Fisher Village Supplementary Programs

			Isolated Community Support Boat assembly work will take Island Aid teams to many villages where infrastructure has been damaged by recent tsunami's and quakes or where there is a high risk of extreme seismic activity within our lifetime. In addition to training local boatbuilders in stitch and tape construction, the teams visit will focus on a number of urgent community needs:

			Sanitation - Composting Toilets

			Clean Water - Aqua Box

			Water Storage - Bamboo tanks

			Home lighting - LED + Photovoltaic

			Tsunami Refuges - Bamboo towers

			These solutions will not be budgeted in this proposal and all are seen as desirable but optional supplements to the core activities focused on boat building for fisheries and transport. Components for these programs will be prepared and packaged at the AM Training Center. Some special parts will be cast in GRP or NFC as appropriate and supplied to villages either at subsidized cost or donated if sponsors are found. Medical teams will join these training trips whenever possible. Partner organization Kirekat will take the leading role in providing trained Indonesian doctors to work with Island Aid volunteer doctors and paramedics. These missions will remain small because of the limited accommodation on the Electric Lamb. If a new mother ship is secured, the scale of all missions can be substantially increased and a much larger area supported.

				Low Cost Sanitation Solutions

				The Ecosan system has been proven in India with over 10,000 already in operation. Ideal for areas with either a water shortage or for low lying communities with high water tables. The system segregates urine and solid waste and each is treated separately. Island Aid has contacted ...... for permission to use the pan design that they have introduced so successfully in rural India. This is the only composting toilet that has proven acceptable to the Indian population where the use of water after ablutions is universally taught and culturally integrated. The Ecosan system has proven efficient in humid climates and the construction of the raised toilet and compost chamber is much cheaper than a flushing toilet with septic tank and leach drains.

Low cost fertilizer factory.

			During training missions to remote villages, a demonstration toilet will be constructed for one of the home owners selected by lottery. Small donors will be encouraged to fund a GRP molded toilet pan at a cost of approximately $25 each. The number of pans available for distribution will depend on the donations for that village. After the demonstration toilet is built, the remaining pans will be distributed to the first home owners to complete construction of the foundation and composting enclosure with cement and bricks purchase at the home owners expense. Each time the team return to the village, additional pans will be donated to home owners who have made the commitment to build the base to the specification stipulated.

			Water Storage

				Many islands along the West coast of Nias and Simeulue were uplifted by up to 3 m. At the same time the delicate limestone barriers supporting fresh water lenses were shattered by the quakes that caused the tsunami and by subsequent mega quakes in the area. It is thought that these freshwater lenses will take many decades to repair them selves and digging existing wells deeper has not produced reliable water on low lying islands. On rocky islands like Tepak in Simeulue some wells were excavated to become productive again but in the Hinakos ground water is brackish and highly mineralized. Even in Gomo at over 200m elevation, ground water has been corrupted by the fracturing and sever shaking of soil strata. There is a suspected link between the rapid development of kidney stones and the consumption of this low quality ground water. Boiling only makes this problem worse. In these areas the only sensible option is to capture and store rainwater from roofs. The cost of water tanks has generally made this practice unpopular with communities but some interesting low cost alternatives have been proven effective in India. The raw material is bamboo and the tanks are lined with low cost plastic tarp material.

This 1.2m high tank can store 23m3 of drinking water and costs about $250. We are investigating the pretreatment of a full tank with chlorine and post filtration using activated carbon (charcoal) filters so that the water does not need to be boiled. The collection of firewood in Nias is a contributing factor in deforestation and landslides.

			Clean Water Solutions

				The Aqua Box drinking water purification system was proven very effective in Gomo subregency on Nias. Island Aid delivered over 50 tons of these sturdy high density plastic 'filter-in-a-box' systems and the villages who received them are very pleased with the results. Further supplies of Aqua Boxes will be requested for distribution to villages with known drinking water problems.

Over 5,000 of these 30 liter water boxes were distributed by Island Aid volunteers in Nias. A charcoal filter screws to the tap forming a seal. Well water or river water can be used to fill the box and then treatment pills are added. After waiting 2 hours, the water can be drunk from the tap without boiling. The effectiveness of this technology makes it highly desirable. The taste of the water is comparable to expensive bottled water so the units are highly valued. It is perfectly feasible to mold epoxy bamboo boxes to replace the imported PE units leaving only the filters, taps and treatment chemicals to be provided by the donor. Rotary UK have already committed to the regular replacement of the filters and resupply of the chemicals. Taps can be sourced in Indonesia and if volume builds, it may be possible to make the active carbon filters in house from PVC and coconut shell based charcoal.

				Light in a Box - Photovoltaic LED Battery Packs

				A proven way of improving health and promoting lliteracy especially among women and children is to reduce the cost and improve the quality of domestic lighting for poor communities. Most fisher families live in remote villages with no access to mains electricity. They must rely on kerosene lamps for lighting. The efficiency of fuel based light production is very low. The result is a substantial amount of fuel used with poor lighting received in return. Fuel based lighting is often inadequate to conduct classroom instruction after daylight hours but the real burden is its high lifetime cost to the community and to the families who use it. Recent breakthroughs in White Light Emitting Diodes technology have seen dramatic increases in efficiency of these heatless lamps. Efficiencies are now so high that WLED lamps can be run for many hours on a small deep cycle battery that is charged by a small inexpensive photovoltaic panel. This 'downsizing' and increase in performance has resulted in cost savings and it is now possible to provide lighting for a small home in a kit that costs less than $100. BENEFITS OF WLED LIGHTING SYSTEMS

			Safe and Reliable Lighting

			Ultra-long Life (estimated life of 100,000 hours) This represents over 40 years at 6 hours per night. Maintenance requirements are drastically reduced, leading to a fundamental change in design. Life expectancy is unaffected by switching cycles and 100% output occurs with 10 nanoseconds.

			Durability WLEDs are ideally suited to the harsh conditions that can exist in the developing world. With no delicate glass or filaments, LEDs can withstand severe shock and vibration - a common cause of premature failure with traditional light sources.

				Energy Efficient

			Ultra-low Power Consumption WLEDs use 5% of the energy of a regular incandescent bulb. An entire rural village can be lit with less energy than that used by a single conventional 100-Watt light bulb. The light from WLEDs is focused by a reflector and so is far more directional than low energy fluorescent light bulbs so a lower lumen output can produce more useable light on work areas.

			Cost Effective

				A villager using 1 liter of kerosene per week ($0.5 ) pays approximately $25 a year at todays prices. In 4 years the same villager can pay off the cost of a WLED lighting system that has a life span of 20+ years. Fuel prices are predicted to rise again this month or in April to around $0.70/ltr in cities and this will probably translate into $1.00 per ltr in remote areas. That price gives a pay back period of only 2 years. It is unlikely that fuel prices will ever drop but recent advances in WLEDs are reducing the price of the lamps every month. Photovolatics panels are benefiting from the economies of scale as demand in developing areas climbs.

			Implementation of WLED lighting is more practical than the development of centralized power generation for electric lighting in remote areas and so Government subsidies are more than justified. It is not clear that the Indonesian Government will move in this direction.

			Supplies of kerosene are subject to restrictions and the price can escalate several-fold as villagers must often buy from black marketeers. Shortages are often created by middlemen hoarding and then spreading rumors of refinery fires or shutdowns. Fisher communities have to travel long distances to purchase kerosene and the cost of transport has climbed rapidly over the past few months. (Official retail price is $0.35 in the cities)

			Previous kerosene costs can now be used for food, medicine, tools, etc.

			Environmental Impacts

			Reducing the number of dry-cell batteries disposed of reduces the amount of heavy metals released into the local environment. Throughout Indonesia, literally hundreds of millions of non-rechargeable batteries are discarded directly into the environment each year. The result is pollution to streams, groundwater and fields on an immense sale. Fisheries in Jakarta Bay have been decimated by contamination of the ocean water by heavy metals.

			The use of WLEDs in place of the conventional incandescent flashlight bulb can reduce the number of dry-cell batteries thrown away enormously. Combining WLED bulbs with the use of rechargeable batteries eliminates the need to dispose of used batteries.

			The extended lifetime of rechargeable batteries can dramatically reduce the cumulative burden on the environment - even if they are not recycled! Rechargeable batteries in torches have also been shown to save the villagers money within a matter of months and also allow for village entrepreneurship with the establishing of small (women run) battery charging businesses.

			Reduces the Amount of Carbon Dioxide Released in the Atmosphere Every 10 households with a WLED lighting system - will save one ton of CO2 per years.

			Health & Safety Issues

			Kerosene lamp explosions or spills are amongst the most common cause of house fires in rural Indonesia. The results can be devastating for children and adults.

Two young nieces terribly burned by a kerosene lamp explosion in a tent. Gomo - Nias

			Fumes from kerosene lamps contain high levels of semi combusted hydrocarbons due to the low efficiency of the open flame. Children often cluster close to lamps because the light is so poor resulting in increased inhalation and exposure.

			Program in Target Area

			Donor support for several lighting kits will be sought for each village targeted for boatbuilding assembly training. These kits will not be given to families free. Families will be encouraged to apply for a "loan" to purchase a lighting kit with repayments over 10 months via a Rolling Micro Credit Scheme (RMCS). As each loan is repaid, a new loan will be approved for the next family on the list. This method ensures that peer group pressure minimizes late payments or defaults. When these occur, the lighting kit will be recovered by our designated representative and passed to the next qualified family. The number of loans and hence the number of lighting kits for a particular village will depend on the number of donations of kits secured.

				Tsunami Refuges Many of the villages in our target area are in low lying river delta locations and there is no high ground for tsunami evacuation. Each village that is identified as having no possible alternative escape plan will be listed and funding sought on a case by case basis. The bamboo structure shown below uses cable support and can be built for less than $2,500 if all materials are pre-cut and supplied from the Air Manis Training Center. It is proposed to arrange for donors to pool funds on a case-by-case basis so that one structure can be supplied to each village. The assembly process will be used as a training opportunity and the village will then be encouraged to build additional refuges using locally available materials. Kits of bolts, nails, screws and cable can be supplied for less than $100 per unit. Note that the roofing material will be changed to "rumbia" or palm thatch and the floors will be made entirely from round bamboo covered by woven bamboo matting. This will ensure that the floor becomes a raft that can support people should the structure be overwhelmed. This approach to tsunami refuge is not tested and it will not be appropriate at some exposed locations. In areas where mangroves protect the village, structures of this kind are the only solution that will get people high enough off the ground to save lives at a cost low enough to expect communities to build their own using local material.

			4 x 4 m refuge uses 30 x 10-12m long 100-150mm bamboo poles, and 0.2m3 of sawn coconut timber for framing and roof structure. Most villages can secure these materials for the cost of transport and fuel for a chainsaw. Bolts, screws, nails and cable will cost less than $100 per structure