Notes from the field 15 July 2014

15 July 2014

Originally planning to take a taxi (minivan packed with as many people as possible) from Bugiri to Soroti, Denis advised that we try to find a hired vehicle with all of the gear that we were hauling. I agreed despite the additional cost, the added comfort of a real seat and some breathing room and assurance that the gear would make it to Soroti with us. Our friends at the hotel in Bugiri helped us to track down an affordable ride with a couple of young fellas who seemed to be game for a mid-week drive to Soroti. Nassin, the driver on the first leg, was a beginner driver and gripped the wheel tightly, punching the pedal and overtaking bota botas and lorries with sharp jerks of the wheel. After a stop for lunch in downtown Mbale, we ran the car out of gas and Nassin had to catch a lift to the nearest filling station, a little strange given that we had topped up the tank before leaving Bugiri. Starting again we promptly stopped at another filling station and the attendant added another 10 L of fuel. Nonetheless, as we drove along the fuel gauge still read near to empty and the two drivers argued about Nassin’s aggressive driving, however, they came to agree that both filling stations had cheated them and probably only added a fraction of the fuel that they had paid for. We arrived in Soroti late in the afternoon on fumes, and I made sure the the boys properly fueled up as they were distraught about their misfortune and the small profit that they had earned from their day’s work.


Returning to Soroti and working with the fine group of people here has felt like a homecoming for me. We have been well looked after under the care of George and Sharon, a wonderful father-daughter team who care for the Church of Uganda Bishop’s guest house in Campswahili just outside of Soroti-town. Our days here have been long and hot, but productive and rewarding. Betty, the charismatic director of Teso Women’s Development Initiative (TEWDI), our local partner organization and Soroti’s only alternative charcoal fuel producer, is away at D-Lab’s International Development Design Summit (IDDS) in Arusha, Tanzania, but we have been well-supported by her colleagues Helen, Sharon and Josephine.

TEWDI’s fuel production site in Campswahili was the location of the D-Lab Development class field trip that I led this past January when we worked on a variety of technology improvements including a solarbriquette dryer, shelter/greenhouse, rainwater collection system and efficiencyand emissions measurements of TEWDI’s briquettes (photos here). It was good for Denis and I to return and revisit these projects finding that some of them were in need of maintenance. TEWDI’s mechanical mastermind, and downright good guy, Ema Opio, helped us to find a supplier for 4mm thick “di-glass” (likely polycarbonate or acrylic) panels to replace the original thin nylon sheet which covered the solar dryer and had been destroyed by UV, wind and rain. Unfortunately the 4 mil, clear polyethylene sheet that we used to cover the bamboo structure of the greenhouse had been shredded in a recent wind storm, however, replacement with a more durable material is too expensive for this trip. Finding adequate and affordable materials is an ongoing challenge in this work.

We spent a couple of days under the big mango tree practicing the charcoal quality tests, which was a breeze with these very clever ladies. It’s currently groundnut (similar to a peanut) harvest season, so mounds of g’nut shells are accumulating outside of mills all over the Teso region. TEWDI’s driver and mechanic, Patrick, is taking the opportunity to gather free charcoal feedstock which he brings back to the site in Campswahili where Eva and Vero are keeping their drum kilns fired, carbonizing g’nut shells continuously while also caring for both of their toddler daughters to keep up with Patrick’s regular deliveries.

Smoke (hydrocarbons, vapors and particles) emissions from kilns is a concern of mine, especially when they are operated in a peri-urban area like Campswahili. TEWDI shares this concern and we decided during this visit to begin testing of low-emission retort kilns which route the emissions into a fire burning them and provides heat to drive carbonization. Denis, Ema, Patrick and I spent the better part of Saturday in town constructing a drum retort prototype at a local metal fabrication shop. By early afternoon the kiln was complete, with a metal frame to support it above the ground and a two inch pipe routed from the top of the kiln to the bottom. The following day we loaded it with g’nut shells sealed the lid with cassava porridge and started a fire underneath it, hoping that we would soon see thick white (moisture) and then brown smoke (combustible oils) billowing from the pipe positioned in the fire. Unfortunately the fire died down with only small puffs of smoke, or more likely water vapor, briefly spitting out of the pipe. For several more tests we tried different approaches including igniting a fire in the kiln before covering it. Eva and Vero periodically watched on and giggled as we dumped several kiln loads of partially carbonized shells from the prototype retort. We abandoned the sealed, “zero-air” approach and hauled the kiln on the back of a bicycle to a nearby fabricator who cut vents along the bottom of the horizontal drum. While it wasn’t a major success, the clever folks at TEWDI are excited to continue working with us to improve upon this design.

On Sunday Denis and I joined Patrick, Sharon and some of their friends to watch the world cup final. While the pubs in the town were the popular places to go, we opted for a quiet hotel on the outskirts of town. Memories of attacks by Al-Shabaab militants during the previous World Cup final are still very fresh in people's minds here, so we kept away from the big crowds. While I might not be thrilled about the outcome of the match, the past five days have made for another productive and enjoyable visit. Denis, I and the ladies from TEWDI are waiting for the heavy rain to subside before we leave for the bus stage in the town center where we’ll will squeeze into the overnight to Kampala. It’s hard to leave Soroti and the good people here, but farewell until we meet again.

(Photos from the Soroti leg of the trip have been added to this Facebook album)



Notes from the Field 9 July 2014

9 July 2014

I (now we) are wrapping up our visit in Bugiri and preparing to move on to the north tomorrow where we’ll pay a visit to the lovely ladies (and fellas) at TEWDI in Soroti. Denis Weboya, my colleague from Makerere Univ in Kampala, came in on Monday. It’s great to have him along for the rest of the Ugandan leg of this trip- he’s a local Ugandan from outside of Mbale who helps me navigate through the nuances of Ugandan culture (ie. bargaining for bota fares and calling out clever hotel managers trying to tack on additional charges to tourists), he also has a good handle on low-cost technologies for renewable energy production and is excited to work with locals developing clean energy enterprises in his country.

Despite feeling a bit unprepared for this field visit just coming off of a large (and successful!) experimental campaign at Berkeley Lab last month, the first leg has turned out better than I expected. The fine people from Nakabale Integrated Development Group were most welcoming when Sylvia and I arrived at the production site, located on Mzee’s (pronounce muh-zeh’s) farm, on Monday morning with yips and shouts coming from the group of women who were pounding away on D-Lab briquette hand presses as we walked up. After catching up with these people, who now on my third visit, feel like members of my African of my extended family, my handy local assistant, Moses Ekiring, and I set right to work while Sylvia went over the numbers with Peter and Robert. We began clearing out a space in the brick storage building for what would soon become the Nakabale Charcoal Briquette Testing Laboratory. Before we knew it our friend George Guaraj showed up from his farm and happily joined in arranging the lab.


I came with two large duffels filled with supplies to help these young scientists begin evaluating the cooking fuel and stoves that they produce and work to meet new fuel standards that HFI is establishing based on user requirements, fuel savings, and emissions reduction targets. A blackboard made from a piece of scrap plywood, a wood lab bench hand made by a local carpenter, testing instructions and equipment from D-Lab, a couple of days of instruction, and Moses and George are now overseeing testing at Nakabale’s new quality lab, probably the first of its kind at any fuel producer in Africa. It was great to work with these guys and see them get excited about their new roles in the organization and the HFI research team- no PhD needed here. During the coming months, Moses, George and other youth in the Nakabale group will perform weekly tests to measure briquette and char density, durability, moisture content, ash content and fuel efficiency. Those results will then be passed along to Nakabale director, Robert Ekiring, who will upload them to a cloud-based database. The HFI team will use these test results to understand trends in fuel properties and effects of different feedstock recipes and production methods on fuel performance, and ultimately feed this information back to help Nakabale and the many other briquette and stove producers effectively produce a quality and safe product for their communities. Happy experimenting Moses and George! Time for Denis and I to say farewell, grab our bags and track down a ride up north where our work continues in Soroti-town.

(Still struggling with photo uploads, but hopefully get some on here or the FB soon)

Update: Photos posted to Facebook album here

Notes from the Field 5 July 2014

5 July 2014


Today was our first full day in Uganda after arriving in Entebbe late last night following 22 hours of travel (Boston-Amsterdam-Kigali-Entebbe). Nai and I stayed at the Red Chilli Hideaway in the Butabika area of Kampala. We awoke this morning and enjoyed hot showers and delicious french press coffee, something we’ll be missing very soon. During breakfast we met a very interesting fellow, Victor from Florida, who told us about his adventures traveling the world and seeking out local, undiscovered crags to climb. In he’s visiting the gorilla reserve in the western part of the country. Robert, Betty and Sylvia arrived later in the morning to take us away and begin the real work. Nai and I parted ways here. Robert’s brother Fredrick took her to go meet her aunt and uncle. Betty, Robert , Sylvia and I traveled to the Kiwanga section of Kampala to meet Sanga Moses from Eco FuelAfrica, one of Uganda’s largest green charcoal producers making briquettes from carbonized organic waste from urban areas and sugarcane producers. Sanga, motivated by the struggles of his family and friends in his home village left a career in banking to start Eco Fuel. He has gained broad attention with his innovative approach at addressing major environmental, social and health problems surrounding household fuel gathering and use. Sanga seems to be open to working with other charcoal producers and our team at D-Lab at addressing technical and business challenges in providing alternative fuels to Ugandan consumers. Following our visit with Sanga, we left Betty to catch a bus toward Arusha where she will join others development innovators at IDDS. Robert, Sylvia and I continued to our first stop on the tour, Bugiri, a roadside town east of Kampala where a 18-wheelers barrel through town all day transporting goods from Mombasa to Kampala. Tomorrow I begin preparing the first implementation of an onsite quality testing protocol for charcoal briquette producers. Many people in Uganda live on just a few dollars per day, but that’s no reason to provide them with low-quality and potentially harmful products.  Though it’s only about 20:30 local time, my body is ready to clock out for the day. Signing off -D

(Having trouble uploading photos but will do so soon)

Update: Photos posted to Facebook album here.

Nepal 2013 Trip Update

As I'm still transcribing journal entries and reflections from the experience in Nepal, I'd invite folks to have a look through my facebook album here, the team's facebook group here, and the following email update that I sent to folks in the Kumari circle of friends. Please contact me if you'd like more details about the cook stove project, other projects in Kumari, Nuwakot, Nepal, or ideas for excellent trekking in the Langtang region of Nepal.
Namaste

Hello Kumari circle of friends,

Dan Sweeney here from the University of Utah Engineers Without Borders group, and fresh back from our incredible month-long experience in Nepal.  In keeping with the spirit of our amazing and growing group of people involved in work in Kumari, I wanted to send out an update to everyone about our recent trip and plans moving forward with our improved cook stove and other projects.

Just a quick recap: The Kumari cook stove project is being funded under the US EPA P3 program in which the Utah team was selected for a Phase 1 (assessment) grant in 2012, and is now competing with approximately 50 teams from other US universities for one of ~5 Phase 2 (implementation) grants. Representatives of our team will attend the 2013 National Sustainable Design Expo in Washington DC in April to present our Phase 1 results and proposed plans for Phase 2, after which the EPA judges will determine the Phase 2 award recipients.

A major portion of our Phase 1 effort is focused on selecting an improved cook stove design that can be adapted to be built and used in Kumari.  In order to complete the selection and design, we determined that it would be very beneficial to send a few of our team members to Kumari to perform a thorough assessment of available materials, current cooking methods, and the interest and willingness of the locals to adopt a new cooking device, as well as gain the confidence of the villagers by engaging in dialog and education with them.

Four of us from Utah traveled to Kumari over this past winter break, spending close to 2 weeks in the village.  We were also very lucky to have Carolyn Sadowska on board with us for this project doing some preliminary scouting work and logistic support, and along with us for the duration of our work in the village for our assessment trip.  Jagat also organized a great support team for us made up of some of his trekking colleagues and a few villagers.  Thanks also to Randy Baker and others from HE4N for lots of logistical support, and to Scott MacLennan and the folks at the Mountain Volunteer House for advise and accommodations in Kathmandu.

The primary goal of this trip was an assessment to gather data in order to help our team carry out a formal engineering selection and design for the Kumari cook stove.  Prior to the visit, we had screened many different stove designs and selected a few potential designs that we felt could be adaptable to use in Kumari.  Most are constructed either of sheet metal, or cast from a mixture of clay, sand, and insulating material.  Even before traveling to Kumari, it became apparent that the availability of sheet metal was limited, so we arrived in Kumari planning to identify materials for a cast, or stone/brick-constructed stove.  With such good organization by Jagat, we identified nearby sources of clay, sand and rice hulls (insulating material) in little time, and hired a truck and gathered some helping hands to gather some of each material.  We then had some lumber cut by Jagat's oldest brother and built brick molds to make some initial fire-bricks and test the quality of the materials.  With the quality of the materials appearing to be suitable for construction we gathered mold materials (modified ~5 gallon bucket) to build version 1.0 of the Kumari stove, and with plenty of helping hands available, cast a rocket-style cook stove combustion chamber and a few bricks for the fuel and air inlet.  Other than these pieces, the Kumari 1.0 design only required a small piece of sheet metal or thin slate, and five small pieces of rebar.  The stove and bricks were cast and fired and then moved into a nearby home for testing.  After testing and some input from the villagers, we had a few ideas for improvements, and moved forward with a build of Kumari 1.1 and subsequent testing.  In addition, during all of the stove builds and testing, we had several of the local support team with us learning about the build and testing techniques, and also providing valuable input and feedback from their own experience (not surprisingly, far greater than ours).  With respect to materials and prototype building, this was far more than we had planned to accomplish.

In addition to the construction materials assessment and prototype stove construction and testing, we planned to gather a lot of information about current cook stoves and cooking methods.  We were kindly allowed to visit many homes and observed many meals being prepared (and sometimes got to partake in the eating of the meals!). To gather quantitative stove performance and emissions data, we brought along portable CO monitors with data logging capability (to measure point concentration of CO), an air sampler (to collect particulate matter from the ambient air in the home), surface temperature thermocouples, a digital thermometer, and a digital scale (to measure wood consumption).  In many of the homes we were able to carry out a standardized water boil test in which we boiled 1 L of water on the cook stove in the home (most commonly a 3-stone fire).  For these tests, we would attach one of the CO monitors to the cook, place another CO monitor and the air sampler at head level in the middle of the room, and measure the amount of time and wood required to boil the water, all the while logging emissions data on the monitors.  These tests allow us to compare the heating performance, fuel consumption, and emissions performance of the different stoves in the village, our improved stove, and also cook stoves that we are building and testing in Utah.  In most cases testing with existing stoves or 3-stone fires, we measured CO concentrations in the home above 100 ppm, and in some cases as high as 500-600 ppm (OSHA permissible exposure limit is 50 ppm for an 8 hr period).  This compares to the Kumari 1.1 stove in which we could achieve ~20 ppm room CO if operated properly.  Elevated CO concentrations were also measured outside of the room containing the cookstove, including adjacent rooms and upstairs in some homes.

We also had many opportunities to engage in good conversation about our project with the villagers and passers-by from nearby villages.  We worked with Jagat to have a very nice poster made which helped to guide the conversation and assisted us in making points when educating the locals about the benefits of improved cook stoves.  In addition, we visited the Kumari 7 Shree Pokhari Lower Secondary School and carried out improved cook stove related lessons in English (with translation help from Chandra and the teachers) for the three different age groups of students.  The children were very receptive to and excited about this interaction, and this should definitely be included in future visits, possibly with some teaching materials prepared and educational materials to leave for the students.

Aside from the cook stove, we were also able to assess a couple of other areas that our group will hopefully assist with in the future.  First, we spent some time with Jagat and other villagers scouting the freshwater spring above the village that will soon supply the medical clinic.  We were able to gather elevation and flowrate data at this and a couple of other springs.  Jagat also showcased some of the work that is being done to implement sanitary toilets in the village, and a couple of these that are being equipped with biogas collection and delivery systems.  This is a very good way of utilizing otherwise useless material (ie. human, household, agricultural, and livestock waste) to produce combustible gas for cooking, heating and lighting, and also nutrient rich compost for plant fertilizer.  We hope to assist with implementation of more of these systems in the village.

Aside from all of this work, we also had a great time interacting with the villagers- playing with the children, speaking and practicing English with the older students, and singing and dancing in the evenings with villagers of all ages.  We enjoyed good discussion, storytelling and great collaboration with Jagat and his team (Purna, Chandra, Kancha, and Chet).  Kumari is a truly unique community of people and ideas that enables change to happen at a striking pace, and we are very honored to be a part of the progress being made there.

As a reward for our hard work in the village, we joined Chet, Kancha, Di and Carolyn on a 12-day trek in Langtang National Park, reaching Kyanjin Gompa at the base of Langtang Peak and then intersecting the Tamang Heritage Trail where we learned about and saw the villages of the early Tamang people who now live in Kumari.  An unforgettable experience!

We are now regrouping, sorting through photos (a few attached), videos, data and notes, and making preparations for stove testing in our controlled and well-instrumented cook stove experimental test rig at the University of Utah.  After gathering some additional data from these laboratory tests, we will be preparing a final report and proposal to present in hopes of gaining Phase 2 funding for this project which would likely bring us back to Kumari next year for a much broader educational and training program and to assist in the scale-up of improved cook stove production.  In addition, we are working to support the medical team with a design and possibly funding for the medical clinic spring water supply.  It's likely that we will be in touch with many of you in the coming weeks and months to ask for advise or input on plans moving forward.  We always welcome feedback or input from all of you, so feel free to respond, or forward this on to other folks who may be interested.

Many thanks again to all of you for helping to make our visit a success!  We are adding photos to a Facebook group (search Facebook for "Nepal Cookstoves project"), and we will be posting notes and journal entries onto several blogs.  We will share details of those to everyone as they roll out into the digital world.

Best wishes to everyone in 2013, and look forward to continuing work with all of you on efforts in Kumari.

Namaste

The Utah Cook Stove Team

Nepal Arrival

Checking in here, early Saturday morning, December 14, 2012.  Reading some very sad news from back in the US that is bringing a somber feeling this morning.  As we drove through the understated chaos on the streets of Kathmandu today, I asked Navan if crime was a serious problem in Kathmandu, with the densely packed population of about 1 million and little police or military presence.  "Daniel my friend, our culture is built upon peace and compassion.  We have been taught by our families respect each other, regardless of background, social level and religion.  And besides, surviving day-to-day is hard enough- why make it more difficult with hate and violence?"  I'm not here for social commentary, but in the three days that I have been here, I have felt a backdrop of peace and calm in the midst of what appears to be complete disarray in Kathmandu.

The author should not need to apologize, but as seems to be the case when I travel to a place like Kathmandu, I come with the goal of keeping a detailed account of observations, sensations and experiences and sharing those in real-time with people that care to follow.  As is typically the case, the over-stimulation and sensual overload of a new place leaves me overwhelmed and exhausted by the end of each day and unable to do a reasonable job of organizing thoughts into text.  We've thrown this poor Colorado farm boy out into a big world!

In addition, the purpose of this journey is not only to explore a new place and culture, but to enter into an indigenous community and to whatever extent possible, take part in the daily life of the people, learn about their way of living, and to use my knowledge and experience to help them to improve their quality of living while maintaining the tradition and culture.  While we are here to provide help and teach the people of Kumari, it will surely be the case that we will be the ones receiving help and knowledge.  Later this morning, we will load up in a beat up old Land Rover, and my friend Jagat Lama will take us to his home and welcome us into his community.  I enter with an open mind, a warm spirit, and a compassionate heart.  I hope to return having had a glimpse into a new culture, having made new friends, having gained new knowledge and wisdom, and having shared my limited experience to ease the daily struggles of the people of Kumari.

So far, this adventure has been a test of endurance, starting with the drive from Tribhuvan airport to the Mountain Volunteer House (MVH), where I am staying in Kathmandu.  After exiting the airport through the crowd of insistent taxi drivers and meeting Jagat and Usha, Jagat negotiated with a taxi driver and we loaded into the small, 4-door, white, hatchback and progressed into the city on a roughly paved road joining hundreds of other cars, trucks and busses with any and all gaps being filled by motorcycle, bicycle, pedestrian, feral dog and bovine animal!  And the adventure promptly begins!  A seeming free-for-all commenced, with each occupier of the road moving ahead and looking for a gap to fill and making liberal use of the horn to establish their presence.  The 25 hours of airplane travel prior to arriving in Kathmandu was easy compared to this!  Arriving at the MVH, Usha promptly prepared a Nepali black tea and I dropped my backpack and collapsed into a patio chair in the warm sunshine.  Jagat left me to rest and the sisters, Tina and Usha (16 and 19), who care for the house, showed me to my dorm room and helped me to settle in.  Namaste.


With Jagat Lama
The sisters in the courtyard at the house

I napped for a couple of hours then took the opportunity to explore the surroundings.  The mostly residential section, with tightly packed, 2-3 story stone and masonry homes and narrow winding roads/alleys, is directly adjacent to a large shopping complex with small outdoor vendors selling vegetables, handicrafts, cheap novelty gifts, knives, nuts and herbs.  Being outside of the tourist area, I immediately caught the attention of nearly everyone that I passed, but was often greeted with a meeting of hands and "namaste".  Dana, all 6 ft 4 in of him plus a large backpack and suitcase, arrived later in the evening after 2-days of travel, including an 8-hour stint in Guangzhou, and looked as though he had walked/swam from Salt Lake City.  We spent the next day in recovery incubation, with the sisters being most hospitable.  Jagat and Carolyn joined us at the house in the afternoon to discuss the schedule for the trip and necessary supplies and provision that we would gather for Kumari.  After a delicious, home-cooked rice, Thai noodle stir-fry, and vegetable curry dinner generously prepared by Usha.  Dana, I and the sisters sat around the living room, Dana and I catching up on happenings back in Utah and amusing ourselves with the excited conversation that the sisters were having which would frequently shift into Nepali song and laughter.  The small dog, Jimi, sacked out at my feet and oblivious to the whole scene.  This continued until 8pm, when the power load-shedding kicked-in.  Lights throughout the city immediately shut-off and the sisters retired to their room where they studied by flashlight, preparing for a busy day of school and work at the house the following day.

Gopi Lama, a friend of Jagat's, came with his car Friday morning at 10am, just as Dana and I were waking from an after breakfast nap.  We spent a thrilling day with Gopi and his friend Navan, navigating through the streets of Kathmandu, visiting beautiful Buddhist stupas and Hindu temples tucked into various parts of the city, ascending the stairs to the  Monkey Temple to take refuge from the heavily polluted air in the city, wandering through the narrow streets lined with outdoor shops in Thamel district, and meeting with Jagat and Carolyn to finish the day with a delicious traditional Nepali dinner and traditional dance.  An amazing tour of Kathmandu thanks to Gopi and Navan, and an incredible evening thanks to Jagat!  Being thoroughly exhausted, we returned to the house and immediately collapsed into a heavy sleep.  Tomorrow, onward to Kumari and a slower-paced, rural life.

It is almost certain that internet access will be non-existent in the villages, which means that I bid you all farewell for the next 3 weeks.

PS.  See this facebook album for more photos: 

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100757549736243.2632393.19200474&type=1&l=a5b2b3a50c

The yankee sails!

"To young men contemplating a voyage, I would say go."    -Joshua Slocum

Photos from a 5-day cruise in the Finnish archipelago aboard Iiris.


Our skipper, Dave, loads provisions onto Iiris, our 13 meter home for the next several days
Fellow deckhand enjoying the evening sun on deck before we depart

Kevin and Esa in the cockpit

A bit of wind, "Cut the engine and raise the mainsail!"

Greenhorn at the helm of Iiris in the archipelago


Ella takes the wheel as Laura watches on as we cruise the archipelago


Lying around in the cabin

Winds have picked up and we're keeled over


On land and out for a hike among the rocks

The small community on the island (pop. 10) hosted a midsommer party where 3 generations of musicians entertained a lively bunch of sailors and locals full of crawfish and schnapps

Boats landed at the harbor

Back to sea in the Baltic


Found a nice spot at the bow with the main and jib carrying us through back home to Naantali

Across the Baltic

As we rumbled into the Turku (Swedish: Åbo, "oh-bo") harbour, Silja line employees came around to each cabin on the boat.  A bit of a rude awakening, but very necessary to ensure a quick and efficient unloading of boats inhabitants.  Quick shower, load the packs, and out the cabin door just in time to make a quick exit, passing by a lone and forgotten men's, brown leather dress shoe in the hallway- probably an artifact from the previous night's festivities.


Exiting the mighty Galaxy, spilling out of the bridge with our shipmates onto the harbour where everyone quickly dispersed into the train station, taxis or cars with waiting friends and family.  We continued on by foot, first making a stop at Turku Castle, one of the oldest continuously used edifices in Finland dating back to the 13th century.  After a stroll around the empty castle grounds, we continued along the boardwalk next to the Aura River where retired tall-ships converted to fancy restaurants and bars were docked.  A boardwalk cafe was opening for the day so we claimed an outdoor table and enjoyed strong coffee and lax and hard-boiled egg sandwiches.  An older couple out for a morning walk with their nordic walking poles saw my backpack and kindly inquired about where we were coming from. "USA, Colorado/Utah area," I answered.  "Oh, a good ski place," the man replied.  I raised my cup, smiled and nodded as they continued along, poles in hand moving in stride with their footsteps.

As Turku was his home while he was a graduate student, Kevin reminisced about different places in town as we continued walking along the Aura and then into the city center where we stopped in at the tourist information center for a much needed bathroom, and then to the central market where vendors were beginning their day, selling fruit, vegetables, berries and mushrooms.  We scored a half-kilo of lingonberries and a bag of salmiakki candy, a peculiar black-liquorice candy with an overwhelming, tongue-numbing ammonium chloride salt powder core.  I called it good after one and rinsed my mouth out with a few handfuls of lingon.


With the sun shining brightly we crossed the bridge over the Aura and up a grassy hill to one of Turku's beautiful parks, passing markers along the path up the steep hill which indicated the sea level at different points throughout history (rise of land masses due to post-glacial isostatic rebound, about 1 cm/year in this area).  Without enough time for a thorough visit, we passed by the Luostarinmäki, a traditional Finnish village and now a museum exhibiting the fine, sturdy Finnish woodworking and architecture.  

Now, with my stomach rumblin' and nearly ready for feeding, we made our way toward the university campus, first making a stop at the Turku Cathedral, the mother church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, originally constructed in the 13th century.  We popped inside to muse at the cavernous interior and listen to the church's organist, who was apparently practicing for the coming weekend's service.  A very impressive structure, especially given the age and the fact that it had been partially destroyed during the Great Fire of Turku in 1827.

The campus at Åbo Akademi University was quiet, as the new semester was still one week away.  We made our way to the department of chemical engineering just in time for fika (coffee break!), where several of the graduate students, administrative staff and professors were gathered around large tables in the break room, chatting over coffee and homemade pastries.  The entire room immediately looked up at the two ripe vagabonds, several recognizing Kevin, and welcoming us to join them.  We filled cups of coffee from the automated machine, which I fumbled through not being able to interpret the numerous options available.  Within five minutes most of the room had cleared out as fika abruptly ended with only a few folks hanging around to chat with us.  I entertained Levenspiel's theory of atmospheric pressure during the time of the dinosaurs while Kevin caught up with former colleagues until we had the pleasure of joining Professor Mikko Hupa, renowned expert on biomass utilization for energy and fuel production, for a delicious Finnish buffet lunch complete with mashed potatoes and various types of pickled fish.

We finished our visit at the university, wielded our backpacks and walked into central Turku to rendezvous with Kevin's friend Dave to begin what would be another great adventure over the coming days on the Finnish Archipelago.

Introduktion: Stockholm

I was up early with my body still on Colorado time (if there is such a thing).  The air was cool and wet, reminded me of Venice in November (haha, I can say that!)- damp sheets and everything cool to the touch.  Skyped for a bit, attempted to force myself back to sleep and then succumbed when I heard people stirring upstairs.  A quick breakfast of soygurt, muesli and strong, black coffee (the Swedish way) and we were on our way, first boarding the Pendeltåg into the Stockholm city center.  The train was relatively full with commuters, both workers and students (college and younger), most with their noses in their iPhone.  We arrived in the central station (Stockholm C) and made our way from the train platform to the surface and out onto Sergel's Torg ("ser-yells tor-ye", Sergel's Square), a bustling, modern city square in downtown Stockholm- site of sporting victory celebrations, regular protests and demonstrations, and apparently, drug dealing.  The area was quite busy, with folks on their way to work and tourists like myself, wandering around obstructing the flow of pedestrian traffic.

While in the neighborhood, I figured I would make my first visit to my new friends at the Swedish Fulbright Commission on Vasagatan (gatan = street) just down the way from Sergel's.  A ride up a very Swedish elevator (just big enough for the two of us) and we arrived at the office.  Eric and Monica were very welcoming and gave me a quick rundown on the preparations that they had made, including a Swedish bank account (not easy to get apparently) and personal ID number (also difficult to obtain).  In addition, they have organized monthly social events during which the Fulbrighters will gather.  I'll be bugging these folks quite a bit over the next year, thanks Eric and Monica!


We wandered hastily around the city center for a bit, walking past modern clothing stores and office buildings.  As we continued about I noticed a couple of things about Stockholm that seemed different from other cities that I have seen.  Everywhere we went things seemed very clean and orderly.  No trash in the gutters, cigarette butts on the sidewalk, even the garbage cans and surrounding areas were tidy.  There was some amount of vehicle traffic, and by this time presumably most people were already at work, but I didn't see backed up traffic or even large numbers of cars that we might see near the business center of an American city.  Much of the vehicle traffic appeared to be municipal and service vehicles: garbage trucks, delivery, taxis.  Most people were on foot or bicycle, and the folks that were driving were very courteous to us non-motorized cats.  These, along with the docile and unobnoxious people, made Stockholm a comfortable and welcoming place, which was quite nice given that I had been in the country for just over one day.   Lastly, there didn't appear to be any homeless or pandhandlers, or maybe just not in the city center.  Possibly all products of high tax rates and a generous welfare system?  I have much to learn.


Continue.  We sauntered into Hötorget ("huhr-tor-yet", haymarket) where a vibrant fruit and vegetable market greeted us with lingonberries and bounties of bright yellow kanterella mushrooms.  We pecked on some berries in front of the Konserthuset (Stockholm Concert Hall), which was housing a Banksy exhibition and will later host the Nobel Prize Ceremony (interesting contrast).

A hop over the bridge and we entered Gamla stan ("old town"), a small island between Norrmalm and Södermalm (the "north" and "south" islands), home to many of the iconic narrow cobble streets and medieval architecture which dates back to the 13th century, including the Nobel Museum, the Stockholm Cathedral, the Riddarholmen Church (burial site of Swedish monarchs), and the Kungliga slottet, Sweden's baroque royal palace.  Gamla stan is definitely an area to devote a good amount of time to:  admiring at the well preserved architecture, people-watching at outdoor cafes in open plazas, and visiting the many historic sites.  Despite the tourists and novelty gift shops, I will be back to Gamla stan.  But onward we go, time was short and still more to see before the end of the day!


We made our way toward the Skeppsbron ("the ship's bridge") harbor and onto a ferry, my trusty blue SL card coming through for me again providing free access to the ferry.  The small, steel, motorized boat puttered into the harbor, providing a nice view of Gamla stan behind us, the cliff boundary at Stadsgården to the south, and the pleasant traditional Swedish architecture of the prestigious harbor-side hotels, shops and apartments on Strandvägen (beach road) to the north.  I wandered about the boat for a few minutes thinking that I could find a "toalette", opening a door to a maintenance room and trying several others that were locked, looking like another confused American tourist.  We exited the ferry after making a round about the island Djurgården and then landing on the opposite side of it, near the Vasa museum, which houses the salvaged 17th century ship of the same name that sunk on it's maiden voyage near Stockholm.  With still an hour or so before our Silja ferry departed, we enjoyed a pint at an expensive harbor-side cafe, during which the rain abruptly started to pour down from the overcast sky.

And the rain continued to come down.  We stood stranded under a tree, the leaves of which soon became saturated with water which then transferred on to us who were hoping to find shelter under it.  Standing water began to fill the streets and cars and buses passing through were generating sizable sprays onto the sidewalks which were now empty.  "This is pretty typical," Kevin informed me, as rainwater dripped down the end of his nose.  We bailed on our tree position and found a crowded hotel canopy to stand underneath until the rain finally began to subside and we evac'd in order to reach the ferry loading area where drivers were pulling their cars onto the first and second decks.  A convenient automated kiosk dispensed our tickets to us and we passed through the a futuristic automated gate contraption to enter the bridge which transported us to the 11-deck, Class 1A icebreaker Silja Galaxy, holding 2,800 passengers and 420 automobiles and powered by four Finnish manufactured Wärtsilä V-32 diesel engines, totaling about 35,000 hp.

Our room was on the ninth deck, a 3 x 2 m enclosure with a bathroom, window, and two single beds separated by a small walkway.  We ditched our bags in the room and bolted for a spot with a good view on the upper deck.  The sun was setting and the air was cooling down.  All of the surfaces on the boat were cold to the touch, giving a subtle discomfort.  But, we were now at sea, a new adventure which overcame the discomfort.  Dusk set in as the big ferry rumbled through the archipelago, passing islands small and large, speckled with colorful summer cottages (interestingly the ferries are engineered to create very little wake to minimize shoreline erosion on the islands in the archipelago).  After an hour or so, the dusk was finally drawing down to darkness and only the flashing red and green navigational beacons lining the shipping channel were visible.  Time for a beer.  We found a spot at one of the many pubs on the concessions level of the ferry.  Two Guiness', please.  A nice looking gypsy troubador, who we later found out was Hungarian, performed American pop songs from the 1960-70s, adding a little "yee-haw" to the end of every song.  Two more Guiness'.  A couple of hours of that, the boat clipping along now on the open sea just outside of the Åland islands.  On my way back to the room I stopped in at the performance auditorium to find a lively scene of 20 or so of my shipmates getting down on the dance floor to "Billy Jean".  All ages- grandmothers, fathers, teenage daughters; and it didn't appear that they were slowing down, even at 2am with about four hours until we landed in Finland.  Tempted to join in the festivities, but utterly desecrated by jet-lag and Guiness, I retired to my cabin and quickly drifted into sleep to the faint rumble of the boat hull breaking through open water.  A few hours of shuteye before landfall.



Välkommen: A new chapter

Here we go, back again to whisp you away on another whimsical adventure.  It's been some time since I've checked in here, but I've managed to bag a couple more years in old Salt Lake, and a few letters on the back end of my name in the process.  After a total shot in the dark, I've landed myself a Fulbright Fellowship which has planted me in Sverige (pronounced Sver-ee-yuh, which means "Sweden") for the next year in an effort to share culture, establish connections and learn about different forms of energy production in one of the most efficient and cleanest energy producers in the world.  Yup, young Sween from little Waverly, Colorado headed over to the old world to chum it up with our ancestors and right all the wrongs of the world (or vise-versa)!

Leaving the States was a bit panicked (big surprise, right?) and melancholy.  We had a nice little cookout in Liberty Park to say farewell to the Salt Lake crowd and a mighty fine get-together at the Sweeney compound (aka. The Weasel Duck Ranch) back in Fort Collins. Some barbecued  homegrown beef, beers, tears and a few hugs and I was on my way.  Ahh-dee-yos.

During the flight over I broke the ice and struck up some conversation with the fellas sitting near me.  Henry, a basketball player from Houston, was making his first trip to Sweden and, coincidentally, heading up to Luleå ("loo-lee-o"), a city approximately 60 km (that's about 40 miles for ya folks back home) from where I would be living. He had been recruited to play for the professional team in town called LF Basket.  Oyvind, a photographer originally from Norway and now living in Stockholm, was on his way back from a photo shoot in New York City.  We had some good laughs and a couple of beers, then popped a melatonin and drifted into an uncomfortable but much needed sleep.  The attractive flight attendant awoke me with a tasty but undersized breakfast and before we knew it we were touching down through overcast skies at Arlanda Airport in Stockholm, blanketed in greenery and lush forest over all areas that weren't covered in road or building.

After making my way through the terminal, featuring linear, wood based architecture, and a failed attempt to negotiate a reasonably priced cab ride, I decided to try my hand at the public transportation after receiving some sparse instructions on how to get to my destination. "First, get on the #86 bus to the Märsta train station. Then board the J36 pendeltåg commuter toward the central station and change to the J35 Bålsta train at the Karlberg station and ride to the Barkarby station, then a couple of hundred meter walk and you'll be there!"  It was a bit too much for me to put together in the state that I was in, but I took a shot in the dark, and was pleasantly surprised to find that my first mass transit experience was relatively painless.  Within an hour or so I was on the front steps of Kevin's house in Järfälla, ready for a smoked salmon sandwich on rye and a much needed nap.

Residential area in  Järfälla, a suburb of Stockholm
A few hours of napping and then off for a lovely walk through the neighborhood streets of Järfälla with Kevin, Elisia and the dog, Lea.  The weather was overcast, but relatively comfortable.  The humidity in the air keeps the skin moist and the hair curly, with a similar feel to that of the Northern Pacific Coast.  The streets were very active with other walkers, some using the traditional nordic method with trekking poles, and bicyclists.  Young and old, and everyone very healthy looking.  Nearly every house was lush with foliage, well kept and very cozy looking.  Oh, and nearly every vehicle is a Volvo stationwagon (yeah!).

Still with no introduction to the city center, and completely disoriented with no mountains for reference and dense forest covering every undeveloped section of land, the jet lag was kicking in, and with much in store for tomorrow it was time for another sleep in my cool basement flat.  Veggie curry, sauna, a shower and sleeee... 

Tomorrow, off for a train, boat and walking tour of Stockholm and then boarding the Silja line ferry to Finland for a weekend in the Finnish Archipelago.  Stay tuned!

Your's truly,

Daniel Joseph Sweeney XIV



Finishing What I Started: Final Days in the West Bank

So the original plan was to get back to the old Al-Hajal in the evenings and post some stories from each day while we were in the West Bank.  As it turned out, there were a lot of interesting things to do in the evenings, wandering the busy Ramallah streets, stopping in at vegetable markets and bakeries for some tasty snacks, killing some time in a coffee shop and interacting with the locals, or just hanging at the Al Hajal, watching Arab news and pop programs with the fellas.

Back stateside, I hit the ground running, working hard the past couple months to keep momentum on our humanitarian work with our new Palestinian colleagues in the West Bank, and also trying to keep my head above water in my own work (and slide in some skiing here and there).  So here I am, now two months out from my first travels over the Atlantic, and just getting around to posting some comments about the conclusion of the trip.

The remainder of our week in the West Bank was full of a lot of really productive meetings with various Palestinian Authority officials, university professors, NGOs and aid agencies.  All in all, we met with close to 20 people, a huge surprise considering we only had one scheduled meeting when we left the States.  There is a great need for support in the West Bank, however, I found that many, probably most, Palestinians are not uneducated and incapable of taking care of themselves.  They are actually a fairly well educated people with a wide variety of useful skills.  This wasn't what I was expecting.  I expected to see some form of a male dominated, militant society with a deep religious influence.  This couldn't be farther from the truth.  In many ways I envy the Palestinian people.  Here they are in a dire situation, their land being slowly overtaken by a nation that was only recently established in the region who has the unconditional support of the world's strongest country.  Nonetheless, Palestinians are among the happiest people that I have ever encountered.  Granted, they are not too thrilled about the state of their state, but there is an evident hope for continued improvement.  The reestablishment of the Palestinian Authority is invigorating commerce, infrastructure and industry, providing jobs for people who were before unemployed and destitute.  Walking the streets of Ramallah I still saw people that just looked bored, however, I also saw construction workers building intricate wooden frames in massive pits that will soon support office buildings, truck drivers hauling municipal wastewater from outlying villages to the one of two functioning wastewater treatment plants, and engineers working with NGOs to devise creative ways for providing basic needs of food and water for villagers outside the city.

We finished out our final day in the West Bank travelling south of Ramallah and Jerusalem to Bethlehem and Jericho.  A day of travel and leisure after a productive and exhausting array of meetings in Ramallah and Nablus.  It was Greek Orthodox Christmas in Bethlehem where we visited that Church of the Nativity, the site that is believed to be the birthplace of Jesus, and the Mosque of Omar, where Omar (Muslim leader during 600s) prayed after the death of Mohammed.  The Church of The Nativity was bustling with hundreds of Greek Orthodox Christian pilgrims and a huge procession of clergy chanting hymns for the celebration.  We entered the church through the "Door of Humility", a 3-4 ft high opening that everyone entering must pass through to enter the Basilica of The Nativity.  Worn 600 year old mosaics are high on the walls of the wood supported structure of the church.  A section of the worn wood floor could be lifted up to reveal the original mosaic floor.  I muscled open the hatch, the old wood hinges squeaked, a bunch of  .

Continuing south we drove along the Wall toward Jericho.  At Bethlehem University we saw the soccer field where students played for several days forcing Wall construction to be diverted around the field.  Outside of Bethlehem the Wall veered easterly, at one point cutting right down the middle of the road we were driving on, cutting half of the city off leaving many Palestinians trapped in "no man's land".

As we continued south toward Jericho and the Dead Sea the number of yellow license plates (Israeli) increased as we traveled along the Israeli maintained highway providing access to numerous settlements looming atop rocky hills, surrounded by steep rocky slopes and concertina fencelines.  Arriving at the Dead Sea an hour and a half south of Bethlehem we followed several large Israeli tour buses to a resort "compound" near the north end of the shrinking body of water (diversion of the Jordan River into Israel has cutoff nearly all of the water supply into the Dead Sea).  We parked the car near the edge of the compound closest to the water and looked out at the sea through tall chain-link fence, a few hundred feet from the shore, bearing a large sign that read "Danger Mines".

Jericho is believed to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, with traces of habitation dating back to 9000 BC, and also the lowest inhabited site in the world.  We ascended (with the help of the lowest gondola in the world) a steep cliff to the Greek Orthodox Monastery of the Temptation, constructed above the cave where it is believed that Jesus spent 40 days and nights fasting and praying, resisting temptation from Satan.  As we watched the sun set over the Jordan River Valley, looking out across the valley to Jordan I asked Fayez why there didn't seem to be any inhabitation in the valley except for Jericho.  "The valley is full of land mines, left over from the Arab-Israeli wars to keep anyone from exiting or entering the West Bank at the Jordan border."  We gazed up further the valley to the north along the West Bank-Jordan border, where, Fayez informed us, the Israeli military has established a large military test range, another area that we are advised to avoid.  We descended the cliffs of the Mount of Temptation, drove along the luscious fruit farms and grabbed a bite to eat in Jericho before heading back to Ramallah where we would say goodbye to Fayez and spend our last evening with our friends at the Al-Hajal Hotel.  We were lucky to be heading north, as we found that a checkpoint near Bethlehem had cut off southbound traffic, backing up Palestinian motorists for several miles for an unknown amount of time

The next day, a jaunt back across the border into Jerusalem, two meetings to discuss funding for our work, a sunset on the Mediterranean coast in Tel Aviv, a risky wager for a cheap taxi ride to Ben Gurion Airport, and 3 hours of special treatment in Israeli airport security after I informed the security employees of our adventures in the West Bank.

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