Final day of the hackathon and interviews

Yesterday we heard the final presentations of the hackathon. All the groups had good ideas mainly dealing with recycling as waste is a huge problem factor which many groups picked up to solve. Another topic dealt with the problem that people put their garbage to the sewage system. The idea was to install sensors in the pipes that transfer pressure information to be able to locate the problem site. The final winners team wanted to install an SMS service to locate problems within Chamanculo. The user would have to give the location and the description of the problem and the municipality could receive the information fast to provide help. All five teams created very good 5 min pitch presentations and we were able to see the development of the ideas every day.

Our SGT group gave an example presentation one day earlier as we were not part of the competition. We introduced the idea of a dry toilet. We explained the idea of composting and using the compost and urine as a fertilizer for gardening. The fruits and vegetables produced could then be eaten by the families to prevent malnutrition or families could sell the products. We got the impression that people were interested in that idea as we answered many questions and that's why we would like to develop this idea further.

Introducing the idea of  dry toilets and urban gardening

Tomorrow at the Chamanculo festival we will introduce the idea to the locals, explain how the system of a dry toilet works and see and ask for their reactions. If we get positive feedback, a pilot project could be started in cooperation with ASSCODECHA.

Additionally in the last days we carried out interviews about water and sanitation. We did informal interviews and walks with several locals. Furthermore, we interviewed Teemu Seppälä from the Ministery of Science and Technology, Jean Barroca from World Bank, Jaana Oikarinen, a former volunteer at ASSCODECHA, who was involved in a dry toilet project in Swaziland and the local representative of the municipality for Chamanculo. We visited a primary school where we were a big attraction for the kids who wanted to touch your hair and walk with you. We could visit some classrooms, the toilets, and interview a teacher and the director of the school. It was a nice opportunity to see what the conditions in school are actually like and to get an impression in case of wanting to introduce the toilet idea to schools. There was definitely enough space for a big garden :)

We are looking forward to sharing thoughts and skills at the festival tomorrow and it will be good to see the reactions of potential users of the toilets... Let's see!

-Anja