Well finally I went out with the Chiang Mai biking club. I have been wanting to join this group for some time as I have heard from many that it is a nice biking group of all levels.
Most Sundays the ride is about 40-90 Kms (25-60 mi) but on the last Sunday of each month a history professor gives a cultural tour of some sites in and around Chiang Mai. As you can see we didn't go far! They always meet at Tapae gate at 8am (read: 8:30isam Thai time) which is the east gate of the old city. I live about 1/2 mile from the northwest corner of the moat and old walls.
Today is Magha Puja Day which is a major Buddhist religious holiday to celebrate the full moon day of the third lunar month when 1,250 disciples gathered to hear the Lord
Buddha’s teachings (called Dharma).
We visited 5 old Chedi's some I have seen before and had no idea why they where there etc and 2 temples. Most of the Chedis are parts of old temples that have disappeared. The are shaped like upside down ice cream cones. Three of the Chedis were hidden down very narrow alleys and 2 were in private yards. Most were 500-700 years old and made of exposed brick. When they were new the brick was covered with plaster and other decorations. Here are some pictures of the ride:
The last temple we visited was Wat Nanatharam and there was a temple fair going on. Lots of people, great free food and chanting.....and I thought I was going to shed some pounds biking !?!?
Living here is a constant reminder of the old and the new, both with respect to the Thais, their physical surroundings, and the clash of their culture and the west. I am sure many don't see it as a clash but I do. I am not saying either culture is better but because there are so many big differences it is much more apparent than say the difference between France and the US for example. For example before we started the bike ride the professor talked about the Buddhist holiday and what it celebrates, and then we jumped on our multi-gear alloy bikes and rode to the closest gas station to buy western junk food. The Thais adopt many western material things but still maintain much of their culture - thank goodness. As the towns get bigger etc I do see a weakening of their culture of politeness due to what I call "lack of social accountability'. Road rage is unheard of here, but now and again we have heard of some drivers who are starting to use their horns and/or shout at each other. In some ways it's big news because it is so rare, but I am afraid it will only get worse as the towns get bigger and they watch too many foreign tough guy films etc. All cultures change over time due to external influences and today those influences are from many other cultures that are quite different. I suspect in ancient times before planes, films, TV and the Internet the changes came from not so distant countries and not such different cultures. Their physical proximity made them less different. (Tom's theory !)
So Sunday evening I was invited to a music event at Payap U to hear some senior music students play - hence the contrasts.... Then I walked home past ancient Buddhist temples with a monk teaching and people walking around them holding candles to celebrate the holiday....
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Quick baby elephant blog
Last week on our way back from the villages I stopped to visit the baby elephant that I first saw when it was 4 days old. Ya who works at the office is a huge animal lover and while dogs are her first love elephants are also loved too. When we went last time we didn't have any food for the elephants as I had not planned to stop so I said we would go back and take some food especially for the mother. The baby will normally only breast feed until about 1 year old. So we set Tues afternoon to visit and watch them be bathed. I had dreams of standing in the river washing down the elephants but once I saw what they do I realized that didn't make sense.
We went to the big vegetable and fruit market on our way out of town. At first we were going to buy bananas and sugar cane for people but luckily I noticed some big bags of older bananas and found out they were packed to sell to elephant centers at a much lower price. So we bought 2 big bags of bananas and 1 big bag of sugar cane.
I am sure one elephant could easily eat 10 or more bags which would be probably 8 bushels in US quantities. When we arrived other mahouts and the one I know were arriving with carts and trucks full of banana stalks. The mahout said the mother doesn't have enough milk to totally feed the baby so there is some concern when he cries. I guess he wakes up at 4-5am wanting to eat - sounds familiar....
We fed half our food to the mother and some crushed banana to the baby and then went down to the river. There are about 40 elephants in this big field but we were warned to not go up to them without a mahout so we watch from a respectable distance. Most are chained to posts so they don't wander.
Here are a few pictures and then a video to follow:
The baby is very playful - after all that is a baby's job. He loves to push into you and scratch himself against anything. I tried to push him back sometimes and could barely win and he is just 6 weeks old! You do know it when he steps on your food too!
We went to the big vegetable and fruit market on our way out of town. At first we were going to buy bananas and sugar cane for people but luckily I noticed some big bags of older bananas and found out they were packed to sell to elephant centers at a much lower price. So we bought 2 big bags of bananas and 1 big bag of sugar cane.
I am sure one elephant could easily eat 10 or more bags which would be probably 8 bushels in US quantities. When we arrived other mahouts and the one I know were arriving with carts and trucks full of banana stalks. The mahout said the mother doesn't have enough milk to totally feed the baby so there is some concern when he cries. I guess he wakes up at 4-5am wanting to eat - sounds familiar....
We fed half our food to the mother and some crushed banana to the baby and then went down to the river. There are about 40 elephants in this big field but we were warned to not go up to them without a mahout so we watch from a respectable distance. Most are chained to posts so they don't wander.
Here are a few pictures and then a video to follow:
The baby is very playful - after all that is a baby's job. He loves to push into you and scratch himself against anything. I tried to push him back sometimes and could barely win and he is just 6 weeks old! You do know it when he steps on your food too!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Biosand filter report and visit
This blog is about my visit to four villages. To give you some background:
This is a project I started in 2009 to provide people with clean water through using Biosand filters. At the end of our visit last year we had a problem finding suitable sand to put in the filters and so things were on hold until we knew we could build the filters in Ban Pong Hi village. Last year Kurt from Hawaii International HOPE Foundation, visited to do some projects and purchased four filter kits from Stefan at ThaiCare Foundation who is also producing filters. As a note: Last year Thaicare got an order for 240 filters and thus far have installed about 130 of them south of Chang Mai. Recently they surveyed 100 filters and 98 were in use. This area has bad ground water so the villagers really appreciate having clean water. The money was donated from the estate of a Canadian man who had died in Chang Mai so all the filters were donated free to the villagers.
On February 17 and 18 Annie, Ya, Jalose (our Lahu interpreter) and I visited four villages where Hawaii International HOPE Foundation installed Biosand filters last year near Mae Ai, Thailand. The filters were placed in villages chosen by Sila the Lahu leader of the Lahu Association.
On February 17 we visited Ban Huay Tao which is located near the Burmese border and west of Mae Ai. It was probably 6 to 8 km off the road off some quite rugged dirt roads. When we arrived it was clear the filter was no longer in use. We talked to the woman at the house and she felt the water came out too slowly. We spent some time explaining that it was supposed to be slow and the user needs to fill it and let the water collected over time. They do have some water that comes from the mountains but it is not filtered or treated. It didn't appear that they were concerned that it might not be clean since they have used that kind of water for any many years. We spent some time explaining to her how she could use it but she still seemed uninterested in starting it up again and so we asked if any other villagers might be interested in using it. Probably because they saw how it was used (misused) and misunderstood it's use no one was interested in taking it over. Since Jalose was one of the original villagers to be trained in making and installing the filters he asked if he could take it home and use it there. So we emptied the sand and took it to his house. So I am sure this filter found a good home.
Some lessons we learned in this village were: it was clear the family really didn't understand how to use the filter, I think they should have been given some water containers to collect the water and either shown how to make a little table to hold them under the water spout or be provided with that kind of table. Also if the filters are going to be outside it really needs to be protected from children's dirty hands etc. In one village I watched a young boy walk up to a filter that was outside, play with the plastic tubing with his dirty hands and then suck water out the pipe!
On Thursday the 18th we were visited three other villages where three more filters had been placed. These three villages are East of Mae Ai, not very high in the mountains but the roads were also quite rugged in many places.
This village called JE JO SEE had only 18 homes and their only source of water was a pond probably 100 to 150 yards away down the hill. All the houses had solar cells since there was no wired electricity. This filter was certainly used and appreciated. He told us that if you were the first person to the pond the water was relatively clear but the second person to collect water it was muddy etc. He also said that he had far less diarrhea and stomach distress since he started to use the filter. This seems to be an ideal kind of village in that they have obvious need for at a minimum removing turbidity and dirt from the water which is visible. He was the head of the village and said other villagers would love to have filters to. It was quite a poor village. He was also hoping someday to have a pipe from a mountain 8.8 km away and he showed us the pipes he had been able to get donated and buy. However, he only had 800 m of pipe so he needs another 8000 m of pipe or 2000 pieces! 8 km is approximately 5 miles which is one very long pipe.
Once again we saw that giving them containers to collect the water is an important thing to do and of course to remind them about separating the containers they use for pouring the water into the filter and the containers they use for collecting and storing the water that comes out of the filter. Maybe even very pictorial pictures on the containers would be a good thing to do. Of course, follow up should have been much more rigorous as we will see in the other two as well.
Next we visited Santisuk village. This is a bigger village and recently split into two villages. Apparently one village is Christian and the other is animist (which is the traditional religion of the Lahu people) but both are Red Lahu. This filter was outside the house and was used up until one month prior when they expanded the house and then celebrated their new year. They had every intention to move it back into the house and were very happy with the improved water and health that resulted from using it. This was a wealthier village than the previous one and had electricity. While we sat at the house we saw quite a few five liter containers with water and inside each container was a fairly consistent coating of algae. People would just drink right out of those containers. They did have a pretty good source of water in terms of quantity but there was no way to tell about the quality. Once again it would have been so much better for them to have plastic containers to collect the water from the filter.
The last village we visited was called Huay Muang (Lek or Noi ??? ask annie ) here we went to the school and found the filter sitting outside and obviously not in use. Apparently it really never was started up properly and the person who had planned to move it into their house never did move it. Once we found the teacher he was very interested in using it at the school so we spent time explaining how it should work and the need to move it in a secure place where it can be kept clean. We spent a good deal of time explaining that the capacity was not enough for all the children but that they could collect water over time. He promised to let us know when he started it up so we could revisit them after that. Also he will be picking up some chlorine to clean the tip.
One thing that nobody complained about was the weight which was surprising. The people who were using the filters also never said anything negative about the rate of filtration. It was obvious to us that some villages have a greater need due to the type of water supply or the location of the water supply and those should be primary targets. Unfortunately many of those villages are somewhat remote but that's why they need the filters.
The next steps in my opinion are:
Meet with Stefan to see about a better source of sand. Get four more sets of sand for the existing filters we have in Ban Pong Hi and install them at an appropriate site. Some of the places we have thought about are, Ban Paqui at Jatae's house. Jatae was one of the two Lahu men who came to the training. Another villager who learned how to make the filters Jatee who lives in Ban Pong Hi also wanted to have a filter at his home. And once again it makes sense to have people who have been trained to be using them.
Our goal is to help the Red Lahu Association manufacture and sell these filters. This will give the organization more credibility and hopefully some income. I think we should try to get a good number of filters funded but probably charge a small amount to the villagers to show good faith. I know this is a very capitalistic mentality but this came from a staff that Kids Ark too!
So once I establish we can get sand from Mae Taeng and the cost, then I can discuss with Sila and the Association about storage etc. It's probably a good idea for them to see how Stefan is making his filters, however he actually has contracted out that portion of the production.. This too is a possibility and then let the Association prepare the sand and deliver and train etc. He still has to prepare the sand and rocks and bag them up for delivery etc
I don't think we should ramp up to a huge quantity until we are sure that the next batch of filters also are being used appropriately etc.
Tom Westheimer
Here is a map and some pictures of the villages and the filters as we found them etc.
Here are some pictures too. You can adjust the speed of the slides by moving the mouse and then changing the speed using the plus and minus buttons ....
Finally a video of an elephant eating a banana leaf - watch how smart she is stripping the leafy section up but not including the dead area. She has a baby that I first saw when it was 4 days old. It is now 2 weeks old. I like to stop at the area where the mahouts from the elephant training camp live after the tourist show in the mornings. The mahout asked if I was a tour guide because I have taken different groups people there 5 times since I arrived :-) The baby is really cute and loves to butt and try to eat your clothes. At this point he just drinks mile from mama.
This is a project I started in 2009 to provide people with clean water through using Biosand filters. At the end of our visit last year we had a problem finding suitable sand to put in the filters and so things were on hold until we knew we could build the filters in Ban Pong Hi village. Last year Kurt from Hawaii International HOPE Foundation, visited to do some projects and purchased four filter kits from Stefan at ThaiCare Foundation who is also producing filters. As a note: Last year Thaicare got an order for 240 filters and thus far have installed about 130 of them south of Chang Mai. Recently they surveyed 100 filters and 98 were in use. This area has bad ground water so the villagers really appreciate having clean water. The money was donated from the estate of a Canadian man who had died in Chang Mai so all the filters were donated free to the villagers.
On February 17 and 18 Annie, Ya, Jalose (our Lahu interpreter) and I visited four villages where Hawaii International HOPE Foundation installed Biosand filters last year near Mae Ai, Thailand. The filters were placed in villages chosen by Sila the Lahu leader of the Lahu Association.
On February 17 we visited Ban Huay Tao which is located near the Burmese border and west of Mae Ai. It was probably 6 to 8 km off the road off some quite rugged dirt roads. When we arrived it was clear the filter was no longer in use. We talked to the woman at the house and she felt the water came out too slowly. We spent some time explaining that it was supposed to be slow and the user needs to fill it and let the water collected over time. They do have some water that comes from the mountains but it is not filtered or treated. It didn't appear that they were concerned that it might not be clean since they have used that kind of water for any many years. We spent some time explaining to her how she could use it but she still seemed uninterested in starting it up again and so we asked if any other villagers might be interested in using it. Probably because they saw how it was used (misused) and misunderstood it's use no one was interested in taking it over. Since Jalose was one of the original villagers to be trained in making and installing the filters he asked if he could take it home and use it there. So we emptied the sand and took it to his house. So I am sure this filter found a good home.
Some lessons we learned in this village were: it was clear the family really didn't understand how to use the filter, I think they should have been given some water containers to collect the water and either shown how to make a little table to hold them under the water spout or be provided with that kind of table. Also if the filters are going to be outside it really needs to be protected from children's dirty hands etc. In one village I watched a young boy walk up to a filter that was outside, play with the plastic tubing with his dirty hands and then suck water out the pipe!
On Thursday the 18th we were visited three other villages where three more filters had been placed. These three villages are East of Mae Ai, not very high in the mountains but the roads were also quite rugged in many places.
This village called JE JO SEE had only 18 homes and their only source of water was a pond probably 100 to 150 yards away down the hill. All the houses had solar cells since there was no wired electricity. This filter was certainly used and appreciated. He told us that if you were the first person to the pond the water was relatively clear but the second person to collect water it was muddy etc. He also said that he had far less diarrhea and stomach distress since he started to use the filter. This seems to be an ideal kind of village in that they have obvious need for at a minimum removing turbidity and dirt from the water which is visible. He was the head of the village and said other villagers would love to have filters to. It was quite a poor village. He was also hoping someday to have a pipe from a mountain 8.8 km away and he showed us the pipes he had been able to get donated and buy. However, he only had 800 m of pipe so he needs another 8000 m of pipe or 2000 pieces! 8 km is approximately 5 miles which is one very long pipe.
Once again we saw that giving them containers to collect the water is an important thing to do and of course to remind them about separating the containers they use for pouring the water into the filter and the containers they use for collecting and storing the water that comes out of the filter. Maybe even very pictorial pictures on the containers would be a good thing to do. Of course, follow up should have been much more rigorous as we will see in the other two as well.
Next we visited Santisuk village. This is a bigger village and recently split into two villages. Apparently one village is Christian and the other is animist (which is the traditional religion of the Lahu people) but both are Red Lahu. This filter was outside the house and was used up until one month prior when they expanded the house and then celebrated their new year. They had every intention to move it back into the house and were very happy with the improved water and health that resulted from using it. This was a wealthier village than the previous one and had electricity. While we sat at the house we saw quite a few five liter containers with water and inside each container was a fairly consistent coating of algae. People would just drink right out of those containers. They did have a pretty good source of water in terms of quantity but there was no way to tell about the quality. Once again it would have been so much better for them to have plastic containers to collect the water from the filter.
The last village we visited was called Huay Muang (Lek or Noi ??? ask annie ) here we went to the school and found the filter sitting outside and obviously not in use. Apparently it really never was started up properly and the person who had planned to move it into their house never did move it. Once we found the teacher he was very interested in using it at the school so we spent time explaining how it should work and the need to move it in a secure place where it can be kept clean. We spent a good deal of time explaining that the capacity was not enough for all the children but that they could collect water over time. He promised to let us know when he started it up so we could revisit them after that. Also he will be picking up some chlorine to clean the tip.
One thing that nobody complained about was the weight which was surprising. The people who were using the filters also never said anything negative about the rate of filtration. It was obvious to us that some villages have a greater need due to the type of water supply or the location of the water supply and those should be primary targets. Unfortunately many of those villages are somewhat remote but that's why they need the filters.
The next steps in my opinion are:
Meet with Stefan to see about a better source of sand. Get four more sets of sand for the existing filters we have in Ban Pong Hi and install them at an appropriate site. Some of the places we have thought about are, Ban Paqui at Jatae's house. Jatae was one of the two Lahu men who came to the training. Another villager who learned how to make the filters Jatee who lives in Ban Pong Hi also wanted to have a filter at his home. And once again it makes sense to have people who have been trained to be using them.
Our goal is to help the Red Lahu Association manufacture and sell these filters. This will give the organization more credibility and hopefully some income. I think we should try to get a good number of filters funded but probably charge a small amount to the villagers to show good faith. I know this is a very capitalistic mentality but this came from a staff that Kids Ark too!
So once I establish we can get sand from Mae Taeng and the cost, then I can discuss with Sila and the Association about storage etc. It's probably a good idea for them to see how Stefan is making his filters, however he actually has contracted out that portion of the production.. This too is a possibility and then let the Association prepare the sand and deliver and train etc. He still has to prepare the sand and rocks and bag them up for delivery etc
I don't think we should ramp up to a huge quantity until we are sure that the next batch of filters also are being used appropriately etc.
Tom Westheimer
Here is a map and some pictures of the villages and the filters as we found them etc.
Here are some pictures too. You can adjust the speed of the slides by moving the mouse and then changing the speed using the plus and minus buttons ....
Finally a video of an elephant eating a banana leaf - watch how smart she is stripping the leafy section up but not including the dead area. She has a baby that I first saw when it was 4 days old. It is now 2 weeks old. I like to stop at the area where the mahouts from the elephant training camp live after the tourist show in the mornings. The mahout asked if I was a tour guide because I have taken different groups people there 5 times since I arrived :-) The baby is really cute and loves to butt and try to eat your clothes. At this point he just drinks mile from mama.
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