Solar Women's Center

Summary

In December 2004, Grupo Fenix received a matching grant of $20,000 to aid in the creation and construction of the Solar Women of Totogalpa’s Solar Center. The Solar Center will be focused around a workshop for the construction of Solar Cookers and a café for the sale of solar-produced foods. In addition to the construction of these two buildings, part of the grant will be used to construct 30 new Solar Cookers, as well as to begin solar energy education and outreach to local elementary schools. While administrative and project planning guidance is provided by staff and volunteers of Grupo Fenix, the Solar Women of Totogalpa (SWT), a group of 22 women living in the rural municipality of Totogalpa, are the driving force for the design and completion of this project.

Author Address

Prof. Susan Kinne
Grupo Fenix/Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria
Apartado Postal
LM 139
Managua
Nicaragua

Affiliation

NGO

Status

[Ongoing Implementation]

Category

Solar Cooking, Solar Drying, Roasting, Baking, Other

Adobe construction

Implementation Date

1/2006

Detailed Description

On November 25^th and 26th, two members of Solar Women of Totogalpa (SWT) and two employees of the PV Workshop in Sabana Grande who are involved with the SWT, attended a Sustainable Architecture Fair at the Central American University (UCA) in Managua . There they had the opportunity to see various different building methods and hear about various projects happening all over the country. Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of the fair was the introduction to Dulce Guillén, an architect at the UCA. After various conversations with Susan Kinne, Dulce offered to volunteer her services for the Solar Center project with the condition that her graduate assistant Janice Nuñez is paid for her time. Dulce has worked throughout Northern Nicaragua on various projects and specializes in adobe construction. In her initial conversations with Susan, Dulce emphasized that though adobe is often overlooked as a building material because of its association with the homes of the poor and because at times it is not made properly, it is in fact one of the best building materials for this area. Dulce uses adobe in her buildings because of its accessibility, cooling affect, and affordability, and she saw the Solar Center as a great opportunity to display how adobe could be used effectively and attractively.

The SWT met with Dulce Guillén on December 20^th to introduce themselves and the solar cookers. Each woman spent a few moments describing how long she has had her cooker and what types of foods she prepares in it. Dulce asked preliminary questions about what they wanted to see at the Solar Center and how they saw themselves being involved in the planning, construction, and eventual use of the Center. She also asked detailed questions about how the cookers are built in order to get an idea of what would need to be included in the solar cooker workshop. After the meeting Janice and Dulce tasted their first foods from a solar cooker- a cooked plantain and a hard boiled egg, and went with the women to see the land on which the center will be built.

On January 21^st, Dulce Guillén and her assistant Janice Nuñez, led the SWT through various group activities to brainstorm their dreams and hopes for the Solar Center . A part of the day was also dedicated to having the women sketch out how they thought the Solar Center might look. Ideas that were included in the initial brainstorm were spaces for Solar Cooker construction, a café to make and sell solar prepared foods, teas, and other herbal products, childcare for the children of the women working at the Solar Center, horticulture land, areas specifically for reforestation, and places for families to relax (a playground, green-spaces, flower gardens). Towards the end of the day Dulce and Janice helped the group prioritize and trim their list of ideas. In this process, it was determined that Phase 1 of the project would include construction of the workshop to build the Solar Cookers, reforestation, and the beginning of the horticulture.

On February 11^th, four women from SWT (including the group’s president and the solar cooker promoter), Meg Gluckman and Susan Kinne spent the day in Esteli, a city about two hours south of Totogalpa. In Esteli, the group visited four places in search of design ideas to bring back to share with the group.

The first stop was at Cecali, a center for natural medicine. Cecali has a collection of solar dryers that they use to dry plants used in the oils, salves, teas, and shampoos that they sell. The women discussed the various designs and the possibility of replicating one or more at the Solar Center . Regarding the building structure of Cecali, the women were impressed by the use of natural light, a central interior garden and the beauty of a large mural painted in the reception area that drew attention to Cecali’s mission of working with locally available plants and to increase the use and popularity of affordable natural health remedies.

The second visit was to La Casita, a small café. The café is surrounded by a vegetable and herb farm, which provides many of the ingredients for the food sold, as well as seedlings sold by the café’. La Casita began simply as a shop front to sell extra production from the farm and whole wheat bread baked by the owner. The café’s most appealing aspect to the women was its “natural” feel. While La Casita sits right on the PanAmerican Highway, the use of trees, bamboo, flowering plants, cactuses, gardens and an open park area, make it easy to forget the café lies just on the outskirts of one of Nicaragua’s bustling cities. All the plants also help to cool the area, making it very appealing to sit and snack at the outdoor tables and benches. In regards to the menu, the women were impressed by the presence of simple, wholesome foods and the absence of sodas and greasy dishes.

The third visit was to Casa Esteli, the local tourism center. While Casa Esteli does offer tourist information, it also displays local artesian work for sale, has a small café, offers internet service, and has workshop and banquet rooms that it rents out for local events. The women commented on the inviting display of artesian products, the bright, energetic colors of the interior, and the use of natural light and a small indoor fountain.

For most of the women, this was their first visit to these places in Esteli. From their notes on the day and photos taken by Susan and Meg, the women made a presentation to the rest of the group on February. 23^rd. After the presentation the SWT discussed the different characteristics that had been described for each of the visits and which they felt could be incorporated into the design of the Solar Center . Many of these ideas were then expanded upon and integrated into the design during Dulce Guillén’s presentation on March 12^th of the first draft of the plan for the Solar Center .

Included in the master plan were the areas discussed in the Dreaming and Designing Workshop: a workshop for Solar Cooker construction, a solar café (possibly named “Bocaditos Solares”, (Solar Bites), a daycare, a playground, a hostel, space for a martial arts and exercise classes, agriculture land for growing products that can be solar dried or cooked and sold from the café, gardens, and parking areas. Dulce had added a basketball court. She saw the basketball court as multifunctional. First, she thought that it would offer local kids a place to hang out. Secondly, it could be used for solar cooker demonstrations and even fairs. Also new to the master plan was a small amphitheater, which would be built into the side of the hill on the southwest corner of the property. The amphitheater, which would be located in a cool, reforested area of the property, would serve as a gathering place where meetings could be held and which also could be rented out to local organization for events.

Overall the reaction to the master plan was overwhelmingly positive. While there was a lot of enthusiasm for the amphitheater, there were mixed reactions on the basketball court. It was decided that the women would conduct a survey of local youth to see if they would be interested in helping with the court’s construction and if they would use the court if it was located at the Solar Center . Other recommendations that were presented were to expand the area designated for solar cookers outside the solar café and to specify where cisterns used to collect rainwater from the rainy season would be located.

The presentation of the solar cooker workshop plan was also met with great enthusiasm. Dulce had included lots of natural light and made sure that the design allowed for good natural ventilation. Also included were double wide doors for the easy movement of the cookers in and out of the workshop and lots of storage space for completed cookers. Additionally recommendations from the group included the extension of an outdoor patio to act as a display area and the addition of an outdoor protected area that could be used to house wood and other construction materials. With these and a few other recommendations, Dulce and Janice left to work on the final master plan and final design of the workshop. They will also be bringing a design of the solar café the next time they meet with the SWT.

Between two meetings, the first on November 17^th and the second on March 8^th, three committees were formed in order to divide the work on the Solar Center . The three committees are: Solar Cooker Construction, Solar Energy Education, and Solar Center Construction.

The Solar Cooker Construction committee will be primarily responsible for the construction of the 30 solar cookers. The committee has begun its work by visiting Grupo Fenix’s other solar cooker workshop in Uniles, Somoto in order to learn the construction process. During their visit on March 16^th and 17^th the committee was guided through the construction of two solar cookers by the staff of the Uniles workshop. The committee will also be working with a local carpenter as they begin constructing the cookers in Totogalpa. Before cookers are made in Totogalpa, the local carpenter (Marcio Perez Lopez) will visit the workshop in Uniles and have an opportunity to work for a few days with the team there. The first two cookers to be made in Totogalpa will be made by the committee, with assistance from the staff from Uniles and from Marcio. Once the committee is confident in their construction abilities, other women in SWT will be invited to help with the construction.

The Solar Energy Education committee has the responsibility of designing a solar education program for local schools, selecting the schools, and providing the training to the students and teachers. The committee has put together a rough draft for the procedure of selecting the participating schools and has reviewed the educational materials from the Department of Education regarding solar energy. As the participating schools will receive a solar cooker, it is important to the committee that the schools are dedicated to the project. In the next few months, the committee hopes to have formalized the application process and begun initial conversations with possible schools.

While everyone in the SWT will participate in the construction of the Solar Center , the Solar Center Construction committee will take a leading role in the logistics of the construction. With the completion of the master plan and the plan for the workshop, the first big projects for this committee will be the building of a water tank to hold water for the construction of the adobe for the workshop, and the making of approximately 10,000 adobe blocks. With only a few months left in the dry season, the committee’s challenge will be to have all the blocks made before the rains arrive. To direct them in the construction, a local builder will be hired, as well as a couple experienced laborers.

Note: This report is from April 2005. Since it was written the women and assorted helpers have built 17 solar cookers and three solar dryers. After long struggles due to lack of water and difficulty in finding the right mix for the adobes, they now have 2000 + adobes built. They have received numerous capacity building workshops, have been generating small incomes with "edutourism", and have created a "Sabor Solar de Sabana Grande" cook book, available in english or spanish upon request.