GlobalGiving.org: Solar cookers for the school in Fiadanana

A visit by Santa to both schools

Markus Faigle — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:23:17 GMT

Thank you for your support!

Christmas is a very important holiday for our villages in Madagascar. A Christmas tree is part of the celebration. In our first school in Fiadanana the trees is, as always, outside. In the village of Fiarenana the tree is inside the classroom.

For a few years now (since 2007) Santa Claus comes and visits the school children with gifts. This year Santa brought orange bags to both our schools with a toothbrush, toothpaste, a pencil, a ball pen, and soap. Santa also bought a package of cookies and a sweet treat (often the only sweet they get for Christmas).

An yes, with the end of the tax year coming up, the tribute card challenge is still on until December 31.

HAPPY 2011!

Thank you

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

Christmas trees outside the school in Fiadanana

Santa swings by the school in Fiadanana

Elders in Fiadanana formally thanking GlobalGiving

Links:

Santa in the school in 2007

A very big THANK YOU to all of our donors!

Markus Faigle — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 21:07:58 GMT

Classroom with solar water pasteurizer

A big Thank You to all of our donors who supported our solar cooker project over the years! You make our work possible. We could not do it without you!

In the photo you can see the solar water pasteurizer in the back of the classroom (in the left corner). In the age of text messages (SMS) we can communicate with our Zahana contacts and our teachers in the villages on a regular basis at low cost. The minimalist report for November from December 15, 2011 reads as follows [text in brackets is added to provide context for the readers]

Fiarenana:

48 students: 22 boys, 26 girls aged from 4 to 13 [attended school in November]
2 levels of teaching: level 0 (beginner), level 1
Parents monthly meeting: 1st Saturday
School garden: vegetables [are being planted by the students]
Nursery: 1199 baby trees (eucalyptus, papaya, bibasse, mango) ready to be planted, seeds of moringa olifera [ready to be planted again by our master gardener].

Fiadanana [our first village]:

90 students [currently attend school]
School garden: vegetables [are being planted by the students]
[School] Poultry project: 6 hens, roosters [this is an hands-on income or protein generating project for the students as part of our microcredit efforts]
106 baby trees and flowers planted around the school
Environment: asking people to collect plastic bags spread in village
Nursery: lot of baby trees [grown by our second gardener]

[Both] gardeners were told to keep all baby trees for Zahana [planting 15,000 trees] project.

- End text/SMS -

Last but not least:

Did you know you can make donations to any our Zahana projects at GlobalGiving as gifts to friends and loved ones this holiday season? This gift in honor of someone might relieve you of the agonizing thought: what could I give her or him? (and help Zahana at the same time). Or, the other way around, your friends might give you a gift card for your favorite project?

To make a gift in honor of somebody is easy: In a few minutes (and a few clicks) you can create a personalized greeting card via our project pages on GlobalGiving. Just click on the third giving option “gift or in honor of” right under the big orange “donate” button on any of our 4 project pages.

We just recently added our latest project Planting 15000 trees in Madagascar (#9470), which is eligible as well. For details about the ‘tribute card challenge’ please visit our website.

Thank you for your support.

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

Donation in honor of ...

Links:

The real measure of success

Markus Faigle — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:54:08 GMT

Communal water faucet keeps the garden green

Sometimes the success of our participatory community development approach is best illustrated with a project we (Zahana) don’t do. Metal fences now surround all seven of Fiadanana’s communal water faucets for over 2 years. Built with a solid concrete foundation, the metal fences are holding up well.

All of the seven metal fences were built and paid for by the community of Fiadanana, because they saw a need for it, without asking Zahana for a financial contribution. This is a prime example of a community taking ownership of and responsibility for their own resources.

Some history: In 2006, the community built their communal water system with seven communal water faucets (see website) with support from Zahana. Back in 2006 we thought (see photos) communal water faucets could become a green oasis in the village, beautifying everything through colorful flowers and greenery, easily watered by the runoff.

Little did we know that the cows had no appreciation for esthetics, but a great hunger for juicy fresh green ‘stuff’. To keep the cattle out, the community decided to use concrete and metal, keeping their seven communal water sources safe for years to come.

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

The new communal water faucet with fence

The new school water faucet in Fiadanana

Inauguration of the new communal water faucet

2007: Traditional healer & granddaughter

Links:

Building the communla water system

Seven happy students!

Markus Faigle — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:56:19 GMT

Seven happy and proud students

We just got this picture of all seven students from Fiadanana that got award the CEPE (Certificat d'etudes primaires élémentaires or Certificate of Primary Studies). Our wonderful teachers trainer, whos work made this possible as well is to the left. So without further ado we wanted to add this picture to the last project report.

Links:

What is a CEPE??

Cooking - the biggest need for energy

Markus Faigle — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:23:18 GMT

Loading the new rocket cookstove

Last year our solar volunteer Bruce helped us introduce solar lighting to the village. He also was instrumental in trying to get the balzingtubesolarappliance to run in Madagascar. Having decades of experience in installing photovoltaic solar units in California, Bruce’s expertise was a godsend for us, but the innovative solar cooker did not work as well as we had hoped.

After spending a few weeks living in our two villages and participating in daily life, he gained the insight that improving wood burning cooks stoves is the most immediate and beneficial technology. He dedicated the last year to learn as much about cook stoves he subsequently field-tested his ideas and models in California, Laos and Thailand before traveling to Madagascar.

Cooking fires are burning in Madagascar in virtually every household. If we could improve the efficiency of these cooking fires by only 50% we would cut the need for wood in half, with reduced carbon emission as an additional benefit.

The pictures of the rocket stove type cookers (an elaborate and much tested design by Aprovecho Research Center) donated to Zahana by Bruce are hand made in Madagascar. They are not very costly to make and can be replicated in a cottage industry setting. As with all technologies, Bruce is currently working on making it even more efficient to increase oxygen flow. The two models donated to zahana are currently being used in the school to cook the soup for the student and out teacher said: “Normally we need 5 to 6 pieces of wood to cook rice, with this new cooker we need all but one. Although it is hard to light a fire”. Even more exacting for us is that we can use more and more, the dead branches from the acacia trees we planted in the school-yard instead of collecting firewood outside.

After our experiences trying to introduce the shiny and rather big blazingtubesolar, still the most efficient solar cooking currently available, it turned out to be in Malagasy eyes too high tech and complicated. It uses vacuum tubes and oil and looks very different (see website). We learned our lesson that technological leap froging did not work too well for us and we are now going back to basics, with a low-tech solar box cooker model. We are initiating to partner with a Swiss NGO that manufactures it in Madagascar, but they are a long way away from our project site in the other end of the island.

We hope that a really efficient rocket stove can get everybody excited to adopt a cultural change, since its pay back is immediately felt, once they see how little wood is needed (more about wood stoves on our website). Combining this innovative wood-burning stove we hope people will gave both technologies a chance to be tried and hopefully be adopted and save even more wood in the process.

Best regards,

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

Putting the cookstove to the test...

Links:

Zahana cook stove info

A celebration: The first school diplomas ever!!

Markus Faigle — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:47:56 GMT

Celebration the first school certificate ever

“Getting a CEPE is a very big deal for everybody. Nobody in their village ever got a CEPE so far”, our friend Dr. Ihanta told us on Skype. “Eight of our students from our Fiadanana school took the exam. They had been preparing for weeks every day with their teacher. Seven of our Students passed the exam, while from other village schools only 30% to 50% of the students did so well.”

In Madagascar a CEPE is a Certificat d'etudes primaires élémentaires (or Certificate of Primary Studies). A nation-wide standardized test, it can be awarded after attending five years of primary education. Students that don't pass either leave school without a CEPE or may try again after repeating the year in school.

Zahana’s school in Fiadanana is now 5 years old and these are our first students who qualified to take the CEPE. Established as private schools, Zahana has more educational freedom in choosing a culturally appropriate curriculum, but our children do qualify to take an external exam for the CEPE. Successfully passing the CEPE exam is a prerequisite to enroll in secondary education.

In Madagascar the CEPE - a milestone in a child’s life. It is a family affair and is at least as important as getting a high school diploma in the USA. Parents and grandparents accompany their children, who can range from 8 to 16 years of age, to the exam, often far away from home. They buy them a special auspicious lunch (something village children never get) and wait outside rooting for them the entire time. If they pass, they get gifts and in villages their diploma often gets framed, with glass, and hung in a prominent spot in the home.

Our students had to walk for two hours with their families to Bevato, the district’s administrative center and sit in a strange new building they had never been in before. While you might wonder why a bottle of Coke is proudly held up like a trophy, this is most likely their only soda this year and something very special.

If you count the bottles in the photos, you can see bottles: five of the children and their teacher to the left (who got the same rewards too).

Celebrating the CEPE

Zahana: ‘Project of the Month Club’ in August '11

Markus Faigle — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 03:36:27 GMT

Dear friends,

We are happy and proud to announce that for August 2011 Zahana is featured in the ‘Project of the Month Club’ at GlobalGiving.

Every month GlobalGiving awards this designation to a new exceptionally high performing project. For the entire month of August this very project takes the spotlight on the GlobalGiving website. We are thankful to GlobalGiving for this great opportunity to reach a wider audience of dedicated donors for Zahana and promoting solar cooking and solar water pasteurization.

Please check it out and let all your friends know.

Best regards,

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

Links:

Solar water pasteurizers in action

Improving cooking in the villages in Madagascar

Markus Faigle — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 02:02:07 GMT

Low tech solar cooker

Our wonderful solar volunteer Bruce is back in Madagascar. He has recently left the capital city of Antananarivo for our villages. Based on his experiences visiting and living in our two villages in 2010, Bruce has been looking into the best way to improve cooking and cook stoves in Madagascar. He has found an appropriate model that wants to build and test it together with the villagers. Last year he also introduced a low-tech, inexpensive solar cooker (see photo). He used materials available in the city to built this panel cooker. It will be interesting to see if it has been used and how well it worked or how long it lasted.

After a few weeks in the countryside he plans to visit other NGOs in Madagascar and share his expertise from hands on experience in Madagascar. One organization, based far away in another part of the country, has been working with solar cookers for many years and was building a solar box cooker model locally. We plan to buy a few of these Malagasy made solar cookers and have Bruce personally introduce them in the villages, to see if a "domestic" version is the way to go.

Stay tuned for pictures and updates as soon as they become available.

Links:

Solar links on Zahana's website

Solar water pasteurizer in the school in Fiarenana

Markus Faigle — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 04:35:06 GMT

Drinking safe water

This is an update though photos: our students use the solar water pasteurizer, donated by Developing World Solar in Hawaii, to make their drinking water safe. All they need to do is to put the water bottles in the sun and wait. (See website for technical details). Once the solar pasteurized water has cooled down enough, the students can quench their thirst safely.

Solar water pasteurization is at the moment the only reliable way to get safe drinking water in the school. The village’s only a ground well with water all year round is in the schoolyard in Fiarenana. Most other wells run dry in the rainless months. As with many ground wells in developing countries, water safety for drinking water is an issue and we are very happy to see that the students have adopted this innovative, novel idea, making good use of the solar water pasteurizers.

Links:

Solar used by Zahana

Thank you for making us a superstar!

Markus Faigle — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:33:08 GMT

Thank you!

We could not have done it without your support! The temptation was big to just send a progress report with two words: “Thank you”. But, we wanted to explain it a bit more:

February 2011 Zahana was awarded “Superstar” status, the highest level an organization can reach on GlobalGiving! Regular progress report by our amazing Malagasy team, combined with your donor support got us among the 30 superstars, a brand new program launched at GlobalGiving.

Last but not least: March 16 - Bonus Day at GlobalGiving.
On March 16, 2011 GlobalGiving is matching at 30% all online donations (up to US$1,000 per donor per project) with $75,000 available in matching funds. The last time matching funds were depleted half way into the Bonus Day, so be ready midnight EST on March 16 if you would like to top off your generous donation to Zahana.

Thank you.

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

P.S. Zahana did not get chosen for the Ford Focus test drive in February 2011.

Links:

Zahana Homepage

Zahana’s video & the Ford Focus Global Test Drive

Markus Faigle — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 23:16:41 GMT

Dear Friends of Zahana,

Thanks to GlobalGiving’s endorsement Zahana is entitled to compete for the $10,000 prize money in the Ford Focus Global Test Drive. Another creative fundraising strategy to explore, we just submitted a video. Now we hope to get chosen with your help.

If you are on Facebook and would like to support us, the steps are:
Please watch the video “Changing lives in Madagascar”

click on “love it” in the bottom and encourage all your friends to do the same. If we get enough “love its” we are in and get the $10,000. We only have until Dec 31, so procrastination is not an option anymore. And while you are on Facebook why not “like” Zahana’s Facebook page as well? (If this does not work just send me an email at markus@zahana.org and I forward you the URL by email.)

We are in the process of redesigning our own website www.zahana.org, to make it (hopefully) easier to navigate. Please visit if you get a chance and let us know what you think of the new look.

Last but not least with the end of the (tax) year near, we hope you might consider Zahana in your giving as well. You may do so on-line from the links in this update, or you can as always send a good old check in the postal mail to Zahana (see website for details).

For the last minute virtual gift you could always download a Zahana Thank you card and make a donation in somebody elses’ name.

Happy Holidays,

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

Feedback from Zahana about what success means

Markus Faigle — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 23:54:03 GMT

Water supply before Zahana until 2005

Dear Friends of Zahana:

This is a reminder: Thursday, December 16 is Bonus Day at GlobalGiving. Every donation is matched by 50% until they run out of matching funds. Last time GlobalGiving ran out of matching funds for the first time, so please donate early, if you can.

We apologize in case you get this progress report from another GlobalGiving project. This issue is overarching and posted on all three. The latest Zahana report (Nov. 2010) illustrates our definition of “success” quite drastically:

Background: In 2006 the community of Fiadanana built their own water system with help from Zahana. Zahana hired the water experts, who living in the village for two months, taught the villagers how to lay pipe from a ground well in the mountains over a mile away. Seven communal faucets provide clean, safe water to everybody all year round all over the village ever since.

Report from Ihanta in Madagascar: “In Fiadanana where they got safe drinking water in 2006 through seven communal faucets, the impact is tremendous. A key reason why we found teachers willing to move to the village of Fiadanana was the availability of clean safe drinking water. It is the only village in the area that can make such a claim.

Mparany, our Zahana teacher, reported that since he has been living in Fiadanana, no child’s death was reported. The only death in the village was a woman who had surgery in the hospital of Tsiroanomandidy for appendicitis some 2 months ago. Berthine, a member of the women’s group, confirmed that before Zahana in the “hard times period” (époque dure) between the harvests from October to December, it felt like almost every day one child passed away from diarrhea. (She said 26 deaths in 2 months.) She explained that people from Fiadanana now have to carry their water with them if they have to go to another village, since their stomachs don’t feel well drinking the water from the other villages.” (More in our November Newsletter.)

It is Zahana’s guiding development philosophy to make life in the villages so livable and attractive that it is worth staying there with your family working the land. A lot of development problems connected with urbanization and sprawling slums attracting impoverished farmers can be avoided if people are not forced to leave for the cities in an often futile search for a better life.

As you might plan your end of the year giving, we hope that you will remember Zahana (even if you missed “bonus day”). We have ready-to-use Zahana gift cards you can download off our Zahana website as a do-it-yourself project if you want to add a personal touch.

Happy Holidays and thanks for your continued support

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

Building the water tank way up on the mountain

A big tank stores all the water in the village

One of seven communal water faucets

Solar water pasteurizers in action

Markus Faigle — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 05:02:01 GMT

Water bottles in the classroom

The solar water pasteurizers have been accepted well by the community. Zahana has a few solar water pasteurizers per village and they are being used in the schools for and by the school children. In our second village (Fiarenana) the only well with water all year round has recently been dug in the schoolyard. Safe drinking water remains an issue when using ground water. The teacher uses the solar water pasteurizer to make the water safe to drink for his students. He stores the bottles with pasteurized water in a shelf in the classroom to cool down to room temperature. As one girl told us: “If I get thirsty I just get up and walk over to the shelf and drink water out of the bottles. I can do this any time I want.”

The well in the schoolyard

Links:

Attachments:

A manual on how to use the solar water pasteurizer (PDF)

Getting people to buy into solar cooking

Markus Faigle — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 03:18:07 GMT

The low cost panel cooker in action

The solar water pasteurizers have been well received by the villagers. In the school of Fiarenana where access to clean safe drinking water is still an ongoing challenge, solar water pasteurization is the best way to make the water safe for drinking.

In addition, our ‘solar volunteer’ Bruce has spent over two week in the villages and introduced a locally built model of a solar panel cooker. Using an off the shelf car window screen (bought in the big city) and a plastic bag, this home-made panel cooker is extremely light weight and versatile. (To learn more about solar panel cookers, one of the key solar cooking technologies, please visit e.g. solar cookers international www.solarcookers.org). Panel cookers have limitations, such as the plastic bag required, but are a great way to introduce villagers to the idea to use the sun for cooking. Small in size and easy to store, rice or beans can be cooked in an afternoon.

It has been Zahana’s learning experience that solar cooking should be introduced incrementally. Once some of the villagers have adopted the idea of experimenting with the solar panel cookers, they can be introduced to box cookers. The only sure way to learn about solar cooking is by cooking with it and getting first had experience.

Once they are familiar with box cookers and use them more regularly they can be introduced to the Balzintubesolar, that is so much more efficient that they will be convinced after the first cooking demonstration.

In addition Bruce introduced a solar panel that can recharge the community’s cell phone. These small solar panels need quite some hands-on training to be used efficiently or they do not work properly. Inadequate training can easily lead to frustration and solar technology just collecting dust. The solar panels, which also can power a light, are currently being marketed in Madagascar, but with a price tag of around $30 they are out of reach for most villagers.

Mounting the solar panel to charge the cell phone

Solar panel 'inspection'

Links:

Zebu (cattle) and the reality in our villages

Markus Faigle — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:42:05 GMT

The typical hump that gives the zebu its name

Dear friends,

It is certainly easier to report about the opening of a school or the planting of trees, but on a more somber note, here is the latest sad news from Madagascar.

Our village of Fiarenana was attacked for the third time by ‘dahalo’, or cattle thieves, a few weeks back. They came into the village at night, shouting loudly, throwing stones at the house and firing gun shots in the air. People huddled inside their houses in fear for their lives. They stole 11 zebu belonging to the pastor and 2 other people in the village. Our contact in the village reported on the cell phone: “The entire districts is devastated and in a state of shock, most villages have been attacked and robbed by dahalo at night, something that we have never experienced before in our area. In the village next to us a 15 year old boy was shot dead”.

Note: Zebu are cattle and prized possessions in Madagascar. Poor farmers raise cattle as a living savings account. They need at least two heads of cattle to plow their fields and pull their carriages. Zebus are an important source of milk. For centuries zebu have had great cultural significance and are vital for funerals.

Guns are very uncommon in Madagascar and nobody in the villages owns any firearms or weapons. In the past cattle thieves were very uncommon in our part of the country and armed with sticks they occasionally stole a cow or two grazing at night far away from the village, scaring and making the child watching it run away. People in Madagascar, rooted in cultural traditions, do not go outside after dark if they can avoid it. Since the situation got more volatile, many farmers have gathered all zebu inside the village at night to guard better against cattle thieves, putting them at the same time as risk of a violent attack inside their village. Fortunately for Zahana, people do not feel that they are more prone to fall prey to dahalo because of their cooperation of working with us, the ‘outsiders’.

We apologize if you get this update more than once, but by the same token say: “thank you for supporting more than one of our projects on GlobalGiving”

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

The typical carriage drawn by two zebu

Zebu and a carraige in the background

Links:

Bonus Day: Wed. June 16, 2010

Markus Faigle — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 23:57:16 GMT

Solar water pastuerizer tested at the school

Dear donor to our solar cooker project in Madagascar,

50% interest in one day? Sounds too good to be true? Not really: The GlobalGiving “Bonus Day” is a wonderful opportunity to ‘super size’ your donation to Zahana by 50% at not additional cost.

Thank you! It is your donation that makes our work possible. GlobalGiving has offered Zahana an opportunity to meet generous donors like you we would never meet or reach otherwise. We hope an event such as Bonus Day might entice you to give again, or encourage your friends and family to support our work in Madagascar.

How it works:

On Bonus Day (Wednesday, June 16) your donation to Zahana will be matched by 50% by GlobalGiving. This opportunity is a one-day only event, from midnight to midnight EDT on Wednesday June 16 (Eastern Daylight Time, not your time zone.) All three Zahana projects with GlobalGiving are eligible. (Yes, we will send this reminder again on June 15 and June 16.)

Yes, there is a US$1000 bonus again for the group that raises the largest amount of money and the one who finds the largest number of donors, so please help us make that goal.

The latest exciting news: Zahana was invited to participate in National Geographic’s (yes, the iconic yellow magazine) Global Action Atlas. The Global Action Atlas is a way for National Geographic’s readers to learn and get more involved with projects. With the reach of National Geographic, this is tremendous opportunity for Zahana.

Please visit the Global Action Atlas though our website. National Geographic tracks the click-throughs from our website and recognizes your effort by giving Zahana projects prominent placement.

This was made possible thanks to Global Giving. In April we had a chance to visit Global Giving in Washington DC and give a presentation about our work to the staff. Currently all Global Giving projects are listed on National Geographic’s Global Action Atlas.

Last but not least we have switched our newsletter to VerticalResponse and you can find a link to it below.

Fiarenana men's soccer club

Links:

Updates from Madagascar May 2010

Markus Faigle — Wed, 05 May 2010 21:09:06 GMT

Metal bottles used for the solar water pasteurizer

Dear friends,

In our last update from February we told you about a generous donation of Blazingtube solar cookers and solar water pasteurizers being shipped to Madagascar, the Blazintubesolar being currently the most efficient solar cooker available. The ship has arrived, but…

The solar water pasteurizers are a huge success. They are met with great interest, and are so efficient that even with limited sunshine water can be made safe to drink within a few hours. The solar water pasteurizers have proven to be an invaluable educational tool to demonstrate the sun’s energy can be used in many ways. The metal bottles need to reach just 150˚F/66˚C to effectively pasteurize and therefore make water safe to drink. The effect of the sun’s energy can be experienced “hands on”, touching the bottles quickly. The public health benefits in Madagascar for such a low-tech devices will be huge.

The solar cookers have not had the same luck. After an endless customs and shipping saga, with new forms and documents being requested every second day by some other agency, we finally got the boxes. After the boxes were delivered and unpacked, we found out that half of the vacuum tubes were broken ‘somewhere in transit’, with the blame being passed around among the shippers. A huge vacuum tube is not something we can buy in Madagascar off the shelf. Replacing it will take time and we are working with the inventor on our options. The sun has not cooperated either. Rainy and overcast days in the capital have made solar cooking there challenging to date.

We will initially take only two Blazingtube solar cookers, one for each of Zahana’s schools, to the villages. With the dry season starting in this part of the country, test data in sunnier Madagascar climate conditions will help us to evaluate the blazingtube on location, where it is needed the most.

Zahana is currently exploring other models of solar cookers available locally. The political instability, with a president that has not been recognized by many countries as the legitimate leader, has lead to many international organizations stopping work in or exporting goods to Madagascar. We might have to start building solar cookers to our specifications in country in the future.

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

The solar water pasteurizer in action

The BlazinTubeSolar cooker being assembled with an

Another low cost model, a panel solar cooker

The cookbox of the BlazingTubeSolar cooker

Links:

Good news about solar cookers

Markus Faigle, Jeannette Koijane — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 01:35:52 GMT

Dear friends,

We wanted to send you a quick update about a very exciting development. The inventor of the blazingtube solar cooker generously offered by the end of last year to donate a large number of his innovative solar cookers and water pasteurizers to Zahana. We are very grateful, and this wonderful donation gives us the opportunity to expand the focus of our activities beyond solar cookers for the school in the future.

In January the first cookers were successfully produced in China. While we were in the process of figuring out the intricacies of shipping to Madagascar the devastating earthquake hit Haiti. With a dire need for water that is safe to drink the inventor decided to donate and ship most of the solar water pasteurizers and solar cookers to Haiti.

But since he is committed to support Zahana as well, at this very moment a few solar cookers and solar water pasteurizers are en route to Madagascar on a cargo ship. We have included a link to a Hawaii TV newscast about the water pasteurizers. Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

Links:

Thnak you for your matching gift

Markus Faigle, Jeannette Koijane — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:49:17 GMT

Drear friends,

This is the quickest way to reach you and say: “Thank you!”

Thank you for donating to Zahana during GlobalGiving’s “Give More Get More” Challenge. The project will still active with GlobalGiving on their website until it is funded, just without the extra bonus of a match.

We hope you will consider Zahana for the coming holidays and tools such of the gift registry with GlobalGiving make it possible with a few clicks to tell your friends and family about it.

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

Thank you for the matching gifts!

Markus Faigle, Jeannette Koijane — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:45:41 GMT

Drear friends,

This is the quickest way to reach you and say: “Thank you!”

Thank you for donating to Zahana during GlobalGiving’s “Give More Get More” Challenge. We started with $15 before the challenge and have been successful. The project will still active with GlobalGiving until it is funded, just without the extra bonus of a match. The school is being built as we speak and if you did not have a chance yet to look at our slide show of the community starting to build their school please do so on our website (link below).

We hope you will consider Zahana for the coming holidays and tools such of the gift registry with GlobalGiving make it possible with a few clicks to tell your friends and family about it.

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

Links:

Fiadanana' community builds their school

Give

Markus Faigle, Jeannette Koijane — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:43:57 GMT

Dear friends of Zahana,

If you considered donating to Zahana again in this 2009 tax year, now (until Dec 1) might be a very good time. This project was invited to join the Give More - Get More Challenge and GlobalGiving will match your contributions incrementally. (The link with more information is on the top part of the project web page.)

Please help us getting these matching funds. Please tell your friends and encourage them to give too.

The challenge details: November 10 to December 1 (but ends Dec 1 at 12:59 EST, not your time zone!)

Matches are staggered based on the amount we raise, or in other words: The more of the total amount of all donation we raise the bigger the match. We raise up to $2,500: donations will be matched at 30%. We raise $2,501 - $7,500: donations will be matched at 40%. We raise more than $7,501: donations will be matched at 50%.

The three projects that raise the most money will receive additional bonuses of $5,000, $3,000, and $1,000.

* Donations up to $500 per individual will be matched by GlobalGiving, so the matching funds don't get depleted too fast.

Thank you.

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

Links:

Zahana and Fiadanana update

Markus Faigle, Jeannette Koijane — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:35:32 GMT

Celebrating the new fence for the communal water faucet

This project has passed the vetting process and is now officially green. Click on the green leaf in the top right corner of the web page to learn more.

Hot off the digital press: Zahana, and its founder Dr. Ramihanataniarivo, are features in the latest issue of Malamalama, the University of Hawai‘i Magazine (Malamalama means 'the light of knowledge' in Hawaiian). We have included the link below and we encourage you to use their “Leave a Response: feature.

We wanted to share this exiting development with you: The inventor of the BlazingTubeSolarAppliance (link below) approached Zahana and offered us to collaborate on using his solar cookers in Madagascar. This innovative solar cooker with a vacuum tube and oil is more efficient than most other solar cookers currently on the market and also works in cloudy weather. The BlazingTubeSolarAppliance is currently undergoing field-testing, and will be manufactured in China. Switching from a prototype hand-built solar cooker to a manufactured model comes with its own set of challenges.

Since we are talking about possibly more than just a few units, the parts will be shipped to Madagascar and assembled there, ideally on location in the village. This will give Zahana the capacity to use solar cooking for all children in the school and expand the project to the second school, currently being built by the village of Fiarenana. We will keep you updated about the progress of this new lead. The current political climate remains unstable in Madagascar and international funding agencies have still put all but humanitarian aid on hold. Zahana has decided months ago that despite our limited resources it is important to continue our work with the rural villagers, since they are not to blame for the events in the political arena. Many existing projects, such as a communal water system and the building of their school have been realized in the village of Fiarenana since then and we encourage you to visit our website for updates and photos.

Zahana has decided to focus on improving wood burning cook stoves before solar cooking can be introduced to the community. Since people will continue to burn wood for their cooking needs, especially in the rainy season, a firm commitment by the community to reduce the need for wood is a pre-requisite before more exotic techniques such as solar cooking can be introduced. Without laying a good foundation and a firm commitment to changing old cooking habits, solar cooking projects internationally were often embraced enthusiastically just to be forgotten within weeks of their launch. This just puts the timetable of introducing solar cookers into the next dry season of early 2010, when hopefully the political situation might have some resolution as well. The teachers and the students are still the cornerstone of implementing this new idea and the new school in Fiarenana will be built and hopefully be filled with children and adults by then. Including the innovative community of Fiarenana in this project makes sense.

The latest news for Fiadanana is that the community decided to build a solid foundation and a fence around the communal water faucets to keep animals out. The pictures below are from the official inauguration of the “new” fences.

Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. The contact information can be found below under “Who is Running This Project”.

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

If you don't lock your doors a lock is a prized possession

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Thank you for the Green Challange

Markus Faigle — Fri, 01 May 2009 22:37:55 GMT

Than you to all of you who supported the solar cooking project during GlobalGiving’s Green Challenge.

We are happy to announce that with your help we tied for third place with the PlayPump project!

Not only is a third place amazing for a small all volunteer organization such as Zahana, but is also comes with an additional bounty of $1,000 from GlobalGiving that gets us that much closer to our goal. The Green Challenge was a great way of getting more exposure for our solar cooking ideas. The project will continue active on the GlobalGiving website until the final goal has been reached, so please let your friends interested in alternative energy uses know about it.

We are looking forward to launching the project solar cooking project in the summer, since the rice harvest starting about now is keeping everybody busy. We hope that by the start of the new school year (in July all schools are on break in Madagascar) we can start cooking with the sun.

We are also working with the inventor of the BlazingTubeSolarAppliance based here in Hawai‘i who is currently improving the prototype and making it more efficient and less costly at the same time. We hope that one of the first field trials of this innovative solar cooker can be in Faidanana.

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

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The first fruit in the school's fence are ripe (literally).

Markus Faigle — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:08:26 GMT

Bananas starting the living fence in 2007

Right from the start Zahana had envisioned an edible fence surrounding the school. This was intended to enclose the school with a natural barrier for roaming animals and curious visitors that would provide a great source of nutrition and vitamins for the students at the same time. This ambitious project has now yielded the first bananas for the students to eat.

Bananas are very fast growing plants, spreading through the roots, and can yield its first harvest after a year or two. The fast growing bushes provide shade and a possible alternative to trees for much firewood.

Please consider contributing to the Global Giving Green Challenge while the matching funds still last. And thank you, to all of you that helped us to make it to third place so far.

The living fence around the school in 2008

Harvesting the first bananas of the living fence

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Growing the edible school fence in Fiadanana

GlobalGiving Green Challenge

Markus Faigle — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 04:48:06 GMT

April 3, 2009

We have great news: Our project “Solar Cookers for the School in Fiadanana” has been awarded the “Green Leaf” form GlobalGiving and invited to join their “Give a Little Green!” Challenge.

This Green Challenge is by invitation only. Starting Saturday, April 4 and running through Tuesday, April 28, 2009 all donations up to $5,000 per individual made to our solar cooker project will receive an additional 50% match from GlobalGiving*.

In addition to matching funds, Zahana can compete for additional funding! The three projects receiving the greatest number of individual donations will receive extra prizes of $5,000, $2,500, and $1,000, respectively.

We need to act fast! Let’s get the matching funds as long as they last. With a minimum of $10 dollars becoming $15 with the click of the mouse, please consider donating now and tell your friends about this exciting opportunity provided by GlobalGiving.

Please pass this email on within your network.

Ihanta, Jeannette and Markus

PS: Check out the website of the BlazingTubeSolarAppliance at http://blazingtubesolar.com. We hope to test this innovative solar cooker in Fiadanana as part of our solar efforts as soon as possible.

* That means for every dollar you donate, Zahana will receive another $0.50. The match will be available from April 4 to April 28 only or until $25,000 in matching funds have been depleted. Even if matching funds are depleted, the challenge portion of the campaign will continue until April 28th.

Update on the recent situation in Madagascar

Markus Faigle — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:34:04 GMT

Dear friends,

Some of you read about Madagascar in the news and contacted us, so we wanted to send a short message. Thanks to email, text messaging and Skype we have been in constant contact with our partners in Madagascar and they are fine. One thing becomes obvious: we have to increase our efforts in rural participatory development and education.

Zahana has been focusing on making village life more attractive and livable so people don't have to leave their village in the first place in search of a better life. This can be done for example by providing development partnerships to built access to clean water or a school for their children.

Almost a decade back Madagascar experienced a very tumultuous political situation and as a result many people fled the cities in search of safety in countryside. In the case of the village of Fiadanana, Zahana's pilot village, its population increased by 20% and after the political situation stabilized most of the newcomers decided to stay, since they discovered the advantages of the rural over the city life.

We encourage you to frequent your trusted news sources for more information. We find http://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/?search=madagascar&searchheadlines=1 very useful, since it lists many languages as links.

Please write to us directly if you want more information. Please use the email provided at the bottom of the project description.

Zahana has conducted an assessment of solar cookers currently available in Madagascar in December. Having chosen a first model for testing in the school, the teacher traveled to the capital of Antananarivo in February for training in using this model. Unfortunately the political instability caused the training course to be canceled and he went back to Fiadanana as soon as possible, since busses stopped running regularly. Living in the countryside he also had no idea of the turmoil in the capital and was all too happy to be able to leave for home again.

Unfortunately for Zahana we need to wait until trucks are willing to transport the cooker to the village once again and another training for the teacher can be scheduled.