In their final week, the students visit a new area near Sericho, a small fishing town a mile away from the Ethiopian border. Here the group is introduced to new people and a new lifestyle. Very few people in Ileret town use fishing as a means of finding food sources. In fact, it is a [...]
This week the Global Innovation team discussed their ideas for long-term projects. The five short term projects had covered major aspects of the community’s ability to develop sustainably and thus are important topics the group will keep in mind on as they move forward. Among them are access to electricity, water management, building infrastructure, [...]
One of the great prospects that Kenya has is its abundance of open flat land and solar power. Because of this, photovoltaic, or solar panel systems are a very favorable form of obtaining energy for the communities that need it. Professor Rodrigo has created a full day lecture around photovoltaic, or PV, systems to enlighten [...]
(Counterclockwise from bottom left) Petra, Sheng, Karolina, Nathan, Kelly, Ian, and TA Evelyn watch as Dr. Lisa Hildebrand discusses how to recognize stone tools. This week our students have started their second module ‘Archeological Methods’, taught by Dr. Lisa Hildebrand. The first three days were spent bringing the students up to speed on [...]
Classroom Relocation Project Building a classroom is no small task, but the Global Innovation team is up to it! Last week, after consulting with Mwang’ombe, the team was generously offered many materials from the TBI campus to conduct their project. Metal and plywood was provided from the TBI Ileret facility and TBI staff offered to [...]
On Tuesday May 30th, a vast storm hit the Ileret area and brought an immense amount of rain. Within a short period of 9 hours, TBI Ileret facility documented a record-high rainfall of more than 200 mm (8 inches). This amount is much more than a typical rainstorm at Ileret (~20 mm), and more than [...]
It can get pretty hot here in Turkana, so this weekend the students made two separate trips to the massive East African rift lake to cool off and take a well-deserved break from their first module. On Friday and after a week full of lectures, lab activities, and assignments, the whole group loaded up in [...]
Classroom Relocation Project A new development arises: The day after Alan and Saffron moved the students out of their old classroom and into the dining hall, the local primary school received food rations from the government. (Up until now, the school hadn’t received any rations for three months; hence, the building had been abandoned.) This [...]