Thursday -
Today, we observed some bio-gas projects. Largely re-attaching the hosing pipe from the tank to the house's cooking stove. The bio-gas projects are essentially methane chambers where food waste and manure (cow shit is the primary choice) is deposited with water. By using bio-gas, houses reduce the amount of wood needed to burn for their daily lives, which increases women's spare time - women are the primary gatherers of wood and tenders to fire. The bio-gas project also allows an accurate estimation of how much greenhouse gases are cut, by calculating how much wood is saved by using bio-gas, the Kyoto Protocol provides a cash-back scheme for the households. The bio-gas is also a non-explosive gas, providing increased safety in comparison traditional gas canisters.
While there are many reasons that house's don't continue to use the bio-gas, some of the more 'natural' reasons are that the house does not have a cow or livestock - cow manure is worth considerable amount as a fertiliser as for many, it is the only access to a form of fertiliser.
Another reason is that the area is very dry and arid, as well as currently coming out of a 3 year drought. This is problematic as water is an important part of the bio-gas project.
Monkeys have also been seen damaging the bio-gas hosing.
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| The House of our First Bio-Gas Visit |
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| Showing where the Fertiliser is Gathered From |
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| Shammy Doing some Roofwork |
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| Our Friendly Hosts |
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| Shammy Looking at if the Bio-Gas is Working |
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| Mani Explaining about the Family's Bio-Gas Situation |
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| The Family Saying Goodbye to Us |
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| One of the Family Member's Auto-Rick, His Occupation |
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| Some Families must Travel to the Water Source of their Village to get Fresh Water for their Homes |
On our drive to and from villages, we also saw some government workers planting trees, we stopped to ask and check what they were doing, and the government has now approved for tree plantation along roadsides. This is another example of the government taking over previous SEDS projects, such as when the goverment began paying women.
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| A Beautiful View for a Park |
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| Government Workers Planting Trees Along the Road |
Also on our journey, we passed the new Kia Factory. What a giant it is, seemingly larger than most villages and towns around the area.
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| Horn Repairs - A Vital Part of Indian Driving |
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| Kia Factory - Not Fully Captured in one Photo |
We were also luckily enough to be invited through a silk worm farm at one of the bio-gas houses. While I've seen silk worms in Australia before, it was very interesting to see so many at once and how they are cared for, as well as the general process of creating silk and in such large quantity.
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| Shammy Setting up new Bio-Gas Hosing |
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| Bio-Gas and Wood Fire |
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| Bio-Gas Tank |
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| The Silkworm House |
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| Silkworm Care |
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| Friendly Friends |
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| Silkworm Housing |
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| Open Weaved Houses for Silkworms to form their Cocoons |
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| Silkworm Metamorphosis |
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| Laying the Silkworms |
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| Silkworms are Fed Different Types of Mulberry Leaves, Affecting their Silk |
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| Labouring over the Silk Cocoons |
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| Two of the Friendly Locals |
With beautiful sights along the countryside way, we journeyed to another village for some more bio-gas maintenance. Then having some lunch in a nearby town.
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| Some of the Beautiful Landscape People of India get to Surround Themselves With |
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| Processing Produce |
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| Dhobi's by the River |
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| Friendly Lizard |
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| The Bio-Gas Unit Backs onto a Water Tank, with Plenty of Water |
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| Bio-Gas Unit - Fresh Manure being Deposited |
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| The Friendly Locals |
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| Quaint Lunchtimes |
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| The Atmosphere is Constantly Beautiful |
After visiting some more bio-gas houses, we visited a village named Veerapuram. Veerapuram is visited every year by migratory Siberian Painted Storks. While the end of their season is June, there were still a few juveniles around which were just as beautiful, although lacking the striking colour and patterns of the fully fledged adults.
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| Domesticated Ox's living amongst the Village |
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| Locals Wanting their Photo Taken |
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| Statue for Veerapuram of Siberian Painted Stork |
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| Siberian Painted Stork |
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| Even the Pulling Carts are Beautiful Designed |
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| Storks, A Part of Daily Living for the Villagers |
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| Nearby Lake to Veerapuram |
We then went to the market at Somandepalli, where Mani shopped for some fresh food for SEDS. I also finally brought a towel, bigger than the tea-sized towel I've previously been using. The Towels used here are this beautiful thin material which are very absorbent but because they're so thin, dry very fast.
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| A Water Reserve on the way to Somandepalli |
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| Mani Buying some Fresh Beans |
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| Weighing up the Goods |
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| Some People had Set up with Covers to Help Protect from the Heat |
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| Somandepalli Markets |
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| A Better View of some of the Size of the Markets |
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| A Very Hot Day - As Usual |
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| Flowers - An Important Trade Good Amongst Indians |
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| Beautiful Flowers for Sale |
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| Sweets |
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| More Sweets |
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| All Manners of things are Sold at the Markets |
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| Perfect View of a Small Section of the Markets |
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| End of Day Sales |
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| Mani's Temporary House |
After the markets, Mani invited us to her house. Her current residency is only temporarily however, as her and her sons are currently constructing a new house.
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| Mani and her 2 Sons |
Arriving back at SEDS, I had previously mentioned to Debbie I was thinking of cutting my hair, which she excitedly expressed interest to cut it. So, Debbie cut my hair.
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| Debbie about to Cut my Hair |
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| Freshly Cut |
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