Kristyn's Travel and Trash Thoughts

I have had the opportunity here to meet some amazing people doing some amazing things. Jane Goodall's non-profit, Roots and Shoots has a local group here. I met four young people who have been volunteering with the group for years. They are active in schools throughout the region, teaching students about the environment, leading tree plantings, and organizing all kinds of activities. It was such a pleasure to meet them and to learn about their work. Roots and Shoots volunteers with students at a local school planting trees Bags of corn waiting to be ground into flour We visited a business that processes corn to make corn flour. Most of the waste they produce can be used for animal feed. We also visited a few companies that purchase recyclable materials. One buys plastics, breaks it into small chips, and sells it to a company in Dar es Salaam, which is about 8 hours away. The other bought scrap metal and also sells to a company in Dar es Salaam. Bags of plastic ma...

After I was so excited about seeing monkeys in the distance last week, I've seen them a few times since. More baboons and also other types of monkeys, which is pretty cool. In even more exciting news, I went on a safari on Sunday! Iringa is only a couple hours from the entrance of Ruaha National Park so it was possible to do a day trip there, leaving early in the morning and returning in the evening. I went to the same park last year, but it was a much longer trip then.  This was a really good safari. The highlight of the trip was the sighting of a baby leopard! Leopards are always difficult to see. This was really cool because the leopard baby was right next to our car, just sitting under a tree. We just stared at it for a few minutes before it moved. My guide then started calling other guides to let them know about the sighting, so other cars started coming and were all staring at the spot that the leopard had run to. But after waiting a very long time and not seeing anything, ...

I'm sorry for the delay in posting! I was having issues signing into my blog. Here is a post that I wrote early last week. Later I will write more about all that has happened in the past week! Tuesday (November 6th) was very busy and included visits to a market manager, a street vendor association, a recycling business, a scrap yard, a corn flour manufacturer, and a 22 year-old entrepreneur who started an impressive environmental group/business. We had some really interesting conversations about what kind of waste is generated, how waste is collected and handled, and what the main challenges and opportunities are.  The 22 year-old was really inspiring. His group is collecting waste from households, cleaning office buildings, making compost, gardening, and organizing an environmental campaign in schools. We need more energetic young people like him. The compost facility is really good, since there is not much composting happening here and the majority of the waste is food and...

My time in Mbeya was brief but very nice. I had the opportunity to meet with some key city officials, a new Community Based Organization (CBO) that is collecting waste, and a group of rice processors. Many of the same challenges remained but it was also encouraging to see some progress. Based on my discussions and site visits, I provided feedback on the status of each of the recommendations. I hope that my additional recommendations and encouragement will bring this project to the attention of the new city officials and will help move things forward. Finding a solution for the rices husks, which are a byproduct of milling the rice, is still a priority. Here are some photos of my visit with the rice group. I am hopeful that a workgroup can form and start some pilot products to find sustainable solutions for the material. I wish I had more time to spend in Mbeya but my time here is limited! On Sunday I traveled to Iringa, which took almost 7 hours by car. I spent most of the...

It's a lovely evening in Mbeya and I have a decent internet connection! Yesterday afternoon, evening, and night were really rainy, which made me feel like I was back in Baltimore. But today has been very nice, despite some dark clouds that passed by. So what have I been doing so far? I arrived at midnight on Sunday and then on Monday got picked up at 8am to go to the office.  The first two days were spent in the main office in Dar es Salaam working on logistics and talking about the assignment.  On Wednesday I traveled to here, Mbeya, which is a 1.5 hour flight but with the driving and getting to the airport early, took most of the day.  I had a short meeting once I arrived and then I checked into the hotel in the evening. This is the city I was in last year so I will be here a couple days to check in on progress made, challenges faced, and to offer advise. Then on Sunday I leave from here to Iringa. It will be a 5-6 hour car ride to get there I think. I'l...