Sierra Leone report 1989

In January, 1989 Bob Metcalf of Solar Cookers International traveled to Sierra Leone to introduce solar box cookers (SBCs) there. The following article contains highlights
from his report on the trip:
My plane arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone before sunrise
Sunday morning, January 8, 1989. The US-AID office in Freetown
had dispatched Mr. Komrabai to meet me at the airport and guide
me through the maze of bureaucracy.
I learned about the rapidly deteriorating economic condition
in Sierra Lone. Their currency, the Leone, has been devalued so
much in this last decade that it is very difficult for people to
buy imported goods. A pediatrician said that malnutrition was
common among children in Freetown.
On the ride to Njala we saw several trucks loaded with
fuelwood which is brought to Freetown for sale. In rural areas,
people stack the small bundles of firewood by the roadside. 
Buyers pay from 2 to 4 Leones per bundle, depending on the
proximity to Freetown. This great demand for wood in the urban
area is resulting in deforestation of the surrounding area. Now
and then people would be seen along the roadside carrying fuel on
their heads.
By 4:30 pm we had assembled our materials at the conference
room of the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) and met 20
people for our first session. I gave an overview of Solar Box
Cookers (SBCs), including my personal use for 11 years, the
international projects which have recently been stated, and the
significance of this project for all of West Africa. I then
covered the basic construction principles of SBCs, and had the
group assemble the first SBC kit. Quickly the men and women took
over measuring foil pieces, painting thin layers of diluted glue
on cardboard, attaching the foil, making the boxes, side
insulators, and toppers. They estimated that the price of foil
to make this size SBC was 150 Leones, and the glass would cost
400-1200 Leones. By 6:00 pm Sierra Leones's first SBC had been
assembled and photos of the group were taken. I told them that
they really wouldn't believe it could cook until they saw food
coming out of it, which we would do the next day if the weather
cooperated. Already there was great anticipation.
On Tuesday, January 10th we started the workshop shortly
after 9:00 am. This included Dr. F. Dahniya and now about 30
workshop participants. I reviewed SBC construction principles
and then two groups were formed to assemble their own SBC kits. 
This time they needed only minimal supervision, as participants
from the first day did most of the teaching for the new
participants. There was something for everyone to do and this
hands-on approach was thoroughly enjoyed.
Dr. Dahniya had arranged for food to be cooked in the SBCs
and I saw the nutritionists prepare the popular local dishes: 
fish rubbed with a hot tomato paste, short grain white rice, and
groundnut soup (more like a stew, with fish & chicken, peanut
butter emulsified in water, a Magi cube, pepper, and the hot
tomato sauce). These three pots were placed in the first SBC
about 12:30 pm, with all the workshop participants observing. 
Despite the relative low sun angle and harmattan (dust from the
Sahara in the air), oven temperatures without food were well over
, which would be able to cook this food in about
three hours.
The home economists told me that they could never actually
cook food in the classes they taught, as electric and gas
appliances were generally unavailable in schools as well as in
the general population. SBCs will open an entirely new dimension
to them. Not only can SBCs be used to cook and bake, but the
classes can actually build the SBCs they later will use.
I was told that in rural areas, many houses have flat
rooftops where foods are dried. SBCs would be ideal there. 
Women will love to come home from the fields and have their meal
already cooked. They will also like not having to walk for miles
to collect firewood.
Around 1:00 pm the groups had completed their SBCs and had
autographed one topper piece to witness their work in building
the SBC. We moved one pot of food from the first SBC to each of
the newly made SBCs about 1:15 and faced these cookers to the
southwest. We then took a break and returned to our guest house
for lunch and to prepare for the afternoon session.
We reconvened at 3:30 pm. The food was probably cooked by
this time, but it wouldn't hurt to keep it in the SBCs until we
were ready to eat it. By 4:30 pm we were ready to sample the
solar cooked food. The crowd had swollen to over 50 people to
see the lids being lifted from each SBC and then the lids taken
from each pot. Cheers rang out when a nutritionist lifted the
lids and steam came out. First the groundnut soup, then the
fish, and finally the rice were presented. The nutritionists
soon served samples of the food to all participants, whose
excitement was great now that they too knew that these solar
boxes worked. 
Before people left for the day, I invited them to take a
Colilert MPN tube home with them to fill to a mark with their
family water supply. The Colilert MPN tube contains reagents
which water quality indicator bacteria metabolize to give
distinct results after incubation. The Colilert MPN system was
much simpler and more precise than the tests I had used when
sampling local water supplies in Guatemala and Mexico. I also
encouraged workshop participants to bring in scrap cardboard
which we'd convert to SBCs at our next workshop.
 
On Wednesday Dr. Jonsyn numbered and logged in the Colilert
water samples people brought in during the morning. These came
from wells, reservoirs, streams, and even supposedly boiled and
filtered supplies -- the sources of water these people used. Our
agenda for the workshop was to build SBCs from scrap cardboard
using our empty boxes and boxes others brought in. I showed how
paper templates for pieces could be used, and how smaller pieces
could be taped and glued together to make the appropriate sizes. 
I had anticipated that the group would make one box, but the
group which started on the inner box wanted to make their own
outer box and the group which started with the outer box wanted
to make their own inner box, so two SBCs were made. Instead of
glass for the lid, we used polyester oven cooking bags which were
cut open and attached in a cardboard frame. The frame was then
attached to the underside of the lid. The main box was completed
by about 12:30 pm and the lids were finished at 2:00 pm when we
adjourned for two hours after taking photos of each group with
its SBC. The reason for experimenting with polyester instead of
glass was that glass can be expensive and difficult to obtain in
many countries. I wanted to experiment with inexpensive and
easily transportable polyester, which my tests in Sacramento had
indicated was about 80% as efficient as glass. I'm not sure of
polyester's durability or long-term survival in equatorial UV
light. An engineer at the workshop said he would experiment with
a double layer of polyester and make comparative studies.
The nutritionists had prepared a large amount of fish soup,
rice, and a Pillsbury banana bread to bake in the SBCs during the
afternoon. The harmattan was less intense this day and oven
temperatures were running up to .
A large crowd was present at 4:00 pm when the SBCs were
opened and the foods were examined. Cheers went up for the fish
soup, then the rice, and the banana bread. Very few people in
Sierra Leone have baking abilities, and the SBC offers them a new
dimension. I was told that a local rice bread would do very well
in the SBC. Again, the nutritionists distributed samples of the
foods and the high quality of the taste was noticed.
Dr. Carpenter then led the ceremony where we distributed
certificates of participation to each workshop participant. In
just 48 hours, these people had gone from knowing nothing about
SBCs to knowing how to build them from scratch and how to use
SBCs to effortlessly cook their main dishes. Dr. Barrett told
the group that he had been involved in many projects in
developing countries, but never had he seen such enthusiasm and
ability as here in Njala, Sierra Leone.
Thursday morning, Dr. Jonsyn and I recorded the results of
the water tests and shared them with the people who brought in
the samples. The yellow color indicated the presence of coliform
bacteria, a possible cause for concern and a water which would
not pass USA water quality standards. Ninety-five percent of
local water samples contained coliforms, and 61% contained E.
coli, a genuine cause for concern. Drs. Barrett, Jonsyn and I
conducted an experiment to demonstrate the ability of SBCs to
pasteurize contaminated water. We sampled local water with both
Colilert MNP and Millipore Samplers. This water was then heated
in a clear quart glass jar. We started heating at 10:30 am and
by 12:30 pm the water had reached . We again sampled the water with Colilert and Millipore
Samplers. Both samples now tested negative for E. coli.
The nutritionists again cooked a large quantity of fish soup
and rice in the SBCs, which was served to many people later in
the afternoon, following a closing ceremony. At this ceremony,
Drs. Barrett, Moland and I expressed our thanks for the excellent
workshops so many had participated in. Dr. Moland, the highly
esteemed leader of the ACRE project said: "I believe we are
making history with this project."
Category:Sierra Leone