Dispatches from the Field & Project Summaries
Project Summary: AsoFenix, Nicaragua
June 4, 2010
In the developed world, clean water and electricity are things most people take for granted, but in countries like Nicaragua, such basic necessities are by no means a guarantee. For communities such as Candelaria and Malacatoya, located in Boaco province northeast of Managua, safe drinking water and household electricity were out of reach until the arrival of AsoFenix, a nonprofit organization that provides renewable energy projects to improve the lives of rural Nicaraguans.
The organization’s director, Jaime Muñoz, founded AsoFenix (short for Asociación Fenix) in 2001 after seeing a need to apply academic studies on renewable energy to solving concrete problems in the Nicaraguan countryside. The organization focuses on the provision of water – both for human consumption and for irrigation – and electricity to rural communities in central Nicaragua that would otherwise have to wait years, if not decades, before having any hope of accessing such services.
AsoFenix’s initial efforts involved using solar energy to bring potable water to rural households. Its first project was a solar water pump installed in the community of Candelaria in 2004. Solar panels power the pump, which operates at a rate of 10 gallons per minute. The water is pumped to a 6,500-gallon holding tank, from which it travels by force of gravity through pipes to the different houses of the community. Although local residents were initially skeptical that the sun could be used to pump water, the project was a great success and has made a huge difference in the lives of Candelaria’s 42 families. Before the pump, residents had to walk long distances to get water – half a kilometer just for drinking water and two kilometers to wash clothes. Parents sometimes had to keep their children home from school because they couldn’t bathe or wash clothes. Having clean water available right in the village – most houses now have their own faucets connected directly to the central pipe system – has reduced the incidence of flu, diarrhea, and other sickness, and has made it much easier to prepare food, bathe, do laundry, and complete other daily chores.
Since the success of this first project, local communities have welcomed AsoFenix with open arms. So far the organization has installed four potable water projects in four different communities, as well as two irrigation projects, and two microturbines (with a third nearly complete) that provide electricity to rural residents.
Another rural community where AsoFenix has made a difference is Malacatoya, a far-flung collection of 29 households that previously had no access to electricity. AsoFenix installed a hydropower turbine that generates approximately nine kilowatts of power per day, more than enough energy to light all the homes and provide some additional electricity for use on coffee farms. The turbine is located in a small cement building by a stream. Water enters the turbine and fills the small cups on the wheel. The weight of the water in the cups spins the wheel, generating electricity. Like the solar pump in Candelaria, the system is maintained by local residents whom AsoFenix has trained as technicians.
Residents of Malacatoya say having electricity has made an enormous difference in their lives. Household chores no longer have to be done during daylight hours, and children are able to do their homework at night. Air quality in homes has improved with the elimination of gas-burning lamps. Cruz Torres Burgo, one of the project technicians, says he has even been able to buy small appliances such as a refrigerator and a blender. He also saves a lot of time and money on his small organic coffee farm since he can depulp the coffee using an electric motor and sharpen tools with an electric grinder, rather than completing such tasks by hand
Although AsoFenix began with the goal of using renewable energy to solve specific problems of water and electricity, the organization’s goal has broadened to include associated projects to improve the quality of life in rural communities. The organization believes that it is not effective to simply come into a community with a renewable energy project without also implementing subsidiary projects that address other quality-of-life issues. Beyond energy issues, AsoFenix seeks to reduce poverty and improve health, education, environmental quality, and community organization.
The relative proximity of the communities to one another enables AsoFenix to maintain a close relationship with the families involved in the projects. AsoFenix staff visit regularly and spend a significant amount of time evaluating existing projects and speaking with local residents in order to understand their needs. In fact, Muñoz says wryly that he sometimes thinks he’ll never be able to retire or move on to other work because that would leave the communities without support.
AsoFenix has partnerships with four important international organizations: U.S.-based Green Empowerment, the Sweden-Nicaragua Friendship Society, the Finnish initiative Energy and Environment Partnership with Central America, and the Dutch organization Hivos (the Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation). These organizations provide funding and help strengthen AsoFenix’s technical capacity by providing interns and other resources.
Central America Expedition 2010: Day 14 – AsoFenix, Nicaragua
March 30, 2010
After a night in a basic hostel in the town of San José de los Remates – where mosquitos feasted on several members of our team – we set off back down the road to Teustepe, stopping once again for breakfast at the café in the park (most of us opted to pass on the salty cheese this time) before continuing on to Candelaria. The road to Candelaria was in the process of being paved – but only in sections, as each municipality was responsible for its own paving. No asphalt here, either – workers were laying stone bricks piece by piece, lining them up to create a smooth surface. The paving efforts ended long before we reached our destination, however, and it seemed unlikely that Candelaria would see any road improvement anytime soon.
When we finally arrived it seemed as though most of the community was waiting to greet us. We made quite a parade as we walked the short distance from the road to the solar panels that power the pump AsoFenix has installed to bring potable water to the community. While Rob and Ryan filmed the pump John and I headed up the hill with a local resident named Apolonio to scout out interview locations near the storage tank from which the water is piped to the homes of Candelaria’s 42 families.
Once the rest of the group had joined us we filmed an interview with project technician David Soza on top of the tank, followed by an interview with Nidia González Jarquín, the coordinator of the community committee that oversees the project. Nidia explained how difficult it was to get water before the AsoFenix project was installed. Candelaria residents had to walk half a kilometer just to get drinking water; to wash clothes they had to walk for at least an hour. Before the solar-powered potable water system, she told us, “There was a lot of sickness, flu and diarrhea, vomiting. Since we’ve had the project people aren’t sick as much.”
Another committee member, María Feliz González, whom we interviewed later at her house, added that before the project there was no water to bathe her children. It was difficult to send the children to school if they couldn’t bathe, she explained, but without a well of her own getting water involved carrying a heavy barrel for two kilometers. “Now life is more relaxing for mothers,” María explained. “We have more time with our kids, it’s easier to prepare food, and we don’t need to go far to get water in the middle of the night.” As a follow-up to the water project, AsoFenix has helped María’s family install a biodigestor to burn organic waste for fuel, which means she no longer has to trek to the mountains for firewood. They’ve also helped her set up a cement washboard station for her laundry; the greywater goes to water the agricultural fields. This is just one example of AsoFenix’s belief that is is not enough to just come into a community with a renewable energy project and then leave. Instead, the organization follows up with subsidiary projects to address other quality-of-life issues and maintains a close connection with the communities in which it works. Long-term volunteers Sarah and Seth Hays spend much of their time visiting the various communities and talking to residents to understand their needs and evaluate existing projects.
For our team, however, our time with AsoFenix was coming to an end. We left Candelaria and once again made the trip to Teustepe. By this time we felt like regulars at the café in the park, where we had a quick lunch before setting off for Managua, where we were expected that same afternoon at our final Nicaraguan project, Potters for Peace.
Central America Expedition 2010: Day 13, part 2 – AsoFenix, Nicaragua
March 30, 2010
Our visit to the small community of Malacatoya continued as we hiked down the track from Irma Martín’s house to where our van was waiting. From there we drove back up the rutted road to the house of Orlando Castellón, whose wife had prepared a lunch of rice, beans, chicken, and potato for us. We had planned to interview Orlando, but as a community leader he was needed at church – it was a Sunday – so instead Jaime recommended we interview one of the other members of the village committee, Cruz Torres Burgo, who is also trained as a technician for the AsoFenix turbine project.
Like Irma, Cruz talked about the difference electricity has made to his family. The air quality in their home has improved with the elimination of gas lighting, and the children no longer have to study by candlelight. The family has even been able to buy a blender and a small refrigerator, allowing them to waste less food and even to give the kids some treats, such as ice cream. On his small organic coffee farm, Cruz now saves a lot of time and money depulping the coffee using an electric motor. “Before I had to depulp the coffee by hand,” he explained. “It took all day. I was coming home late at night, sometimes as late as 10 p.m. Now it takes a half an hour to depulp the coffee with an electric motor.” He is also able to sharpen tools using an electric grinder, rather than by hand.
We wrapped up our day in Malacatoya with an interview with Jaime Muñoz about AsoFenix and its mission. Carefully avoiding cow patties, we chose a scenic spot in a field with a view of the hills behind, but just as we began filming, the wind suddenly picked up dramatically. Still, Jaime’s words rose above the howling wind and the flapping of the light reflectors as he spoke about AsoFenix’s work to improve the lives of rural Nicaraguans. “The biggest challenge is to improve the lives of people and families in rural areas,” Jaime said. “In rural communities, 60 percent of the population does not have access to safe water or enough water. The majority of the rural population also does not have access to electricity. This impedes development for families and also impedes economic production.” AsoFenix seeks not just to provide energy but to reduce poverty and improve health, education, environmental quality, and community organization. As Jaime said, “Our goal goes beyond just energy to larger issues.”
Judging by what we saw in Malacatoya, even a small project can make a big difference.
Central America Expedition 2010: Day 13 – AsoFenix, Nicaragua
March 29, 2010
We rose bright and early for our trip into rural Nicaragua with AsoFenix. Seth and Sarah Hays, volunteers on a three-year assignment with AsoFenix through the Mennonite Central Committee, picked us up at the AsoFenix office together with the organization’s founder and director Jaime Muñoz, and off we went into the countryside northeast of Managua. After about an hour and a half we stopped for a breakfast of eggs, rice, beans, tortillas, and extremely salty cheese at a café in the central park of Teustepe, the town where Seth and Sarah live. As we were eating Jaime explained how AsoFenix grew out of his realization that there was a need to develop renewable energy in the Nicaraguan countryside and practically apply the results of academic research to local communities. From this initial goal has come a broader focus of helping rural families improve their quality of life through renewable energy and associated projects to address other issues.
AsoFenix’s first project was a solar-powered pumping system that brings potable water to the community of Candelaria, which we would be visiting the following day. First, however, we were headed to Malacatoya, another rural community where AsoFenix had set up a hydropower turbine to generate electricity for families who previously had had none. Another couple of hours past Teustepe we parked at the base of a dirt track that led up a hill and past some of the houses of the far-flung community.
Together with Pablo Bravo, a local resident trained as a technician for the turbine, and Orlando Castellón, the coordinator of the local committee which oversees the project, we trekked up the hill, though the fields, and down some very steep and rocky paths, before finally crossing a river to the small building that housed the turbine. Pablo and Jaime explained how the turbine works: water enters and fills the small cups on the wheel; the weight of the water in the cups spins the wheel, generating electricity. The turbine generates approximately nine kilowatts per day, which is more than enough to supply the 29 households of the community with electricity. The electricity is mostly used for lighting homes, although some of it is used on coffee plantations.
On our way back to the van we stopped in at Pablo’s house, where we interviewed his wife, Irma Martín. She told us that life is much better now that she has electricity. Before, she couldn’t work except during daylight hours, and her house was always full of smoke from burning gas. Now, she said, it’s much easier to keep her home clean. Also, her children are now able to do their homework at night. Before electricity, they had to use a candle and couldn’t both study at the same time. Nicaragua is the second-poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, after Haiti, and hearing Irma speak about the difference electricity has made in her life was a profound reminder of the importance of things those of us from wealthier countries take for granted.