Simple Sustainable Solutions
Last week I had the chance to visit Kenya as an UN Ambassador for the Environment to learn about how the lack of modern energy affects people dealing with poverty. My trip was planned by the non-profit group, Practical Action. The focus of the trip was to enlighten me about the energy solutions for impoverished people around the world. Did you know that the lack of resources to generate energy affects the lives of millions of individuals around the world and keeps them stuck in poverty? When people have access to energy sources they can begin to lift themselves out of poverty. I learned so much during this incredible experience and want to share my experience with all of you. Stay tuned to my blog over the next several weeks because I am going to share the inspirations and challenges from my visit to Kenya. My incredible trip was both a heart-breaking and heart-warming experience. I look forward to sharing what I’ve learned from this journey and show the importance of taking action to make a better world for everyone.
Simple Sustainable Solutions
The first stop on the trip was Kibera; the second largest urban slum in Africa. I was overwhelmed by all the different sensations upon my arrival. The sight of huge piles of garbage with open sewage running like streams down narrow alleys lined with tiny houses made of tin roofs and mud walls was like nothing I had ever seen. I was also struck by the smells and sounds of the slum that I had never experienced. The guide told us that the average one-room home is no bigger than a small bedroom and that often families of 6 or more live in these homes. Surprisingly, many of the homes have no electricity and none of them have toilets.
The people living there had to use charcoal or wood to cook their food because there is no electricity. The charcoal creates a lot of heavy black smoke that’s toxic to breathe. Another problem with charcoal is the cost; it is too expensive for most people to buy. We also learned if there is no street light near your home at night you are plunged into complete darkness when the sun goes down. In Brazil we have favelas (Brazilian shanty towns) and I am aware that large slum communities exist but I had never seen anything like Kibera. This visit was very intense.
Despite the harsh living conditions the people greeted me with laughter and songs. The curious children shared smiles and hugs throughout my visit. The people had an amazing sense of lightness and pride. Their spirits are strong even though they had to cope with the challenges of limited access to energy and clean water. The people of Kibera are very inspiring!
The community members of Kibera have had little or no help from the government, but they have taken it upon themselves to improve the conditions of their neighborhood. I met with community leaders who have been doing amazing work to help change the reality they live in. One community organization, the Umande Trust has successfully built biogas centers are helping to create a new form of sustainable energy from human waste. The centers also help to create a more sanitary option of disposing or human waste. The biogas centers convert human waste into a source of energy. The process starts by the construction of community toilets for the community to use. The centers collect the human waste and it is mixed with water and then broken down by natural bacteria, releasing methane. The gas is collected and stored in a tank and then used to generate energy for cooking, laundry and lighting.
This is a very creative solution!
They are making their community cleaner by building community toilets and they were providing themselves with power that was clean and cheap! A simple, community based solution that was benefitting all.
In my future posts I will be sharing more about the biogas centers and how they are inspiring other positive changes in the community.
Love and light,
Gisele
There are 25 comments to “Simple Sustainable Solutions”
Gisele, parabéns pelo seu trabalho em prol das pessoas carentes. Essa visita ao Quênia fez muito bem aos habitantes de lá mas, certamente, aumentou seus méritos diante do Pai do Céu. Sou sua fã há muito tempo e essa admiração cresce à medida em que vejo você se transformando em uma mulher forte e responsável, consciente dos seus deveres de celebridade. Você não é uma famosa fútil, graças a Deus!Conheço e convivo com seus tios Adê e H… e seus primos And. e Isa que, como eu, moram em Brasília. Encontro-me com sua tia todas as semanas porque participamos de um grupo de oração. Eles têm muito carinho por você e motivaram ainda mais nossa simpatia por sua pessoa. Fui apresentada à sua mãe (você é tão bonita quanto!) quando ela veio para a formatura de sua prima, tempos atrás. De vez em quando falamos em você, e nos orgulhamos de seu sucesso como se fôssemos “suas tias” também. Aposto que não sabia disso!… Um dia, quando estiver em nossa cidade, dê-nos o prazer de conhecê-la pessoalmente! Desejo-lhe muitas bênçãos, saúde e paz! Votos extensivos ao seu filho, marido, e também ao enteado, com o qual é tão carinhosa.
Thanks for this Gisele – it’s amazing what even the most impoverished people can do to help themselves. As you say, I’m sure the biogas solution you saw in Kibera has application in the similar urban slums around the world. I would also think there projects that could be worked on in collaboration with other groups, such as the Gates Foundation, Pew Charitable Trust, etc. Think of what could be done if this population was immunized and educated. Are you aware of the Khan Academy? There is an incredible amount of learning content that could be delivered to a large population. Thought I would try to spur some additional thoughts.
I wish you well in your travels and efforts!
Bob
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Some think the U.S. is moving toward this kind of thing. I was shocked, but not really shocked, a couple months ago reading about some city in Michigan that couldn’t pay for it’s electric anymore and the utililty company actually came and took the streetlights away, and was going to be dark at night, I never thought I’d live to see this happen in America. School budgets are being drastically cut left and right also. You mention Gisele that the folks receive no help from the government. I’d be curious if there are rich areas of Kenya that live in luxury, and is there corruption. Michael Moore gave a great speech in Madison last winter, and it was kinda themed ‘America is not broke’, there is alot of money, but because of the monetary corruption in the government, it is not distributed fairly. I suspect the same thing is true in Kenya. It probably has wonderful natural resources, tourism, etc., but is not functioning as a democracy with a robust middle class, so a polarization of classes then occurs, this is what the OWS protests are about here, 99% are getting screwed by the 1 %. I don’t mean to compare the hardship you describe in Kibera as the same here, but let me tell you, it’s getting much worse. I just wanted to point out what might be the causes of that extreme poverty. I love you for helping so many needy areas around the world. I am almost ashamed when you say how you were greeted by laughter and songs, and I don’t think I could be so positive, spoiled I guess as I’ve been. But that’s why you are inspiring to show the indomitable human spirit, we all can learn so much from this.
<3
Nice read, I just passed this onto a friend who was doing some research on that. And he actually bought me lunch since I found it for him smile Therefore let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch! “Creativity comes from zeal to do something, generally it is to make some money.” by B. J. Gupta.
Excellent information however I’d like to let you know that I think there is problem with your RSS feeds as they seem to not be working for me. May be just me but I thought overall I would cite it.
Gisele congratulation to your work the world need of you and everybody the planet need of the work that you do a person like you don’t go in a place like there homes with only one floor if i have your money i would go there also i love help the people that need
very light.
Sometimes seems like Africa is beyond our means and possibilities .I do think that improving quality of life conditions in Africa , it is not just one person´s effort.
I would suggest to enhance current networks working on the issue.Rotary International (www.rotary.org ) , can be very helpful because it has the Rotary foundation with long experience on these social needs.There is no way to make progress, without financial resources assigned on the basis of specific project ,like the one you have mentioned on the post.
Olá, Gisele,
Parabéns pela sua iniciativa! Talvez esses trabalhos comunitários sejam mais eficazes para desenvolver a cidadania daqueles povos da África do que a espera de ações de políticas econômicas e sociais dos governos da região.
Mas isso, evidentemente, requer muito tempo para se ter resultados mais amplos, e paciência…
A sua presença lá, e um melhor conhecimento seu dos problemas africanos, “in loco”, certamente contribuirão para estimular a divulgação das ações positivas que vêm sendo realizadas junto àqueles povos tão sofridos.
Um abraço, e felicidades pra você!
Parabéns Gisele, suas atitudes mostra o quanto você nunca perdeu tua simplicidade e tudo isso faz de você ainda mais humana por pensar nos outros e não se prender um mundinho fechado só por causa da fama, sou artista plástico e escritor e tenho duas telas que pintei você, as pessoas não entendem minha paixão por você, mas é com atitudes com essa de visitar o Quênia e levar a ajuda humanitaria que me faz acreditar ainda mais no espirito de solidariedade e amor que existe em você. Abraços
Gisele,
Me sinto feliz por saber que você utiliza sua beleza também para chamar atenção para as mazelas sociais.
Inimaginável crer que ainda hoje existam pessoas em tais circunstâncias de vida.
As vezes nos “enclausuramos” em nossa realidade e nos distanciamos da realidade do outro.
Muita força em sua “missão”…
Abraços!
Good blog post, nice efforts. It couldn’t appear to have been penned any better. Reading this article piece of writing reminds me about my old boss! He usually kept babbling about this. I will email this post to him. Pretty confident he will probably have a high-quality read. Appreciate your posting!
Sustainability is the only path to survival, keep up the great work!
WonderLust
Gisele, Deus te abençoe grandemente! tenho certeza do seu interesse de ajudar essa gente carente. voce tem sido uma voz na escuridão, um exemplo de humildade e simplicidade e de solidariedade humana. Uma linda mulher com um coração cheio de amor e sábio, seguindo adiante semeando esperança nos corações. Deus te guarde e ajude voce a atocar os corações a abraçar a causa dos mais pobres. um abraço
Gisele parabéns showwwwwwwwwwwwwww !! é isso continue assim com este brilho que só você tem .
Gisele, Amor! Querida!
Realmente você estar
Inspirada. Que bom!
Sua caligrafia melhorou
Bastante. Sinal que realmente
Tem o que mostrar. Muito
Legal, estar cheio de gente
Querendo lhe conhecer, não por
Que você é famosa, mas por que
Você é simples.
Amo Você!
Linda! Linda! Linda!
Thank you, I have recently been looking for facts about this question for a while and yours is the best I have found so far.
Parabéns, Gisele. É um prazer acompanhar sua trajetória exemplar.
Como o Africano que vc viu, todos os dias vejo na fronteira do Acre com o Peru e Bolívia centenas de haitianos em busca de vida melhor em nosso pais, que deixaram seu pais o Haiti a apos a devastação que aconteceu.
Que sua alegria traga esperança a milhares ser humano.
Gisele.
Vibro para que sua força espalhe união, igualdade e amor no mundo!
Você foi escolhida para esta missão aqui na terra.
Bjos saudosos,
Rodrigo Grunfeld
Well expressed thoughts. It feels good to see Gisele’s effort. Sustainable living and its practice can not be left to the policy makers alone. Everyone of us must contribute, in action and thoughts. A link to some of my thoughts are here, if it helps. that would be great. http://wp.me/p1xbzq-65
It is very admirable of you to take time to visit these unfortunate people and to bring attention to their plight. I remember Trick or Treating as a child 40 years ago and collecting money for UNICEF so that these types of conditions might be eliminated. In other words, it is so frustrating to see that 40 years later, many things are still very difficult for people of this world. It seems as though their situation is dire. How can many countries and people, in this year of 2012, still have sewerage running through the street and not enough food or medicine? It seems hopeless, but you are showing by your actions that one person can make a difference. You truly appreciate the good fortune in your life and want to give back. Thank you.
Thanks so much for sharing with us, it inspires me to help someone less fortunate than myself.
parabens gisele! é de gente assim que o mundo precisa! espero que sua contribuição influencie mais pessoas a agirem da mesma forma, ou só inspire as pessoas a terem atitudes melhores com o próximo! boa sorte!