SIMPLE SOLUTIONS with LIFESAVING GAINS
It’s this Maker’s Mission to bring his problem solving mindset to communities where solvable problems go unsolved because the skills and wherewithal to build solutions is missing.
Prior to Simon’s arrival in Jacmel, Haiti, he knew what to expect. His cousin, Sarah Wallace, midwife and founder of the Olive Tree Projects’ Maternity Center, had prepared him. As best she could, anyway.
The thing is, it’s almost impossible to prepare for an alternate reality. To understand it you’ve got to experience it.
In many ways Jacmel is an alternate reality to Guelph, Ontario, Canada. The southern island climate makes for hotter average temperatures. The dominant language isn’t English, it’s Haitian Creole. Modern day luxuries are few and far between. Indoor plumbing is virtually non-existent. Electricity is gas powered — run off diesel generators — and only works some of the time. Clean drinking water comes from bottles, or is treated. Water that’s piped in is categorically unsafe. Only the poorest of the poor would consider drinking it outright, and families living in destitute poverty is a common sight.
Of all the differences, the one that impacted Simon most directly was with regards to how people spend their time. A project that might take two weeks to complete in Guelph, might never come to an end in Jacmel. It’s insanely difficult to instil a sense of urgency to complete a task when electricity only works from 1:00am — 4:00am.
(It’s also difficult to say whether time would have behaved any differently for Simon and his team had Karnaval, Haiti’s largest annual celebration, not been fast approaching, because it has atypical electricity requirements.)
Shortly after arriving, Simon’s expectations for how much he could accomplish during his visit underwent a major correction. Because no matter how hard he pushed, things wouldn’t go any faster.
Since Simon had electricity for only three hours of the day, that’s when he welded and tested the machines. In the hours preceding and following those periods, when he wasn’t agonizing over time spent waiting on everyone who operated on Haitian Time (there’s even an unofficial term for it), Simon set about:
- rebuilding the Shredder;
- assembling the Extruder;
- and building the Compression Oven.
(If you’re interested, you can see how these machines all work together in the short video below.)
Rebuilding the Shredder was the simplest task of the three. He’d already got it to work at Diyode, and had brought the disassembled pieces with him in his luggage. All he needed to do was put it back together.
Though simple, rebuilding the Shredder was far from easy. After fighting to get enough electricity from the generators, and determining that the Shredder didn’t have enough torque and needs a new pulley, they finally got it to operate — but only under the watchful eye of a babysitter.
After that, with the help of six local handymen, Simon was able to troubleshoot the assembly of the Extruder. But, frustratingly, given the energy restrictions, he wasn’t able to test it.
When it came time to build the Compression Oven, Simon took to the junkyard with Juliet, his eagle-eyed assistant and daughter. He expected to find usable scraps and discarded broken ovens aplenty. But after pouring over the site and speaking with his local contacts, Simon discovered that he wouldn’t find what he needed there.
The problem was that no one in Jacmel uses an oven. There’s no electric heating. No AC, no heating, no insulation. What would anyone use an electric oven for?
In the end, Simon was able to approximate a Compression Oven by repurposing an electric element from an old autoclave. The element was small, too small, and couldn’t reach the required temperature. Without insulation, the machine couldn’t retain heat for long enough, and like the Extruder, Simon and his team weren’t able to get it to where it needed to be.
After many months of planning and hard work leading up to the trip, and then two weeks of long hours and back-to-back sleepless nights, Simon had to prepare to leave Jacmel not having put in place half of what he intended to. If you speak with him about it, he looks dejected, and doesn’t call his trip a success. If you speak with anyone else, they’re astonished by what he was able to accomplish in what little time he had.
What’s Next?
As Eva Bodahelyi, President of Diyode, Guelph’s Makerspace, puts it,
What makes a Maker is their follow-through on ideas.
As their ideas grow, so too does their execution and impact.
It’s been nearly three months since Simon and friends came back from Jacmel. Simon left there knowing that a follow up trip was necessary to get everything working as he envisions. Even now, he has a contact watching the landfill site for missing parts, like insulation, because the alternative — overseas shipping — is too costly.
Back in Guelph, Simon is gearing up for the next phase of his trip where he plans to get the machines and recycling plant operational. In a community like Jacmel where real problems exist, but the skills and wherewithal to develop solutions is missing, a single Maker makes a big impact. (For example, the water pump in Sarah’s living space kept burning itself out. By jury rigging a float and switch, Simon and another visitor saved Sarah hours of heartache and backache in mere minutes.)
By following his curiosity, by following through on his ideas, Simon continues to grow compassion; and he continues to make the world a little better for more people to live in.
How Can I Help?
- You can help make the next phase of the Precious Plastics project happen by donating to Diyode.
- Olive Tree Projects is a grassroots organization on a shoestring budget, donations help them to provide complete prenatal care and reduce maternal mortality in Jacmel.
- Spread the word by sharing Simon and Sarah’s story!
For those of you who have yet to read THIS ARTICLE and THIS ARTICLE, the TL;DR of what Simon’s up to goes like this: Simon has partnered with Diyode and Sarah Wallace, the founder of Olive Tree Projects, to bring handbuilt machinery to Jacmel, Haiti. With the help of local labour, Simon & friends installed a recycling depot that takes plastic waste and turns it into other plastic products that can be used and sold. They’re calling it their Precious Plastics project.)
