without Borders to build a storage tank to store large amounts of water for the health and dental clinics (imagine a clinic without water!).

René Geneva, of Faernyn’s Grove, is working to get a 19KW solar system installed for the CDCA, the Fair Trade Zone (where some of her organic designer clothes are made), and the Spinning Plant. She’s not only seeking donations, but also allocating profits from some of her garment sales.

Thanks to assistance from a group of Whitman College students, we are excited to now have a bio-diesel project turning used cooking oil into fuel for our engines. Biodiesel is cheap to produce, burns cleanly, and the only by-product is glycerin which can be used to make medicinal soaps for the clinic. We are constantly looking for good sources of used cooking oil to recycle in this way, and understand the importance of not diverting food crop production into crops for bio-diesel.

Nicaragua is not an energy-independent country, and therefore its entire economy and livelihood is vulnerable to the whims of fluctuating energy prices. We currently see gas prices rising at the pump, transportation sectors going on strike to protest the lack of fuel subsidies, and electricity rationing during many hours of the day.

With that context in mind, we hope that this project will serve to reduce the CDCA’s dependence on diesel fuel, but perhaps more importantly; we can hope that our project can serve as an educational model for other groups in the country interested in beginning similar alternative-fuel plants. Furthermore, it would be ideal if there was enough supply of used vegetable oil and customer demand that the processing plant could be run as a cooperative business, providing employment as well as clean fuel!

And finally, the CDCA is also paired with a small woodworking workshop, seeking to teach sustainable foresty management while producing quality products. Slightly Twisted Spoons proceeds return to the CDCA.

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