Blogs

Many exciting developments have been happening with our youth outreach program, including a collaboration with science teacher Rich Lehrer from a local K-8 school called Brookwood. Rich has been working on what he calls a “D-Lab inspired chemistry curriculum” for his eighth grade class, incorporating experimental design projects with real world applications into his class to teach chemistry concepts to his students.

The following is a compilation of updates from one of three groups of students traveling over their spring break with the D-Lab: Energy class. Alix de Monts, Vanessa Trevino, and instructor Libby Hsu were in Nicaragua working with GrupoFenix, an organization working to produce and promote solar energy.

26 March 2012

The new class on biodiversity is very excited to be engaging Navajo activist Wahleah Johns and Harvard entomologist Gary Alpert this week to learn more about the Black Mesa region of Arizona! The plateau that has been heavily affected by coal mining activities, and the land changes and reduced access to clean waters are impacting all life in the area.

What a busy busy few days these have been !! We have gotten a lot done and have even found some time to have a little fun.

Here's a rundown of the past few days:

Namaste and greetings from India!
 

Hello parents, friends, and other miscellaneous people!

It's been several days that we've been in New Longoro but time seems to move differently here than it does back home. It simultaneously feels like it's been weeks (we've canoed down the Volta River, met with village elders, built technology from metal scraps, learned some Twi and Mo, showered from a bucket--or for some of us, not showered) and yet, looking forward, it feels like our departure date is approaching much too much (we still have so much left to do!).

Dear Family and Friends!

We are back to Phnom Penh for the weekend, and we have tons to update you on! During our week in Kien Svay, our team and much of the FLIFLY staff were able to go around to several households who did not have electricity to talk and survey them about where they received their light source and how they felt about them.  This was part of our tech evaluation where after we interviewed them, we would give them a solar lantern for the week to try out.

Buenas noches!
 
Three days ago we visited El Benque, another one of the communities we will be working with. It's a very agricultural and rural commmunity, so we will be trying to help improve their agricultural processing by providing them with the tools to build solar dryers and corn shellers. This community is very remote and hard to get to, but one of the missions of la Fundación is to help the villages that no others are willing to help.
 

Greetings Friends and Family of D-lab,

Today marks our almost 1 week stay here in Cambodia! Our team is now in Kien Svay, and it's been an exciting, unexpected, and fulfilling experience so far.