An Ecological Foundation A Framework for Understanding Sustainable Agricultural Strategies and Water Management in Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala Mali, West Africa Prepared for Mali Nyeta Molly Burhans and Chris Hendershot The Conway School June 2015
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An Ecological Foundation
“In ten years we want to feed people well. We want young people to stay and trucks to arrive here to pick up vegetables.� -Village woman of Djangoula Foulala Meeting: June 9, 2015
A Framework for Understanding Sustainable Agricultural Strategies and Water Management in Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala, Mali, West Africa
Prepared for Mali Nyeta Molly Burhans and Chris Hendershot The Conway School Spring 2015
An Ecological Foundation
An Ecological Foundation
Acknowledgments The authors would like to extend their appreciation to everyone who helped provide input and support throughout the course of this project.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to the residents of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala for welcoming us and making our time with you even more special. We would like to especially thank those with whom we spoke and went to meetings with. Your stories were moving and it was a blessing to be able to spend time with you. Thank you to Mali Nyeta and friends for initiating this project and for all of your cooperation. Specifically, thank you to Madame Bintou Sissoko, Jinny St. Goar, Jonathon Ellison, Joseph Donovan, Soulaymane and other translators. We can only hope that you and the villagers gain as much from this document as we have from creating it. Thank you for your hospitality, cooperation, and instruction. Thank you to the faculty and staff of the Conway School, for your continued guidence and for working hard to ensure travel to the site was possible and safe. We would like to thank the Blue Yak Foundation, for a generous donation that made this project possible. And, finally, we extend our deep grattitude to our friends and family for support throughout this incredible process.
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Introduction iii
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Introduction
Section I: Introduction
Land Use...................................................................................................34
Executive Summary.........................................................................................3
Living in the Climate...............................................................................36
The Larger Picture of Education...................................................................5
Considering Climate Change.................................................................38
An Introduction to Mali Nyeta.....................................................................7
The Bakoy River...............................................................................................40
A Brief Introduction to the Djangoulas.......................................................9
Elevation, Topography, and Drainage...........................................................41
Contents
Contents
Well-Being and Water.......................................................................................42 Section II: Process, Human Ecology, Environmental Inventory
Open Well vs. Closed Well..............................................................................44
Section II.1: Process....................................................................................12
Analysis 1: Roads and Paths............................................................................46
Ecological Design....................................................................................12
Analysis 2: Structures.......................................................................................48
A Framework for Ecological Development.........................................13
Analysis 3: Vegetation......................................................................................50
Developing an interactive base map.....................................................14
Plant Life Around the Villages........................................................................52
An Interconnected System of Problems..............................................16
Biodiversity in Mali...........................................................................................53
An Interconnected System of Opportunities......................................17
Agriculture Inventory.......................................................................................54
Finding Opportunities.............................................................................18
New Women’s Garden......................................................................................58
Section II.2: Human Ecology.....................................................................20 The Human Factor...................................................................................21
Section III: Typologies of opportunities, Looking forward
People of Djangoula Foulala..................................................................22
Section III.1: Typologies of opportunities...............................................64
People of Djangoula Kita......................................................................23
Providing the Framework.......................................................................65
Interviews and Meetings.........................................................................24
Potable Water Management...................................................................66
Women in the Villages.............................................................................26
Agricultural Strategies.............................................................................76
Meet Founay..............................................................................................28
Irrigation Techniques..............................................................................86
Meet the Griot for the Chief...................................................................29
Section III.2: Looking Forward................................................................99
Section II.3: Environmental Inventory......................................................30 Analysis and Context of The Djangoulas............................................31
Appendix A.....................................................................................................107
Locating Djangoula Foulala and Djangoula Kita...............................32
Resources........................................................................................................116
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Introduction I
Introduction I
Section I Introduction
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Introduction I 2
Construction has begun on the medical center’s staff housing.
Food and water security are necessary for the survival of any community. The villages of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala are presented with a significant opportunity through working with the non-profit organization, Mali Nyeta, to adapt their food and water management systems on their own terms before the shifting environment, in the wake of climate change, necessitates it. This document explores possible water management and agriculture strategies that are suitable for the existing site and regional conditions of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala and how these selected water management and agriculture strategies may be incorporated into a new four-hectare women’s garden shared by the villages. The first section of this document presents general information about the client, the project goals, and the relation of food and water security to education in the Djangoulas. It also illustrates the Djangoulas’ geographic location in West Africa. The second section of this document examines selected processes used for assessment and research throughout the course of this project, the human ecology of the villages, and an environmental inventory and analysis of the existing conditions of the villages. The third section outlines potable water management methods, agricultural strategies, and
irrigation techniques that were mostly chosen based on their effectiveness in environments comparable to that of the villages’. Some of these measures to increase water and food security are then directly grounded to the new garden shared by the villages in an outlined series of conceivable futures scenarios framed around the possibilities that arise from changing current agriculture and irrigation practices and what would be needed to do that. The problems faced by villagers were approached with a frame that was influenced by generalized systems theory. This approach revealed broad areas of opportunity for future examination and at the same time helped reveal specific areas that could be focused on as goals for this project. A purpose of this project was to lay a foundation for future work that may be done in collaboration with Mali Nyeta or other organizations and people working in the region. The research compiled is meant to provide information about the existing conditions of the villages, reveal bits and pieces about the lives of village residents, and illustrate a framework for finding strategies that could work for sustainably addressing the problems of villagers today in helping them prepare for tomorrow.
Introduction I
Executive Summary
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Introduction I 4
Students of lean out the window of L’ecole Paul Sheftel.
It is rare to see anyone as happy as Mariam was when she finally received a new novel; it is her second book, she had been reading the same one for years. After receiving the book she asks if a women’s classes may ever be able to be started in the evenings. Some children of the villages proudly tout their school uniforms and run around asking the Conway Students questions about their life and family in French “Bonjour! Je m’appelle Madu. Comment va votre famille?” The men eagerly show off L’ecole Paul Sheftel, the school that they worked hard to construct, which now serves a number of children from Djangoula Kita and Djnagoula Foulala. If there is one thing that is absolutely clear in these villages, it is that the people of the Djangoulas value education and are eager to learn. Despite this great energy surrounding education, there are significant limitations that make schooling a major challenge. Coupled with a thirst for knowledge is a thirst for water. Each year, water-related illnesses keep kids out of school for a combined 443 million school days in Sub-Saharan Africa (WN). Dehydration can have major recourse on development and overall health as well. Improved access to freshwater could help improve the quality and quantity of education received by the children of the Djangoulas and contribute to them being healthy enough to focus on their school work. Malnutrition is also a serious concern and something that impacts the development of children. Malnutrition can result from water-borne illnesses, but it is also a result of dry rainy seasons, failed crops, and a lack of access to certain foods. Shifting the villagers towards more sustainable agricultural strategies that are more resilient to pest attacks, droughts, and the other
problems that plague the current agricultural systems could secure a steadier supply of more diversified, more nutritious food. Maintaining current agricultural practices requires that many hours are devoted to irrigation. Young girls often have to help their mothers irrigate their family gardens. If they do not there will be no food. The task of helping with water often draws girls away from their school work and requires that the put their time and energy towards this task. Keeping children in school is imperative. Young girls are especially at risk for having a compromised education, in part, due to the demand for helping with water. It is vital that the girls are given the opportunity to stay in school. Providing basic water and irrigation infrastructure could help this. If girls stay in school, rates of violence, child marriage, and infant mortality often decrease. When girls are given the same opportunities as boys to accelerate in school, everyone benefits. This document illustrates a systemic examination of the challenges and opportunities faced by the Djangoulas, two villages in western Mali, West Africa. It also provides an inventory and analysis of the existing conditions and environmental context of the villages. These conditions are tied to various types of potable water management methods, agricultural strategies, and irrigation techniques that serve as templates for strategies for changing these three areas to be less labor- and time-intensive—allowing, ultimately, for there to be a greater focus on education and the well-being of the community.
Introduction I
The Larger Picture of Education
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Introduction I 6
A crowd at a village planning meeting, facilitated by the Conway Students on June 12, 2015.
Supporting Education and Sustainability in Mali
Mali Nyeta, the sponsor of this project, is a US-based foundation working to improve educational opportunities within the West African country of Mali. Many children in Mali are not receiving the education they deserve, less than half of the country’s residents can read and write, and the country’s few schools are often over capacity. Mali Nyeta has recently helped to start a school in Djangoula Kita, serving over 150 students from both Djangoulas. Across Sub-Saharan Africa, water-related illnesses like cholera, typhoid, and bacterial diarrhea keep kids out of school for a combined 443 million school days each year. The children of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala cannot focus on their education if they are malnourished. Furthermore, young girls are often kept from school because they have to help transport water from wells. Developing the villages’ water and agriculture systems to be safer, less time consuming, and yield more nutritious food would likely improve the quality and quantity of the education that the children can receive.
Introduction I
An Introduction to Mali Nyeta
Madame Bintou Sissoko (right) is the founder and executive director of Mali Nyeta. She was born and raised in Kita, Mali. Madame Bintou spent years as a teacher before becoming a principal. During her first tenure as a principal she expanded her school from K-4 to K-12. She founded Les Starlettes School in Bamako in 2010. She is the main driving force behind making quality education available in Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala.
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Djangoula Kita Djangoula Foulala
Introduction I
Residents of Djangoula Kita sing, dance, and make music during a welcoming ceremony for the Mali Nyeta and Conway team.
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“The people of Mali are some of the nicest in the universe. There was one incident where 30,000 internally displaced people were going to Mapti. Only 500 showed up at the refugee camp set up. All the other 25,500 had been taken into [private] homes.�
-Mary Beth Leonard , U.S. Ambassador to Mali April 23, 2015, lecture at SIT, Brattleboro, VT
In this satellite image of Africa, Mali is highlighted in black and red. Northern Mali extends into the arid Sahara desert, the largest desert in the world. About 65% of Mali is covered in desert. In the north, resources are scarce and there are more violent conflicts and terrorist activity. Southern Mali includes a savanna zone that is semi-arid and slightly extends into a tropical wet and dry climate. (Image adapted from wikipedia.com, Africa).
A General Picture of Mali and the Djangoulas
Mali is a West African country approximately three times the size of Germany, making it the eighth largest country in Africa. It is landlocked and borders seven other African countries. Mali has a population of approximately 14.5 million people. Mali became a French colony in 1898. In 1960 it became an independent nation and in 1990 it established itself as a constitutional democracy. Today, about half of the population lives below the international poverty line. Contemporary global issues such as climate change, desertification, and economic inequality disproportionately impact the people of Mali due to the country’s geographical location in the southern Sahara desert, its colonial legacy, and current position within global economic relations. Life in Mali is not easy for the vast majority of residents. Mali is the fifth poorest country in the world and it has major public health problems, especially malnutrition and infant mortality. The CIA World Factbook estimates that Mali has the second highest infant mortality rate in the world, lower only than Afghanistan. The country’s infant mortality rate is approximately 106 deaths per 1,000 live births. The villages of
Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala have an infant mortality rate that is approximately three times that amount. If infants survive their first year, they still have to contend with issues like illness linked to poor sanitation and malnutrition, compounded as climate change continues to cause a shorter rainy season. Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala are located several kilometers from the banks of the Bakoy River in a rural part of Mali’s southwestern region of Kayes. There are approximately 650 women in Djangoula Kita. The combined population of both villages is estimated to be between 2000 and 3000, though a more precise census number is not known. Mali Nyeta built a school in Djangoula Kita in order to meet the residents’ of both villages desire to bring formal education to these communities. The residents of both Djangoulas recently began construction on a new garden, located between the two villages. A fence has been built and four irrigation wells have been dug.
Introduction I
A Brief Introduction to the Djangoulas
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Section II
Section II
Section II Process, Human Ecology, Environmental Inventory
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Process II.1
Ecological Design: Connecting Landscape Ecology, People, and Opportunities
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This project uses an ecological design framework to understand how the people of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala can better meet water and nutrition needs, while fostering the educational and economic growth they desire. A preliminary collection of potable water management systems, agricultural strategies, and irrigation techniques that may help the people of Djangoula Foulala and Djangoula Kita meet their desired goals was generated based on the sites’ existing environmental and social context and the villagers’ expressed interests and needs. The landscape of the villages was analyzed with other relevant information, such as current and predicted climate conditions. Searching for sustainable solutions requires an understanding of how climate
change may inevitably impact the ecosystem of which the Djangoulas are a part, and requires listening to villagers’ stories and understanding which opportunities they see as important. “The developing world” is typically framed in the context of “the developed world.” The reality is that the standard we use to define the developed world is a relatively affluent Euroamerican one—a lifestyle that is ecologically unsustainable. When development is re-framed within the understanding that we are all part of the developing world, this respects the complex systemic operations of the ecosystems we live in and social, economic and political systems that co-influence all our daily lives.
Project Process A Framework for Ecological Development Phase 1: Ecological Design Framework (January-June 2015) Site Visit June 2015
Early research explorations: a basic understanding of the ecology and geology of Djangoula Foulala and Djangoula Kita and how climate change may effect the sites.
Environmental Inventory and Analysis
Talking directly with villagers to better understand how they relate to the environment, currently manage their land, and have experienced climate change, and cross-checking our environmental inventory and analysis with their accounts.
Using satellite images to understand ground conditions, talking with experts, creating an interactive base-map.
Preliminary Typologies
Sociocultural Research
Early research explorations: Learning who lives at the site, what ethnolinguistic group they are from, and the beliefs of the region, general economics and political structure of Mali.
Reading biographical accounts and novels of people from the region or living in the region.
Phase 2 : TBD
Collect information about different potable water management systems, agricultural strategies, and irrigation techniques that have been effective in comparable conditions to the current and forcasted environment of the villages and the social context.
Sustainable Typologies Hold participatory meetings where villagers express what agricultural and water solutions they are interested in, what they have seen working and not working, and what their resources are for the desired development. Discuss the compiled list of strategies, and receive similar feedback.
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A New Way to Communicate Developing an Interactive Base Map
Process II.1
An interactive base map was developed in order to gather information about the site. This allowed the design team to work with individuals who had substantial knowledge about the site to get a greater understanding of how the villages are laid out. A list of spatial research questions was generated and placed on the map. Some examples of simple questions asked on the map are “Who lives here?” “Where
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is the clinic?” and “What is here (indicating a notable feature in the landscape)?” The land use maps were then created from this information and brought to Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala. Villagers were then asked additional questions about the space. Results from all answers were then corrected with existing conditions.
A screenshot of the interactive base map, made in Google Slides and shared through the Internet.
Process II.1
Asking Questions with an Interactive Base Map
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Process II.1
An Interconnected System of Problems
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A Web of Challenges
Simply Approaching a Complex System
The challenges faced by the villagers of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala are not isolated. These problems are interconnected in a web of complex causal, codependent, or correlative relationships. An example of how these interconnect is that a lack of access to education can impact the number of girls being married young (the expected marriage age of 14 years old in the villages). At the same time, marrying young prevents girls from continuing to access their education. Having children below the age of 19 is linked to high infant mortality, so this, as well as other factors, could be influencing the villages’ high infant mortality rates.
Two general ways that one could begin to untangle the relationships of the challenges faced by Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala would be to improve infrastructure and create a space that supports education (see diagram above). The nongovernmental organization Mali Nyeta has already begun to support education in the villages, building the Paul Sheftel School in 2012. Infrastructure comprises those permanent installations that help meet the basic needs of the community in efficient ways, like roads, waste management, or water cisterns and delivery systems. Improving infrastructure could positively or negatively affect all of the contextual systems that it influences. For example, new roads might strengthen a region’s local economy, while simultaneously fragmenting the integrity of its ecosystem.
Process II.1
An Interconnected System of Opportunities
Opportunities Reveal Themselves
Identified Opportunities
Opportunities reveal themselves through a systems approach; improving infrastructure and supporting education are related to improving circulation and flow, improving the availability of clean water, improving the efficiency of water usage, opening discussions through education, providing the basic material needs for education (like a school, water, teacher, etc.) and improving health care access. This document focuses on opportunities related to water and agriculture, but there are many other areas that can be further explored in the future.
The identified opportunities can be directly linked back to the problems that they will address. The system of problems begins to reveal itself as a set of opportunities that can be discussed with the residents and better related to their desires and perspectives.
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Process II.1 18
Sebe trees against the stormy sky in early June, at the start of the rainy season.
In the villages of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala one out of every three infants dies before the age of one. Infant mortality is just one of many problems outlined in the next few pages. Along side these problems there are opportunities to take small steps that have the potential to make big differences for the village residents. The diagrams and discussion on the following pages highlight the process by which the project goals were developed.
Project Goal
General Challenges
General Opportunities
• Lack of access to clean water • High infant mortality rates • Young marriage age for women • Gender violence • Limited access to education • Lack of means for increasing agriculture • Lack of infrastructure • Difficulty changing land use paradigm with current village political structure.
• Explore possible water management and agriculture strategies that are suitable for the existing site and regional conditions of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala. • Explore how selected water management and agriculture strategies may be useful in the new garden.
Process II.1
Finding Opportunities
• Increase the availability of clean water • Improve infrastructure • Increase water use efficiency • Open discussions about gender roles through education • Provide greater means for obtaining needs for education • Set up a system for healthcare access • Articulate planning and development strategies • Improve circulation and flow
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Process II.1 20
Molly Burhans, Conway ‘15, and a few school children and village men play with a slingshot.
Human ecology is a multidisciplinary field that examines humans and their relationship to the surrounding natural, social, and built environments. An essential part of sustainably approaching development is ensuring that the people involved are heard. What the residents of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala want was communicated during the team’s site visit in May 2015, as were the development strategies the villagers had seen fail or work in their area. Understanding what the needs of the villagers are and how they want to address them led to more conversations about how these needs could relate to the current and changing climate conditions and population growth of the area and the spatial implications of all of them. The quote on the right from Don Manning, of Agros International, captures the importance of working with people. It is important to remember that encouraging people to change their current relationship to the landscape behaviorally or spatially, is a huge request. Explaining to people their potential options for shifting their landuse behavior is an incredible difficult task. To do this most effectively requires an understanding of the villager’s current land-use practices and their general attitudes their relationship with the land. Further, it must be ensured that the recommendations reflect the residents desires.
Highly costly efforts, like bore drilling, cannot be paid for by the villagers alone. Micro-finance programs provide one option for the residents to fund less expensive components of a system, like cistern construction or drip irrigation tubing. This could create a different relation of ownership with the design implementations.
“The most difficult thing is getting people to change their behavior. Think of how difficult it is for us to even change our own behavior. These people are risking their whole lives by shifting their land practices. Trust has to be there.”
Human Ecology II.2
The Human Factor
-Don Manning, previous CEO Agros Int. Conversation, May 12, 2015
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People of Djangoula Foulala • Fula (Peul) ethnolinguistic group. • Total population of 40 million people spread out across Africa, northern parts of Central Africa, Sudan and Egypt.
Human Ecology II.2
• An estimated 13 million are nomadic, making them the largest pastoral nomadic group in the world.
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• Quickly collected money for shea nut grinder and have had more successful micro-finance endeavors that Djangoula Kita. • According to the interviews, they are more cohesive as a village unit, and have more collective decision making; the women’s council has more influence than in Djangoula Kita.
The residents of Dgjangoula Foulala gathered to welcome the Conway team into their village.
• Have had some micro-financing success, but not as much as Djangoula Foulala.
• Malinke ethnolinguistic group. • Total population of 11 million people spread out across western Africa. • Caste system in which certain skills are passed down through families.
Human Ecology II.2
People of Djangoula Kita
The residents of Dgjangoula Kita dancing on the first day of the project site visit.
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Getting to Know the People of the Djangoulas: Interviews and Meetings Overview
Human Ecology II.2
The Conway student team conducted a series of interviews with people from both villages during their site visit. The topics covered were largely focused on the Djangoulas’ agricultural practices, interests, and hopes for the future of their villages and the women’s garden, and gender relationships.
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“The vision for the garden in ten years is that it brings the villages together. It brings us women from both villages together, and that we grow together and become one.” -Djangoula Kita Women’s council meeting, June 8, 2015
Highlights of Women’s Interviews and Meetings
• “I’m ashamed to have to feed my kids leaves” • At 4 years old young girls have to take care of their younger sisters or brothers. Once they are 6 years old they go to work on the farm with their mother. • Boys go with dad to work on the farm at 6 years old. Young boys gather wood for burning. • Women grind millet twice per day. They put skin in the sun, and wash it so that it can be cooked for lunch, dinner, and breakfast. • Women generally wakeup around 4:00 am. • Women consistently said that the three most physically demanding things they had to do were pull water from wells, pound millet, and cultivate their gardens. • Women often marry into a family around 14 years old and at 55 years old they retire. • Children falling into wells is a problem in the villages. Elder at a Djangoula Kita’s women’s council meeting.
• There has not been a “normal” wet season since 1991. • The pace of social, technical, and economic change appears to be increasing regionally. • There are no plans to plant trees in the new garden. • Last year the rainy season never came. • The intermittent stream that runs just to the north of Djangoula Kita used to flow for five months every year. • In 2014, the same intermittent stream flowed for 2 days. • Increasing the community’s level of water security is the biggest issue currently facing the villages.
Human Ecology II.2
Highlights of Men’s Interview and Meeting
A bowl of locally grown sesame seeds were passed around during an agricultural discussion in Djangoula Kita. 25
Women in the Villages Challenges for the Women of the Djangoulas
Human Ecology II.2
• Women’s access to health care is often restricted; there is a lack of access to basic menstrual supplies and prenatal care.
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• Female genital mutilation rates in the villages region are around 94% (1). FGM can lead to infection, infertility and severe birth complications. • Women are often seen by men as a free source of labor. For many, the disproportionate amount of work that women are expected do results in both physical and emotional hardships. • There is a lack of inclusion in the decision-making process; male chiefs make most decisions. For D. Foulala, the women’s council is collectively delegating land use in the women’s garden, while in D. Kita the men are deciding how the women’s garden will be used and then having the women work it. • Women are often required to marry at a very young age. “14 or 15 is a good age to marry. So they marry into the family at age 14 and then work until retirement at 55,” said a man of D. Foulala. • We have been told that most women in the Djangoulas experience domestic violence on a nearly daily basis.
“Women bear the burden. Women pay the price. But women are not just victims; they are agents of progress and change. Empowered women and girls are the best drivers of growth, the best hope for reconciliation and the best buffer against the radicalization of youth and the repetition of cycles of violence.”
-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
During the site visit, interviews were exclusively done by and with women, and by and with men. Discussed were the current and future status of gender relationships within the Djangoulas. Men’s gender perceptions • Women are generally expected to perform the same amount of work, regardless of their economic status. The men believe this is the case throughout Mali. • The men would generally like for the women to have lighter workloads. • The men perceive themselves to be “problem fixers.” • The men think that the workloads are balanced between the genders, and that the extra farming work they do in the rainy season equals the amount of work the women do yearly.
• When asked, “What happens when a man does “women’s” work, or when a women does “men’s” work?, A man replied, “That cannot happen in Mali.” Women’s gender perceptions • Women believe that they work longer hours than men.
Human Ecology II.2
Seeking a Better Understanding of Gender
• Although they desire for changes in workloads, voice, and inclusion, they often believe these are not possible.
Important questions to keep asking:
Q How can women be brought into the decision-making process in the villages? Q What are some changes that could decrease the workload for women? 27
Meet Founay Born in Djangoula Kita Age:
40-42 Years Old
Human Ecology II.2
Children: 10
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Founay, from Djangoula Kita, is very serious and enjoys dancing. Her work day ends late at night and begins before dawn. She was married as a teenager and has had ten children, two of whom have died. One of her children fell into an open well, but survived. During the interview, she explained how having access to better water infrastructure could decrease the amount of time and energy that she spends hauling water from the well and transporting it through the landscape. An Average Day:
Founay wakes up with the other women and “the first chickens” around 4:00 am. She begins her day grinding millet and removing the skin from the grains. After this she retrieves water from one of the open wells around the village and carries it back to her family compound. She then uses this water to cook breakfast. After her husband eats his share of breakfast, she and her children will separately eat what remains. After breakfast Founay collects water and begins to prepare lunch. After lunch Founay works in her garden for some time before beginning to grind more millet and nuts and then preparing for dinner.
“Being a child in the villages is very difficult. Sometimes all we have to feed our children is peanuts and leaves.”
-Founay, Discussion, June 8, 2015
Surname: Dembele Age: Unknown
Dembele is Djangoula Kita’s village blacksmith and the Toukara family griot or storyteller. With the wet season approaching, Dembele’s work day began by bringing the forge’s fire back to life. There was lots of work to be done on this day, some villagers had already begun to plow their fields and many were eagerly waiting for their plows and seeders to be fixed. Two of Dembele’s sons came outside and immediately sat down next to the still growing fire. The sweet smell of millet porridge began to emerge from the kitchen. Dembele’s first wife started to pour out large bowls of the now piping hot cereal. She served them each a bowl with a freshly sliced mango, before heading back inside. After a quick, quiet breakfast, the men easily fell into a silent working rhythm. Sometime shortly after their lunch break, Dembele’s close friend Chief Toukara asked him to accompany him to a meeting with the head of the women’s association in Djangoula Foulala. Although Dembele was already very busy, he quickly darted inside to grab his drum. He left his eldest son in charge of the
family forge before departing for Djangoula Foulala with Chief Toukara. As they walked, Dembele silently prepared himself for a long afternoon of entertainment. Many Malians have a griot who helps the family preserve its oral history through storytelling, song, and dance. At today’s meeting, Dembele would likely play a few songs, while helping the chief throughout the meeting. Ultimately, Dembele’s record of the Toukara family’s oral histories will be updated to reflect specifics of the meeting.
Human Ecology II.2
Meet the Griot for the Chief
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Process II.1 30
A group of children helped to inventory the vegetation around Djangoula Kita.
Analyzing at Home, Listening Abroad
Before the team visited Mali, inventories and analyses of existing conditions in the villages and the region were conducted, using a variety of sources including aerial photography and maps. Precedents from areas with similar conditions were also researched. Potential strategies for water management, (including irrigation), and agriculture appropriate to the villages, were developed based on the precedents.. Discussing local environmental conditions with a scientist at research university is much less complicated
that attempting to get in contact with villagers remotely. With this consideration in mind, while some landscape analyses and ground truthing were conducted during the site visit to Mali, additionally a large portion of time was focused on the human ecology of the villages, having discussions with the villagers, and deepening our understanding of their relation to the village environment and context.
Environmental Inventory II.3
Analysis and Context of The Djangoulas
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City of Kita, 23km
Djangoula Kita Kodagoni
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ko
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Bamako, 162km
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Process II.1
Djangoula Foulala
Adapted from Bing maps
The villages of Djangoula Foulala and Djangoula Kita, highlighted to the right with a star, are the focus areas of this document. These villages are within the Kita circle, in dark pink. A circle is the level of administration below regional governance, and the second level below national governance. Some sectors of government, like the agricultural ministry, will have extensions at the level of circles that may be able to provide support, connections, and education in the villages. The city of Kita is just 23 kilometers north of Djangoula Foulala and Djangoula Kita. Bamako, the capital city of Mali, is about 162 kilometers southeast of the villages. Founiya, the county seat, is a large village between Kita and the Djangoulas. This town has a market weekly and a middle school that some of the children can reach if they have access to bicycles or a place to stay in the town.
Q
Do Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala have defined boundaries?
Mali
Founiya Djangoula Kita Djangoula Foulala
N Circles of Kayes Region. Image adapted from wikipedia.org.
Q
How do the chiefs and the federal government interact over land ownership when land exchanges are oral?
Environmental Inventory II.3
Locating Djangoula Foulala and Djangoula Kita
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Environmental Inventory II.3
Djangoula Foulala, Land Use
34
Traore
Environmental Inventory II.3
Djangoula Kita, Land Use
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Environmental Inventory II.3
Living in the Climate The average temperature of Kita in June is estimated to be 84°F. Living in a climate of this extreme heat requires long-term physical and behavioral adaptations. In this semi-arid climate the only standing water to be found in the landscape appears during the rainy season, from June to September. During those four months most of the 900 mm of annual rainfall occurs. Standing water is a serious public health issue in the rainy season since it quickly becomes a breeding ground for malaria-carrying mosquitoes and other disease vectors. Water is an issue in the landscape in its absence and in its presence. We observed water pooling almost exclusively where there was compacted soil in the villages. Relocating major routes of travel from depressions to crests in the landscape’s micro-topography could help decrease standing water. The general vegetation patterns throughout the landscape (see photos to the right) show two distinct types of vegetation communities. One has few large trees and mostly smaller shrubby plants and grasses; it resembles a grassland savanna. In some areas there was what appeared to be many large trees spaced far apart, creating a woodland/shrub-land covering. Protecting larger trees like these could help retain moisture in the soils.
Q
Kita climate temperature information from climatemps.com
36
How could issues with standing water be resolved?
Environmental Inventory II.3
Savanna/wood-shrub landscape has few large trees.
Larger trees can play a significant role in moisture retention in the soils, and in aquifer health (FAO.org). 37
Environmental Inventory II.3
Mali - Rainfall and Temperature Change 1900-2000
38
Considering Climate Change Climate change information from the United Nations and the United States Geological Society project that the climate in Mali is going to continue becoming hotter and drier. These reports and others document that:
USGS, Mali Climate Change Report, USAID 2012
Mali - Rainfall and Temperature Change 1900-2000
• Temperatures have increased by 0.8°C since 1975, amplifying the effect of droughts. • Temperatures have increased about 0.2°C per decade in Mali. • Mali has a population growth rate of 2.6 percent (2011, CIA). • Rainfall-dependent farming occupies 70 percent of Mali’s labor force. • Only 3% of total croplands have irrigation systems. • The largest decreases in rain over the past 50 years were found in the west of the country, where the Djangoulas are. • The 2000-2009 rainfall has been on average about 12 percent lower than rainfall between 19201960. A warmer and drier climate could reduce crop viability. This means that any introduced water management strategy in the villages of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala should take into consideration the increasing demand for water because of likely population growth and climate change, and other challenges, like lower water tables and higher evaporation rates, that are being influenced by the drying, heating climate.
USGS, Mali Climate Change Report, USAID 2012
-Chief Tounkara of Djangoula Kita Climate Discussion, June 8, 2015
Djangoula Kita Djangoula Foulala
500 1,000
2,000 kilometers
N
The Djangoulas are moderately vulnerable to desertification. Precautionary measures, such as penned livestock management and tree preservation and replacement, should be taken when possible. Image adapted from wikipedia.org.
Vulnerability low moderate high very high
Other Regions dry cold humid not vulerable ice/glacier
Environmental Inventory II.3
“We have not had a good rainy season since 1991.�
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Environmental Inventory II.3
The Bakoy River
40
This images shows a successful onion harvest in a garden on the banks of the Bakoy River at end of dry season.
The Djangoulas’ Riverbank Lands
Djangoula Foulala Djangoula Kita
Three farms near the Bakoy River were observed within 6 km of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala. All of these farms were thriving, though it was the end of the dry season. Each of the gardens uses a gasoline powered engine to pump water from the river into an irrigation system which then disperses the water through the gardens. Chief Tounkara of Kita had gifted the property for each of these gardens to people who were not previously living in the villages, with one appearing to be at least 7 hectares.
Kodagoni
Q N
If there is village land by the river it could be possible for villagers to farm closer to the river and take advantage of its year-round supply of water?
Mt. Kita
Mt. Kita, behind the motorcyclists, rising 1000 ft from the surrounding landscape.
Kita
Djangoulas
N
Elevation 283 m
613 m
Mt. Kita is seen as sacred by local people. The change in elevation from the Bakoy River to Mt. Kita’s high point is approximately 400 m. Water flows southwest, from the hills, towards the Bakoy River. The general direction of surface water drainage is an important consideration for sanitation. Setting up waste management areas adequate distances away from and downhill from wells could prevent some contam-
inated runoff from entering them. The only notable topographic variation near the villages are the mostly dried stream beds. They appear as vegetated depressions that drop about five meters in elevation across a twenty meter distance. The change in elevation presents an opportunity to farm in ways that use the topography to facilitate gravity-fed irrigation systems without elevated cisterns.
Environmental Inventory II.3
Elevation, Topography, and Drainage
41
Process II.1 42
A man climbs out of a well that he is helping to dig in Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala’s women’s garden.
The quality of water available in any given area has a major impact on all areas of life. Improving access to potable drinking water brings with it a host of opportunities and improvements for communities. With access to clean water, infant mortality rates decline, education systems improve as the health of children improves, and the well-being of a community is generally increased. In places like Djangoula Foulala, basic access to clean water is not available. Because of this, the residents are at a very high risk for diarrhea, cholera, trachoma, and other water-related diseases. In Djangoula Kita, limited access to clean water through the one covered well in the villages means that obtaining clean water can be time-consuming enough that people choose to simply pull water from the nearest open well. Ensuring that the Djangoulas have better access to clean water is one of Mali Nyeta’s goals. In the next few years Mali Nyeta plans on opening a health clinic, which it began constructing in 2014. Access to potable water is necessary for this to open. The school also has expressed a need to have better access to clean water. Mali Nyeta worked with a hydrologist to assess possible well sites near the clinic, and they have expressed interest in creating a borehole in the women’s garden that can provide water to an irrigation system.
Summary: Hydrologist’s Report
A hydrologist’s report, completed on March 14, 2015, outlined possible well locations around the clinic and important information about general hydrogeological conditions, specifically: • The aquifer catchment depth in the community ranges between 19 m and 64 m with a static water level (NS) ranging between 2.83 m and 8.13 m. The boreholes drilled in the village of Djangoula Kita is 69 m deep with a 2.83 m NS and a water flow rate of 2.3 m^3/h”. • First drilling site: estimated depth of capping is 20 m. The water inflows are most likely located between 20-49 m and 50-70 m. Max depth 90 m. • Second drilling site: inflows at 20-49 m and 50-70 m. • Third drilling site: not on health center grounds, few details available. • Conclusion: Hydrogeological conditions in Kita are average. Future wells are possible around the health clinic.
Environmental Inventory II.3
Well-Being and Water
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Environmental Inventory II.3
Open Well vs. Closed Well
44
Open wells cannot provide potable water. Between Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala there is currently only one closed well. An open well is the simplest type of well. It is generally a dug shaft that reaches down into the water table, and water is pulled from the water table. A closed well retrieves water all the way from the aquifer. If the water in a closed well comes from beneath the bedrock, there is a much lower risk of pathogenic contaminants. Open wells quickly become contaminated by surface runoff, sewage waste, and animals and insects that fall in and die. They also present a serious risk for children. In the villages of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala several women expressed their experiences with
their own children falling down wells. The children who often fall are young girls, from ages 6 to 9, who do not have enough strength to pull water but are put to the task out of necessity. The wells in the villages are between 9 m and 15 m deep, which is a very dangerous height to fall from. An open well can be made using only hand tools and manual labor. Closed wells require drilling and can cost tens of thousands of dollars to install, which is why they are so rare in the area. Once installed, a closed well will continue to provide water from the aquifer so long as the aquifer is replenished; open wells often dry up quickly in hot arid climates.
N Djangoula Foulala
Djangoula Kita
Highlighted in blue is the one closed well in the vicinity of the villages. It is approximately 1.3 km from the center of Djangoula Foulala to this well, a significant distance to walk, especially with water.
Closed well taps into aquifer
Environmental Inventory II.3
Open well gives access to water table
45
Djangoula Foulala N
Djangoula Kita
46
Purple lines illustrate smaller paths. These are primarily foot-paths, with some major livestock paths included.
Analysis 1: Roads and Paths Roads and paths reveal possible routes of least resistance and are important features in the landscape, as are termite mounds, trees, and other obstacles. Differences in the villages’ landscapes are reflected in circulation routes. Flow and circulation patterns are important for considering how well-drilling equipment may get to the new women’s garden and health clinic. These paths are also of importance in considering how people may get potable water from closed wells to their homes, and
when this distance is generally regarded as too long to regularly walk. Cistern priority and water management strategies can be prioritized for those individuals in family compounds that live the farthest distance from closed wells.
Q
What can be done about routes that are impassable during the rainy season?
Environmental Inventory II.3
Pink lines illustrate substantially defined paths. Most of the pink paths are non-graded roads that can be driven on. Four-wheel drive is necessary during the rainy season.
47
Djangoula Foulala
Djangoula Kita
48
Bright yellow polygons show rectilinear roofs. A rectilinear structure is associated with a status of wealth because it indicates that the owners can afford construction materials, such as a corrugated metal roof, that are generally used in structures of that shape.
Djangoula Kita shows more distinct compound units than Djangoula Foulala.
Djangoula Foulala shows a higher overall percentage of rectilinear structures than Djangoula Kita and its overall village form is more compact.
Analysis 2: Structures There is a notable difference in building distribution. In Djangoula Kita the buildings are circularly organized around family units. Most activity outside of farm-work takes place within these units and amongst family members. In Djangoula Foulala buildings are focused on a central village point, rather than singular family units. The women of Djangoula Foulala are more business-oriented and have had greater success than Djangoula Kita using Mali Nyeta’s micro-financing program. It cannot be assumed that structural layout is causing this, but it could be a factor influencing village social relations.
Q
If the buildings are laid out so differently in the villages, will the plots in the shared women’s garden be notably different between Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala halves? How will this affect the shared garden?
Q
As the villages develop, and perhaps new families settle in between the villages, how will this affect the layout and spatial functioning of the villages? Could planning strategies help? Do the villages’ have planning strategies?
Environmental Inventory II.3
Blue polygons show round hut roofs.
49
Djangoula Foulala
Djangoula Kita
50
N
Prominent vegetation ranges in size from small shrubs, only several feet in height, to the occasional larger trees which are upwards of sixty feet tall. Areas that have a significant herbaceous layer appear as speckled areas of “noise� outside the open space of development in the villages.
Analysis 3: Vegetation This analysis reveals the local vegetation distribution pattern. The date of this photograph would be needed to understand how the landscape’s vegetation pattern may shift throughout the seasons. Denser vegetation around development could possibly be due to more nutrients being provided by livestock wandering in these areas and depositing manure. Open spaces (more white) reveal where clearing has occurred and where
development or agriculture is taking place, or may have in the recent past. There are no signs of tiger bush in the vegetation around the villages. Tiger brush is an indicator of advanced desertification. It is named such because from aerial imagery it looks like tiger stripes of vegetation crossing the landscape, on contour.
Environmental Inventory II.3
The vegetation on the map is highlighted in black.
51
Environmental Inventory II.3
Plant Life Around the Villages
52
The three plants shown here are significant components of the landscape around the villages. Species 1: Adansonia digital, Baobab tree Has edible leaves that are high in iron, and a 6” to 8” long pod-fruit that is high in calcium, vitamin C, and antioxidants. Species 2: Borassus aethiopum, Sebe tree or rioner palm Produces nutritious fruits 15 to 18 years after planting that look like a coconut. Young plants have a nutritious white carrot-like root that can be eaten after one year. They are scattered throughout the landscape, and many older ones are found between D. Foulala and the new women’s garden.
Species 1: Baobab tree
Species 2: Sebe tree
Species 3: Boscia senegalensis, Unknown common name, shrub in open field A woody perennial plant species. These shrubs often grow in open fields and can help protect the soil from wind and erosion, and cycle nutrients. They are edible and medicinal.
Species 3: Boscia senegalensis
There are 146 species of mammals in Mali: 2 are critically endangered, 3 are endangered, 10 are vulnerable, 3 are near-threatened. For many larger mammals in Mali, poaching has had a significant effect on the populations. Approximately 600 birds species have been recorded in Mali. By comparison, that is about twice the amount of bird species that mate, migrate through, winter, or reside in New England (newildlife). The Sahel is a regional ecotone, a zone of transition in the landscape, with unique flora and fauna that cannot live in the tropics to its south or the desert to the north. Habitat loss due to mismanaged livestock, development, and desertification (all interconnected factors), are serious issues.
Species 1: Lion, Panthera leo, less than 50 individuals thought to be left in Mali (lionalert.org)
Species 2: Abyssinian roller, Coracias abyssinicus
Environmental Inventory II.3
Biodiversity in Mali
Species 3: Uromastyx spp. 53
Process II.1 54
Okra grows in a small family garden in Djangoula Foulala.
Common crops currently raised in the villages include:
Peanuts “Groundnut” (Arachis hypogaea) • Annual herbaceous legume - nitrogen fixer • Grows 30 to 50 cm (1.0 - 1.6 ft.) tall. • Widely grown traditional Malian food. • In the villages, approximately 50% sold at market, 50% kept for eating. • Primarily cultivated by women in the villages. • Stalks used for livestock fodder. • Successful harvest is highly dependent on adequate rainfall.
This corn and pepper polyculture has two layers of productive vegetation.
Cotton (Gossypium herbaceum) • Perennial shrub native to semi-arid regions of Africa. • Grows 2 feet (0.61 m) to 6 feet (1.8 m). One acre can be expected to produce 300 lbs. of cotton. • In the villages, 100% of the harvest is sold at market. • The cotton company maintains the villages primary access roads. • Once a year, the company buys the villages’ harvest in bulk.
A freshly harvested peanut from Ecova farm.
Maize (Zea mays) • Herbaceous annual. • Widely cultivated across Africa. • Stalks used for livestock fodder. Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas) • Herbaceous perennial. • Highly nutritious. • Widely cultivated.
Environmental Inventory II.3
Agriculture Inventory
These sweet potatoes will be transplanted into a larger field once the rainy season starts. 55
Environmental Inventory II.3 56
Africa Rice (Oryza glaberrima) • Herbaceous annual. • First domesticated in Mali 3,000 years ago. • In the villages, 100% of harvest is kept for eating. • Locally, it is primarily cultivated by men. • Fiber from stalks has many uses. • June-July planting. Alliums (Allium cepa) • Onions, scallions. • Herbaceous annuals. • Sells well in Founya. • Dry season cultivation is possible with adequate water. • Primarily cultivated by men.
Scallions growing near Kita
Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) • Herbaceous annual. • Sells well in Founya. • Primarily cultivated by men. Mango (Mangifera spp.) • Canopy tree, 30-40m (98-131 ft.) tall. • Grows throughout Mali, low market value. • Typically managed by individual families. • Proper upkeep requires a significant amount of labor. Nightshades (Solanaceae spp.) • Includes tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. • Herbaceous annual. • Sell very well in Founya. • High water requirements.
Ripe mangos in Djangoula Kita
Flowering Okra
African Locust Bean, Néré (Parkia biglobosa) • Primarily grown for the sweet pulp and seeds found within its seed pods. • Trees produce usually their first crop within 5-10 years. • Highly valuable tree crop. • High protein and carbohydrate levels.
Néré is grown for the edible pulp found within its seed pods.
A Shea nut tree just north of the women’s garden
Cassava (Manihot esculenta) • Can be cultivated as either an annual or perennial crop. • Major source of carbohydrates. • Widely grown. • Cassava root can be fermented or powdered, for storage. Brassicaceae (Brassica spp.) • Cabbage was the only member of this family observed to be grown regionally. • Highly nutritous, possibilities exist for further culivation of arid climate tolerant varieties.
Environmental Inventory II.3
Shea Nuts (Vitellaria paradoxa) • Indigenous canopy tree. • Traditional African food. • Starts bearing fruit when 10-15 years old. • Full production reached when 20-30 years old. • Can produce nuts for up to 200 years, almost all year long. • Average tree yield is 15-20 kilograms of fruit per year. • Nuts can be stored for long periods of time. • Long shelf life creates value adding opportunity. • Nuts can be processed into a nutritous and valuable oil/butter.
This garden is densely planted with Cassava. 57
New Women’s Garden: Tree Species
58
The women’s garden was just fenced in mid-May, 2015, and people have just started the process of clearing detritus and other plants from the landscape. Over three-fourths of the trees in this garden are Shea nut trees, if these are kept their nuts could be used and they could be incorporated into an agroforestry system. The new garden was built in an area that already has a well developed canopy of agriculturally productive tree cover. The dominant tree species is the Shea nut tree, which continually produces a valuable nut for the majority of the year. Most of the Shea nut trees form a small central east-west running band, somewhat separating the north and south sides of the garden. Over the course of the site visit the villagers dug four irriga-
tion wells. Three out of the four wells are in areas with relatively dense tree cover. The new garden has very flat topography, with a centrally located low lying depression. The gardens topography indicates that its central area will likely be wetter than the elevated areas around the perimeter. The new gardens elevation ranges from approximately 277 - 292 meters above sea-level. Future garden development should take into account the topography in order to sink more water into the soil for the plants. This may be accomplished by creating a garden layout that works with the lands contour to prevent water from draining out of the garden.
Environmental Inventory II.3
New Women’s Garden: Topography
59
New Women’s Garden: Tree Heights
60
Djangoula Foulala
Djangoula Kita
The majority of the new garden’s trees are between 10-15 meters in height. Medium-sized trees are distributed throughout the garden, with higher concentrations found in the central area. Three small patches of trees with heights greater than 15 meters are found along the garden’s northern, eastern, and western borders. The gardens largest cluster of tall trees surround one of the irrigation wells. Two distinct patches of trees that were visibly unhealthy during our visit are
found in the garden’s south-western and south-eastern corners. Management options for the new garden are currently being explored. During interviews, the residents said that the garden plots will likely be individually managed by families. Questions exist about the future management of the garden’s existing canopy of agriculturally productive trees.
Environmental Inventory II.3
New Women’s Garden: Context
61
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Section III
Section III
Section III Typologies of opportunities, Looking forward
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64
Section III
Providing the Framework Food and water security are necessary for the survival of any community. Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala are presented with a significant opportunity through Mali Nyeta to adapt their food and water management systems on their own terms, before the shifting environmental context necessitates it. This section illustrates possible alternatives for increasing aspects of food and water security. It presents a series of typologies extrapolated from precedents that relate to the existing conditions and context of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala.
“If all ideas come together the village will grow.�
-Resident of Djangoula Kita, 6/8/2015
Typologies of Opportunities III.1
Typologies of Opportunities
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Section III 66
Water being pumping from the closed well in Djangoula Kita.
There is only one closed well in the Djangoulas. The rest of the water comes from open wells, which bring a host of previously discussed public health concerns. Most of the drinking water of the villagers is likely to continue to come from open wells, even if another closed well is sited for the health center in Djangoula Kita. Described here are four approaches to purifying water that may be relevant to the villages.
Ceramic Filters
Chlorination
Biosands Filters
Xylem Filtration
“The first problem is water. We have no clean water to drink.�
-Village woman of Djangoula Foulala
Typologies of Opportunities III.1
Potable Water Management
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Typologies of Opportunities III.1 68
Chlorination A Simple Addition to the Water System
Water chlorination occurs when chlorine (Cl2) or hypochlorite (ClO) is added to water. Chlorine is used in water supplies across the developed world and in the developing world. When properly administered, this is a cheap, effective, and safe way to disinfect drinking water. Chlorine can successfully kill typhoid fever, dysentery, E. coli, cholera and Legionnaires’ disease from a water supply (Scientific American). Chlorine is extremely successful as a disinfectant because, as a solute in the water supply, it travels with the water through each stage of the supply system, unlike filtration methods, which filter water at a point in the system, but do not offer disinfection capabilities after that point. There are many ways of chlorinating a water supply, including hand measuring from a supply source for a large volume of water (like a well or cistern), individual chlorine deposit systems that add a precise amount appropriate for a set bucket volume, and adding chlorine tabs. One of the most important considerations with all of these methods is that the dose for chlorine in relation to the volume of water has to be carefully measured. Too large of a dose, and the chlorine could be a health concern, and too small of a dose, and it may not adequately disinfect the water supply.
image source: flickr.com
Case Study
Chlorine deposit devices are a point-of-use water disinfecting system, meaning that chlorine is added directly before use. The chlorine added will provide disinfecting properties for approximately 24 hours after administration. Approximately 0.75 million people in Kenya have had or currently have access to a pointof-use chlorine deposit system. Even one chlorination system, strategically placed in a central location, in each village could make a big difference in the quality of water accessible.
Chlorine could help the Djangoulas augment their current and future water systems, ensuring that drinking quality water is available from the source of collection to use. Education about how to safely administer chlorine and use it would be an important part of bringing chlorination techniques to the villages. Access to chlorine is relatively cheap and adding it to water does not require elaborate infrastructure; chlorine could be used as a means to disinfect water currently coming from open wells in the village.
Opportunities
• Simply maintained, and if maintained well, safe. • Relatively inexpensive. • ClO that treats 1,000L water = about $0.10USD. • An ideal system treats all the water in a system and provides residual disinfection. • A long interaction between chlorine and the microorganisms results in an effective disinfection process. • Electro-chemically generated Cl from NaCl is cheap to make.
Constraints
• Improper use may result in exposure to chloroform and carbon tetrachloride, which are both known or suspected carcinogens. • Must test chlorine concentrations. Chlorine is toxic in certain amounts so having the continued ability to monitor levels is important. • Users sometimes object to chlorinated taste and odor. • Some strains of Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia lamblia are resistant to chlorine.
Typologies of Opportunities III.1
How this relates to the Djangoulas
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Typologies of Opportunities III.1 70
Ceramic Filters Clay Filters for Cleaner Water
Ceramic filters use the natural porosity of ceramic materials to filter particulates and bacteria from water supplies. A candle-type ceramic filter and a pot-type ceramic filter are the two major types of ceramic filters that are used around the world. The candle type of ceramic filter has advantages because it is less likely to be contaminated due to misuse than the pot-type because the interior barrier of the filter is more enclosed. Ceramic filters can be made by mixing clay, water, and any dust that can be burned off, like saw dust. After these materials are combined in appropriate portions and mixed, the material can be molded into a pot shape or a candle shape. The molded ceramic filter is then fired in an oven, which can be wood heated. In the firing process the clay solidifies and the dust combusts.
Burning the dust off increases the size and density of pores in the filter, which can be useful for increasing filtration rates, but must be carefully done so as to not compromise the filtration quality. Though water can pass through the ceramic filter, the small pore size of this ceramic material still filters dirt, debris, and most bacteria out of the water. Various types of ceramic filters have been around for centuries. Most recently, these simple filters are being augmented with silver and copper nanoparticles that can be painted on the side of the filter in contact with unfiltered water. These composites have antimicrobial and anti-fungal properties that increase the effectiveness of the system.
As of 2013, The Pure Home Water Filtration System has provided safe drinking water to more than three million people across northern Ghana. This simple device is produced in a Pure Home Water factory in northern Ghana, showing that this filter can be a force for stirring economic development while improving public health. Without proper education and maintenance about how to keep the filter system sanitary, it can easily not fulfill its disinfecting potential. If contaminated water comes into contact with the external side of the ceramic bowl filter, then the water traveling through the filter will become unclean upon immediate contact with this contaminated surface.
The ceramic filter’s simple design is a valuable asset.
How does it relate to the Djangoulas?
The filtration systems cost $10 to make, but are sold for $6 to the rural poor. The average income in Mali is $1.80 per day, which would likely make this system financially feasible for many Malian families. The filters last for about two years, meaning that the villagers would have to have a source for new filters
every two year. The water filtration systems are targeted at, in particular, the rural poor. For these filters to be manufactured near the site, the availability of clay and quality of soils would have to be assessed.
Typologies of Opportunities III.1
Case Study
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Typologies of Opportunities III.1 72
Biosands Filters Algae, Sand, and Gravel
A biosands filter is a point-of-use water filtration system that removes water contamination utilizing both physical and biological processes. As water is filtered, it first passes through a biologically active biofilm where predacious microorganisms eliminate the majority of harmful pathogens. Remaining contaminants are then filtered out as the water passes through a series of sand and gravel filters, before entering a potable water storage container. Studies have shown that biosand filters effectively remove harmful bacteria, viruses, heavy metals, and protozoa.
Case Study
Chrisopher T. Fehrman studied how biosand water filters were used by the villagers of Sili Hilltop, a small village in Ghana. Fehrman documented the biosands’ effectiveness by monitoring individual families as they incorporated the filtration systems into their homes. The study concludes that the biosands filter is a “successful point of use water treatment technology for Sibi Hilltop, Ghana, and proves an attractive option for similar communities in West Africa.�
image from wikipedia.org
Opportunities: Shown to provide effective potable
water filtration in a similar environmental and social context. Constraints: Relatively high price may prove too ex-
pensive for many families
Although receiving higher amounts of rainfall than either Djangoula Kita or Djangoula Foulala, this case study is located within a generally comparable environmental and cultural context. The climate is dominated by yearly wet and dry seasons, and the landscape can be described as a semi-arid, Sub-Saharan savanna. Much like the Djangoulas, the village of Sili Hilltop comprises a series of large family compounds. Biosand water filtration systems are designed to be used and maintained by individual families. Therefore it would be possible for individual families within Djangoulas
to directly test their performance before any major community level investments are made. As discussed by Fehram, community educational support is an important part of safe sustainable usage. The biologically active membrane, or biofilm, needs be monitored and kept healthy, while the physical filters should receive weekly cleanings to prevent clogs. With prices ranging from $10 to $50 each, a biosand filtration system would likely be an expensive investment for a family in the Djangoula villages.
Typologies of Opportunities III.1
How does this relate to the Djangoula’s?
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Typologies of Opportunities III.1 74
Xylem Filtration Filtering with a Tree
Why is it that you can eat the fruit from a tree that takes up contaminated water and not get sick? This simple question led MIT engineers to look into ways to use a tree’s natural vascular system, including components of xylem, as a natural water filter. An early filter that they tested used a piece of sapwood (the layer directly under the bark) from a pine tree that was only a few centimeters long. This sapwood was attached to a clear plastic tube and then sealed. Various experiments were run to measure the xylem system’s efficiency at filtering pathogens. It was discovered that the filter, as set up, successfully filtered approximately 99.9% of E. Coli from test water. While the filter is effective at removing many types of bacteria, it does not filter pathogens that are smaller than 70 nanometers. This still allows a host of viruses that are around 20 nanometers to pass through. Depending on the frequency of use the xylem in the filter generally lasts for a few days before needing to be replaced. This filter is still in the prototype phase, but with the availability of its components, its low cost, and its simplicity to build and use mean that it should be kept in consideration as it comes into the market over the next few years. While it is not perfect, it is certainly better than no filter and has the potential to easily impact water quality in the villages.
The xylem filter is based upon the internal structure of trees.
sapwood
Quick Facts
Envisioning Xylem Filtration in the Djangoulas
•
Point-of-use water treatment system
•
•
Water is filtered through, just using gravity, at the rate of 0.05 milliliters per second. That flow rate is equivalent to more than 4 liters per day, enough to supply one person with drinking water. That’s from a filter with an area of only about 1 cm².
There is some wood around the villages that might be able to be utilized for xylem filtration.
•
•
Researchers found that most of the filtering occurs in the first layer of tracheid cells, which is only about two or three millimeters of the filter, which may mean that even less wood could be used.
As trees are cut for firewood a certain amount could be put aside for filters. Once these are used up in a few days the wood could then be used as it would have originally for fire purposes. Therefore, the wood used is re-purposed, not causing an increase in deforestation.
Typologies of Opportunities III.1
Putting a xylem filter together is easy. It just involves sealing wood into plastic tubing (image from MIT technology review).
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An agroecological system at Ecova Mali uses a diversity of productive layers of vegetation.
The women of Djangoula Foulala and Djangoula Kita want the new women’s garden to be very productive. There are several ways that could help increase the productivity of their garden while at the same time promoting the health of the local ecosystems and being sustainable and resilient in the face of desertification and climate change.
Educational Partnerships
Rotational Planting and Grazing
“In ten years we want to feed people well. We want young people to stay and trucks to arrive here to pick up vegetables.”
-Village woman of Djangoula Foulala
Agroecology
Compost Production
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Educational Partnerships Learning to Be Sustainable
Outside organizations with specific expertise and experience can provide invaluable support for the villages moving forward. One small insight can potentially save enormous amounts of time and energy. Creative methods for encouraging the growth of educational partnerships with agriculture should be explored to support the villages moving forward. Partnering with an educational organization, such as Ecova Mali, would
Environment
Education
Economics
allow for villagers to receive specialized trainings, which they would then be able to share with their community’s. Over time, encouraging a diversity in educational agricultural partnerships would increase community resiliency by strengthening the local knowledge base. Maintaining a strong pool of local knowledge is an essential part of developing an active and engaged community.
How does this relate to the Djangoulas?
Ecova Mali stands for “Economic and Ecological Viability through Agriculture” and is a Massachusetts-based non-profit organization started by two former Peace Corps volunteers, Cynthia Hellmann and Gregory Flatt. They both have extensive agricultural experience and master’s degrees in sustainable development from SIT. They experienced the negative effects of mismanaged “top-down” development while working in Mali and formed Ecova to demonstrate alternative development models. They organize trainings and conduct research on agroforestry at their farm approximately 30km southwest of Bamako. Their aim is to encourage the growth of ecologically supportive, locally based economies throughout Mali.
Beginning an educational partnership with Ecova may help the people of Djangoula Kita and Foulala to sustainably advance their newly created garden. Ecova is currently researching and teaching agroforestry systems adapted for Mali’s climate, and any knowledge they are able to share might save the residents of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala valuable time and money. One of the best possibilities for immediate collaboration is to invite a member of Ecova’s staff to visit Djangoula’s new garden for a consultation. An experienced perspective on the garden’s site may provide valuable insights into future possibilities. Long-term collaboration possibilities include pursuing the development of apprenticeships or intensive training sessions for the interested villagers at Ecova. Due to the relatively large distance between Ecova and Djangoula, any trainings or apprenticeships would likely be held for a few villagers at Ecova’s farm, with the intention that trained villagers would return home and share what they had learned.
Opportunity: Great opportunity for future educational
collaboration.
Constraints: The 200km distance between Djangoula
and Ecova takes at least 3 hours to drive and may be challenging to work across.
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Rotational Grazing Changing Places, Increasing Plant Health
Rotational grazing involves enclosing foraging livestock in a fenced area for a set amount of time. Livestock are then moved into a different enclosed area. Once the livestock are moved from one pen, the vegetation in the previously used pen is allowed to reestablish and regrow. The animals can continue to circulate through any number of pens. The alternative to rotational grazing is continuous grazing, which has a higher propensity to deplete the forage resources available to livestock in the long run. Rotational grazing has a number of benefits compared to continuous grazing operations. It allows access to more forage over time; by giving livestocks’ favorite plants periodic protection from consumption, they are allowed to fully regrow essential forage parts, like leaves, in greater volumes. This break can allow significant amounts of forage to be stockpiled in order to be eaten for a later date, like at the end of the dry season. The best forage to stockpile is generally grass or leguminous forage. Rotational grazing can help control grazing heights and promote biodiversity. In a continuous grazing installation, livestock may continuously select their favorite plants, while in rotational grazing livestock may be forced to eat a greater diversity of plants. This may increase the amount of variation in grazing heights.
Taller plants often carry fewer gastrointestinal parasites than those closer to the ground. Encouraging the consumption of forage at a variety of heights may decrease livestock gastrointestinal issues. Finally, keeping livestock corralled will make compost production a less labor-intensive process. By having the animal manure in a contained area, rather than dispersed throughout the landscape, it takes less time and energy to collect.
Example Rotational Grazing Schedule
How does this relate to the Djangoulas?
The Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Collaborative Support Group, (SANRM) sponsored research on the impacts of using rotational grazing techniques along the Niger River’s inner delta, within Mali’s Madiama commune. Volunteers from two villages helped to monitor pasture conditions and coordinate the daily rotation of livestock. The study documented improved vegetative cover and soil structure, the re-emergence of once locally extinct plants, the reduction of unwanted exotic species, and an increase in community environmental awareness. Some difficulties that were encountered while running the study included higher than expected levels of institutional and cultural opposition to trying these techniques.
Rotational grazing can compliment an agroecologically managed farm. Large herds of animals have roamed the Sahelian Savanna for thousands of years, and are an essential element within the ecosystem. There is great potential for the Djangoulas to restore their landscape, while encouraging rotational grazing in Mali by acting as a model for other villages. However, incorporating rotational grazing techniques into the villagers’ daily life would require significant cultural flexibility and patience. Groups of livestock must be frequently rotated to new grazing areas. Rotational grazing requires significantly more time than free-range grazing. Understanding of how rotational grazing works, especially within the Sahelian climate, is constantly evolving. It may be advisable for volunteers from the Djangoulas to begin rotationally grazing small groups of livestock. Over time, as the residents’ understanding of how rotational grazing works within their specific landscape context grows, the groups livestock could be increased.
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Agroecology Farming and trees
The rapidly developing science of agroecology is broadening our collective understanding of agriculture. Agroecologists systemically try to mimic the surrounding ecosystem’s structure and functionality within their agricultural systems. An agroecologically managed farm often looks very different from a conventionally managed farm. Instead of dividing a field into separate areas of monocultural cultivation, agroecology encourages the intentional integration of a diversity of crops and other species. Multiple heights of productive vegetation are part of this system. The resulting agroecosystem supports biodiversity, produces valuable agricultural yields, and increases the integrity of the local ecosystem. The goal of agroecology is the creation of an agricultural system that is regionally adapted and seamlessly integrated into the surrounding ecosystem. It is believed that by supporting the health of its surrounding ecosystem, an agroecologically managed farm system will ultimately be more productive and resilient. As agroecology continues to develop, its successful adoption often faces economic and cultural challenges. At first, there is often a disconnection between what the local economy values and what an agroecologically managed farms yields. Encouraging crop diversity often results in the production of agricultural products with little cultural recognition. Farmers are challenged with creatively adapting these novel crops into their local economic systems. While this challenge is a significant obstacle, it is also a significant opportunity. In light of climate change and global economic uncertainty, it is
socially and ecologically beneficial for local producers to develop creative replacements for commodity crops. Over time, local markets may evolve to incorporate novel agroecological products.
Ecova’s fields (below) are intentionally designed to mimic the structure and functionality of the surrounding sahelian savanna ecosystem (above).
Latin America’s ongoing agroecological social movement is helping to rescue nature, increase food sovereignty, and empower people. The emerging science of agroecology is providing new economic opportunities for rural agrarian villages across Latin America. Although these villages are far from Africa, the economic context of the regions’ poor rural agricultural communities share many similarities. As in Mali, many of these communities are financially dependent upon the large scale monoculture cultivation of a handful of commodity crops. Agroecology plays a significant role in Cuban agriculture and the paper highlights the organization Asociacion Cubana de Tecnicos Agricolas y Forestales (ACTAF) , whose goal is to promote agroecology in Cuba. Because of the success of organizations like ACTAF, agroecological practices are used on 46 -72 percent of Cuba’s family farms. These small family farms produce over 65 percent of all the food eaten on the island and play a major role in the country’s economy. Agroecological land management strategies help to increase a rural community’s economic and ecologic resilience. The researchers find that communities are best empowered when they have high levels of food, energetic, and technical sovereignty. Farms managed as
an agroecosystem are more ecologically and economically productive and resilient. As the new garden grows and the villages change, it may be very useful to look at how other regions are addressing similar economic and ecological challenges with agroecological farming systems.
How does this relate to the Djangoulas?
Agroecology offers the residents of Dgjangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala the opportunity to be a leading example for the regional development of a sustainable agricultural system. Agroecological farming promotes economic and ecological diversity, and is currently being developed in many areas around the world, but not in a publicly acknowledged way in the Kayes region. A successful agroecology system may contribute to the Djangoulas’ filling a niche market with a unique fruit, improving the local economy. With agroecology, they could have a more productive farming system that could serve as a platform for environmental education and community development for the villages’ residents.
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Compost Production Putting Waste to Work
Compost is a biological soil amendment created by the decomposition of organic matter, such as food waste, manure, and plant material. There are a variety of techniques for making compost, and it is important to learn from regionally appropriate examples when developing a compost system. Adding compost to a cultivated area helps to protect and nourish the plants and soil. Compost increases the soil’s water-holding capabilities, which reduces a garden’s overall water requirements. The lack of water in the Sahel is the ultimate limitation for agricultural production. For the crops grown in the Djangoulas, like cereal and millet, composting is an important technique that simultaneously improves crop productivity and soil fertility.
Successful composting systems aggregate organic matter from many different sources. The ideal carbon (C) to nitrogen (N) ratio for a compost pile is 30:1 C/N. High carbon materials, like tree branches, need to be balanced out with low carbon materials, like herbaceous vegetation. To efficiently produce high quality compost, the specific C/N ratios for different types of organic material inputs should be referenced. Heavy manures, like that of cows, should be mixed with lighter materials, such as straw or hay, in addition to the organic substances from vegetable matter, garden debris, etc. Small amounts of mineral amendments, such as lime or ash, may also be added. Successful composting systems returns organic materials back into the soil. Over time, this recycling of nutrients back into the soil increases a soil’s fertility and water-holding capacity.
How does this relate to the Djangoulas?
The negative effects of long-term soil degradation and fertility loss are increasing the use of fossil-fuel based fertilizers among many African farmers. The villagers of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala also expressed intense interest in obtaining more synthetic fertilizers. Contrary to this trend, Moussa Konate runs a successful farm in Niamana, a village in southern Mali, without using any synthetic fertilizers. Mali’s arid climate presents unique challenges for the establishment of successful compost, yet Moussa found a way to make it work. He makes compost piles by layering different organic materials including animal manure, garden weeds, and unused crop materials. He waters these piles in the dry season and turns the piles every two weeks to encourage decomposition. Moussa has used composting to turn once wasted resources into valuable ecological and economic assets. As he developed his compost system he conducted tests, which demonstrated the positive effect compost has on soils’ fertility levels and water-holding capacity.
Consulting knowledgeable farmers, like Moussa Konate, who have direct experience with creating and using compost in Mali’s climate would be very beneficial for the Djangoulas. The ability for soil to retain water is essential for sustainable agricultural development in a place like Mali, where most of rain typically falls during one time of the year. An experienced perspective would provide an invaluable time and money saving asset to the villagers if they create a composting system for their new garden. Plenty of local materials exist for composting including agricultural refuse, household waste, and animal manure. Adding water helps to speed up decomposition and further research should be conducted on the water requirements of an arid climate compost.
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Fifteen kilometers east of Kita, an elevated 5,000 liter cistern uses gravity to help irrigate a villages.
The largest obstacle to increasing the agricultural yields of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala is their lack of easily accessible water. Currently, women irrigate their gardens by hand. This involves pulling water from a well then bringing it to garden plots. The women often carry the water in 20 L buckets on their heads. When watering, a small bowl is dipped into the bucket and used to splash water across the garden. This process is inefficient, but it is the only option they have right now. Based on observations in the villages, an estimated 100 hours is needed to water a one-hectare garden using the current methods. This is time-consuming, back-breaking labor, that could be decreased or eliminated using different techniques outlined in this section.
Grading to Direct Water
Pumping Stations
Drip Irrigation
“We need help to water this garden because the well is so deep. It is going to be very tough.�
-Village woman of Djangoula Kita
Cisterns
Water Wheel
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Bringing Water Up
Pumping stations are a broad category of equipment that provide the work needed to get water from a source to a destination. Water pumps can be used to send water into large irrigation systems or to ease the labor of well pulling water for cooking. Pumping stations can broadly be broken down by where they get the energy to run them; gasoline, electricity, or manual work. An example of an electronic pump would be a solar-powered pumping station. The source of electricity and cost will ultimately depend on factors like the depth of the borehole, the amount of sun available, and the rate of demand for water to be introduced into the system. Large diesel-powered engines and alternative energy systems can be used to power irrigation systems that provide water to acres of land and community systems that serve upwards of thousands people. Manual pumping systems can be effectively used for subsistence farm irrigation, or as part of a more extensive system. Manual pumps are not intended for commercial scale irrigation. Foot powered pedal-pumps are already found in Mali. They can be relatively inexpensive; though they require physical effort, they put less stress on the body then manually pulling water from a well with bucket and rope.
holding tank pump
well
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Pumping Stations
How does it relate to the Djangoulas?
As technology for solar power has developed to deliver more voltage from smaller arrays, solar water pumping systems have become increasingly effective at transporting large quantities of water through basic infrastructure systems. SCL Water Ltd. Successfully installed a solar pumping and water delivery system for two orphanages in Uganda. The system is capable of delivering an uninterrupted supply of water from a borehole located halfway between two orphanages located 420 meters apart. A comparable system installed by SCL Water Ltd. in Malawi was able to use eight 85-watt solar panels purchased in Malawi to power a pump capible of supplying more than 10,000 liters of water on a sunny day. The Grundfos SQFlex solar-powered pumping system that was used in this set-up is available for under three thousand dollars. If current trends continue, solar pumping setups will continue to become more efficient and cheaper in the near future.
A system with significant electric or gas power inputs will cost thousands of dollars. Partnerships with NGOs and subsidy programs could help the community work together to obtain a solar pump or gasoline-powered pump. Both villages have expressed a desire for irrigation systems that resemble some of the pumping stations found in neighboring villages. The residents of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala are clearly interested in investing in high-capacity pumping station for their communities. Interest in manual pumps was also expressed during the community meetings, but residents believe that these would be insufficient at pumping enough water to irrigate the village’s new 4-hectare garden. Foot pumps were also noted to cause pain in women’s hips after extended use.
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Grading to Direct Water Shape the Earth, Move Water
Land can be formed to help slow water so that it can infiltrate into the soil and decrease a site’s irrigation needs. A system of ditches, berms, and earthen troughs can be flooded with water by natural rains or by pumping water from a source or cistern. Capturing, slowing, and sinking water into the landscape also helps to prevent flooding and erosion. A water pump’s specific characteristics can significantly influence how berms and ditches are designed. A shorter row requires less water to be filled. Therefore, pumps with relatively small outputs, like manual pumps, should provide water to smaller irrigation rows, while more intensive pumping systems are best used to irrigate larger cultivated areas. Ecova’s farmers have built this Cassava nursery bed to capture and store rainwater.
How does it relates to the Djangoulas?
Ecova uses a 1000 L cistern to fill irrigation swales in an agroforestry setup that includes many levels of productive vegetation, including species like papaya and cassava. They fill these swales a maximum of twice per week during the dry season, and less during the wet season. This successfully keeps the crops producing until the end of the dry season. In addition, there is a series of irrigation troughs where plants like peppers, henna, papaya seedlings, eggplants, tomatoes, and cucumbers grow. Water is directed across the landscape by a series of channels. Farmers are then able to chose to direct the flowing water into specific troughs. Approximately 20 L water is required to irrigate a 1x1m patch once. Doing it several times, throughout the growing season, may produce sufficient yields when used with mulch.
A system that directs water through the landscape can be effectively implemented even in the comparatively flat landscape of the Djangoulas. A slope of only 1% can be used to move water for irrigation. In all of the gardens that we saw in the Djangoulas, only one of them used irrigating earth forms extensively. This garden was in Djangoula Kita, and appeared to be thriving. Its garden beds had raised edges, that were intended to capture and hold all of the water that falls onto it. There is no upfront cost, though labor is needed for digging channels.
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Drip Irrigation Making Every Drop Count
Drip irrigation is an efficient way of getting water directly to plants. It is an especially useful irrigation technique in hot arid climates. When appropriately set up, it can drastically reduce water loss due to evaporation. In arid climates drip irrigation has been shown to use 60% less water than conventional surface irrigation techniques. Drip irrigation systems come in different levels of permanence, from disposable systems to more durable systems that can last for a couple of seasons. The longevity of drip irrigation systems is largely dependent upon their frequency of use and the site’s specific environmental conditions. One of its major advantages is that a simple switch can control which areas are being irrigated, allowing for the control of a farm-wide system. Furthermore, drip irrigation completely replaces the exceptionally time-consuming and physically laborious task of irrigating by hand.
valve
valves can be used to control water outputs to various areas on a drip irrigation system
How does it relate to the Djangoulas?
Drip Irrigation Systems and Water Saving in Arid Climate: A Case Study from South Tunisia Mohamed Thabet
A successful drip irrigation system would dramatically reduce the amount of work (roughly 400+ hours for one watering) required to water the entire garden by hand. In order to avoid costly mistakes, successful drip irrigation techniques, such as burying the drip line in the soil, should be throughly researched before any actions are taken. A well-designed drip irrigation system would likely cover large sections of the new garden, which would necessitate some level of collective management. The upfront cost of building a drip irrigation system for the new garden may be an obstacle, as the cost and durability of these systems varies greatly. Depending upon their water pumping system, drip irrigation systems may require electricity. The long-term functionality of a drip irrigation system is dependent upon regular maintenance and community support. Therefore, educational outreach and community involvement should be essential elements in any future drip irrigation system.
This case study examines the effectiveness of drip irrigation in an arid climate. The study was conducted in a part of southern Tunisia that receives less than 200mm of rain per year. It examines how drip irrigation systems affect water use efficiency and agricultural yields when growing peppers in an arid climate. The study compared the growth rate of peppers grown using a variety of drip and surface irrigation methods. Additionally the moisture content of the soil was monitored after watering in order to determine which irrigation methods most efficiently deliver water to the plants’ roots. The study showed that in arid climates, drip irrigation use 60% less water than surface irrigation techniques.
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Cisterns Gravity Power
A cistern is a recepticle that holds a significant quantity of water. It is important to site them properly to create an efficient irrigation system. A series of cisterns can be strategically placed around any garden to collect either rains from the rainy season, or water from below the ground which is being pumped into them. A simple, shallow ground-level cistern can often provide a supply of water relatively close to a garden plot. An elevated cistern position, a highpoint in the landscape or on a built structure, would allow any garden-wide irrigation system, like drip irrigation or flood-
based off of image from the cleanwaterstore.com
ing, to take advantage of gravity for water distribution. Water would have to be pumped into such a system using an electric or gasoline-powered pump that has the adequate horse-power for the volume of water and the height of the cistern.
How does it relate to the Djangoulas?
A community 15 km east of Kita uses cisterns to help irrigate their garden. Several strategically placed inground cisterns were located throughout the garden, supplied by an elevated cistern, which stored water that was brought to the surface using a solar powered pump station.
Building cisterns in the new garden could have a tremendous impact on the distance water is carried. Larger gravity-fed cistern systems could potentially provide huge amounts of water that could adequately supply a building, in addition to the garden. The village school, just 600 feet away from the garden, could be connected to a cistern system in the garden with a little bit more infrastructure investment, which may be ultimately cheaper than building an additional well.
The in-ground cisterns were easy to access, but without any roofing to cover the water, a significant loss of water due to evaporation, was likely. During our visit the garden was largely barren. We saw only a few people actively cultivating their garden plots. Water was plentifully available, but there were only a few people using it. With an adequate supply of water, dry season cultivation is certainly possible in Mali. Future research may need to investigate why these cisterns weren’t being fully utilized?
Q
The Djangoulas have no comparable water infrastructure. Who would maintain these systems, who would own them? How would it be financed?
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Water Wheel Taking a Load Off
The Waterwheel is a 20-gallon rolling barrel water distribution tool invented by Cynthia Koening. The Waterwheel’s design won the 2010 Dow Sustainability Innovation Student Challenge and is intended to replace, the dangerous, traditional water transportation techniques. Koening has recently launched the business Wello in order to market the product to a large audience. Widespread adoption of the Waterwheel could provide immediate relief for women who are typically tasked with collecting water. The Waterwheel’s simple but effective design allows for water to be pushed across the landscape. It is opened and filled with water, just like any bucket. The Waterwheel offers significant potential for preventing injury and saving time, but it does not reduce the effort required to initially extract water from a well. The Waterwheel’s effectiveness may increase when its use is combined with an alternative water pumping strategy. Wello, who manufactures the Waterwheel, negotiates prices directly with interested communities, and they currently range from $20 to $30 each. Even a few Waterwheels for the new garden may provide immediate relief to the many women.
Many people across the world face water management issues that are similar to the Djangoulas situation.
How does it relate to the Djangoulas?
In January of 2014 a Waterwheel development team traveled to rural villages in central Kenya in order to conduct market research aimed at improving the Waterwheel’s design. In order to gather information, the team prioritized community engagement and observation, and they conducted a variety of interviews and workshops with the villagers. Insights gained through this process were then used to inform the product’s development. Both men and women were receptive to the Waterwheel.
As we heard throughout our community meetings, the women of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala are not satisfied with the village’s current water distribution methods. Women are unfairly burdened by the responsibility for transporting all the family’s irrigation and drinking water. The laborious task of transporting water on your head routinely strains women’s backs while occupying an enormous amount of time every day. The Waterwheel’s exceeding simple design, and relatively cheap price makes it an attractive option for the villagers of Djangoula Kita and Foulala. However, it is important to remember that while the Waterwheel does provide immediate assistance to women tasked with carrying water, its use does not change how water is currently extracted from wells.
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Wello Waterwheel product development
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The women of Djangoula Kita in their newly constructed garden before the commonity meeting on June 6, 2015.
Data and information about a place and its people are always more than numbers and factoids. When contextualized, the numbers show nuances and the facts reveal themselves as part of a rich narrative occurring within a dynamic community. The information in this document is not static, numbers have the potential to change, and we can hope that many of those, such as the infant mortality rates, will decrease. The information about the existing conditions and context of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala was compiled to help lay a foundation for others that may work with Mali Nyeta, the Djangoulas, and other villages in the region on connecting people of the area with essential resources. This document also lays a foundation for exploring ways that people around the world have been successfully and sustainability improving water quality, agriculture, and irrigation
techniques. The potential strategies in the typology section are grounded in their environmental contexts and have helped communities achieve real world results in conditions similar to those of Djangoula Foulala and Djangoula Kita. Looking forward, there are many opportunities and choices to be made about the women’s garden of Djangoula Foulala and Djangoula Kita, in particular about:
Looking Forward
Choices for the Garden’s Future
• Water systems • Land use • Management system
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Water Systems
Looking Forward
The three water systems outlined below are hypothetical alternatives for how different water system set ups might influence the new women’s garden.
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A. The Status Quo
B. Incremental Improvements
The status quo alternative for water systems would mean that traditional irrigation techniques would still be used. Women would continue to transport water on their heads in 20L buckets and young girls would continue to hazardously pull water from the four open wells in the garden while assisting their mothers. Irrigating the full four-hectare garden once will take approximately 400 combined hours for the women. In addition to all of those hours, the women will be affected by the water they carry and may continue to suffer from problems like spinal pain and related musculo-skeletal disorders.
Incremental improvements could introduce devices, like the Waterwheel, that make distributing water through the garden more efficient. These incremental improvements could begin with small steps that reduce some of the taxing labor at one point in the system. Micro-financing could be used to help fund the products that make incremental changes possible in the water system.
Intensive improvements would involve drilling a well and connecting to a solar-powered pump, water tank and drip irrigation system for greater efficiency. This system would be the most expensive to install and require a substantial amount of upfront resources to get started. But, once in place, a system like this could reduce water-related labor significantly in the garden for a long period of time. The only components of this system that would need regular repair and change would be the drip irrigation tubing. A system like this could perhaps be connected with the school, ensuring that the school has a steady supply of fresh water.
Looking Forward
C. Intensive Improvements
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Management Organization
Looking Forward
How the residents of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala choose to organize their new garden will significantly impact how its water and agricultural systems will develop. It may be advantageous to begin experimenting with communal management systems on a small scale. Management of the gardens future water systems, compost, landuse, and perennial crops all need to be considered. Below, are two hypothetical alternative future visions of how the garden could be managed.
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A. The Status Quo
Managerial systems remain largely unchanged, and the garden is divided up and managed on a per-family basis. Educational opportunities are not pursued, and agroforestry systems are not developed, leaving annual agriculture as the dominant cultivation strategy.
B. Incremental Improvements
Communal management begins on a small scale. The community begins to recognize opportunities for sharing resources and knowledge. To further understand the possibilities of future communal management, a small area within the new garden is set aside for communal management.
C. Intensive Improvements:
A large portion of the new garden is communally managed. An agroecologically inspired management system is developed and the evolution of a locally adapted agroecosytem begins.
As the region’s environmental and climate systems continue to change, the people of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala will likely face increased pressure to change their land use practices. Insuring their communities’ continued food security is one of the biggest challenges facing the people of this region. Below, are two hypothetical alternative future visions of how the garden could be managed. A. The Status Quo:
B. Incremental Improvements:
Agricultural systems remain unchanged. Garden plots are distributed by each village, and each family’s plots are managed separately.
The development of a locally adapted, agroecological management system begins. A small section of the new garden is set aside for perennial agricultural management. Rotational grazing practices are encouraged and begin to develop.
Looking Forward
Land use
C. Intensive Improvements:
Land in the new garden is managed as a patch mosaic, with the rotational grazing of livestock across a network of varrying levels groupings of tree, brush, and grass vegetation. Mimic the surrounding savana-mosaic, helps the Djangoula’s produce a variety of agricultural yeilds while helping to support the surrounding ecosystem.
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Appendix and Resources
Appendix and Resources
Appendix and Resources
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During the site visit, the mango trees were filled with ripe fruit.
During the first two weeks of June 2015, Molly Burhans and Chris Hendershot accompanied Jinny St. Goar and Bintou Sissoko on a trip to the villages of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala. During the trip they were also joined by Conway alum and former faculty member Jonathon Ellison. The team stayed at Bintou’s family’s house in Kita and primarily spent their time in the villages gathering cultural and environmental contextual information. Primary methods of collecting cultural information included participant observation, hosting community meetings, conducting interviews, and running experiments. Environmental information collection was largely centered around the new garden. During the visit the new garden site was measured and mapped. GPS points and photographs, were used to document the sites vegetation patterns and landscape features. The following reflective narratives were written by Chris Hendershot and Molly Burhans while they visited Mali in June 2015.
Appendix A
Appendix A: Introduction
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Appendix A
June 2, 2015
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juice, and coffee. Lunches and dinner have typically Our experience in Mali was incredible. The landbeen some variety of rice, beans, meat, fish, and peanut scape is stunning, and the people have shown us tresauce. mendous generosity despite the unbelievable hardships Our first two days were spent adjusting to our they face as part of their daily lives. One of the first new surroundings within the vicinity of the capital city, rains that the country has seen in months was falling as Bamako. This city of 3 million feels small and is spread our plane landed in Bamako. We departed the airplane out in a valley along both and immediately had sides of the Niger River. Baour temperatures taken, mako feels small because its as a precautionary test buildings are usually only two for Ebola, and our to three stories tall. On our documents were examfirst morning, we toured one ined. We saw Bintou of the schools that our host Sissoko and her two and client Bintou manages in of her children waiting Bamako. According to our for us out front of the other client Jinny St. Goar, airport. They gave us the management and success a warm welcome and of Bintou’s school in Bamawe loaded everything ko rivals many in the United A mural in Bamako depicting famous Malian storytellers called griots. into her SUV and took States. off towards her house in In just five years the school has grown into a Bamako. full-fledged elementary school, and construction has To western eyes, the roads in Mali appear chaotic, already begun on an expansion for the middle school. especially at night, as they are barely illuminated by dim The children have an enormous amount of energy street lights. We arrived at Bintou’s house and were and they would not leave us alone for a second. To shown our rooms, each one contained a comfortable their extreme delight Molly and I spent much of our bed and an air conditioner. It’s pretty safe to assume time drawing, taking pictures, and reading with them. that we had better accommodations than the majority The staff enthusiastically showed us their classrooms, of the local population. library, and computer rooms. We ate our first dinner and were quickly off to We had a simple, but delicious, lunch of rice with bed, as 24+ hours of traveling had left us beyond tired. peanut sauce before leaving for an afternoon at the Food in Mali is usually simple, but very tasty. Our days museum. We left Bintou’s school and ventured across usually begin with a simple breakfast of bread, butter,
June 3, 2015
across Bamako to the National Museum of Mali. We Our second morning was spent at Mali’s Naspent the afternoon exploring the various exhibits tional Zoo. Unfortunately wildlife populations in Mali on Mali’s history and art. The exhibits which left the have experienced significant declines due to habitat biggest impression on me were on Mali’s rich textile loss and poaching. At the zoo we were fortunate to be and wood working cultural histories. Mali has a rich able to see a wide variety of species, many of which artistic legacy filled with vibrant patterns and detailed are no longer found in the wild in Mali. The zoo was wooden representations of actually quite nice their spiritual beliefs. We were and it was inspiring to incredibly fortunate to have the see working cultural opportunity to soak up some of histories. Mali has a the countries cultural context rich artistic legacy filled first hand. with vibrant patterns After a few hours we left and detailed wooden the museum and went to one of representations of Bamako’s biggest outdoor martheir spiritual beliefs. kets. The market was jammed We were incredibly with vendors of all kinds, selling fortunate to have the a seemingly endless variety of opportunity to soak up medicines, goods, materials, some of the countries A diversity of goods can be found in Bamako’s markets. beautiful handmade crafts, cultural context firstfood, and trinkets. I have never hand. experienced a place quite like the market in Bamako. We saw lions, elephants, crocodiles, leopards, Thousands of people moved throughout the space, chimpanzees, antelopes, and numerous kinds of snakes, and a couple of locals who happened to recognize our birds, and small mammals. After a few hours at the zoo, client, Jinny, gave us an inside tour. They showed us the we departed and ventured over to the National Library, way to a balcony which overlooked the market, as well where we were lucky enough to be able to purchase as one of the most significant mosques in the country. a guide to the trees of the Sahel. The guide is written We wrapped up our first day with a delicious fish dinin French, but we hope that the scientific names and ner and went to bed quite early. pictures will still be of use. After a quick lunch back at Bintou’s school we packed up and headed south, out of Bamako, towards Ecova Mali. During the research preceding our trip we discovered the Massachusetts based
Appendix A
June 2, 2015, cont...
-Chris
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spent a long time discussing how Ecova’s agricultural non-profit organization Ecova, whose name stands for and water management techniques could potentially Economic and Ecologic Opportunities with Agriculbenefit the villages we are working with. During our ture. visit a thunderstorm gradually built up This farm was founded and just as we were beginning to leave, it by two former Peace Corps started to downpour. As we left, Yacouba volunteers, and we had been gave us a huge bag of freshly roasted invited to tour their facilities. As peanuts from the farm. We made the we drove the sprawling city of drive back to Bintou ’s house, had anothBamako gradually gave way to er incredible dinner, and packed our bags rural savanna country side. We for the trip to Kita. turned off the main paved road, asked a few locals for directions, and before long we found the farmers. Yacouba Kone, one of Ecova’s head farmers greeted us and warmly introduced us to the other farm. Ecova organically operates a sophisticated, diverse farmer training center. Yacouba enthusiastically shared the farms planting strategies and water management techniques with us. We were all very impressed with their ingenuity and attention to A thunderstorm approaches Ecova as our visit was wrapping up. detail. They grow a diverse array of perennials and annuals crops together in an integrated system and the landscape has been modified to capture, slow, and sink as much water as possible. They utilize creative technologies to simply solve complex problems, such as using a foot powered water pump to get water from a well for some of their farm’s irrigation. It was a very inspiring and productive visit, and we
Appendix A
-Chris
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and start showing a story of the space and its residents. I could spend a month just trying to describe The ride from Bamako to Kita took us on a today. Throughout the week leading up to our deparseveral hour journey through the country side of the ture for Mali it would hit me in a wave while I was Kayes region of Mali. One of the working, “I’m going to Africa in three most striking things about leaving the days,” “two days,” “five hours.” Looking city was the rural poverty. Looking out over the brush at the hazy sunset it out the window at a young child near really hit me, “I’m in Africa.” a heap of trash with no shoes in an At around 5:30 am I was woken apparently isolated building in the up by dog barks echoing through the middle of the Sahel I half-expect to concrete house Chris and I were staying hear a voice say “for only 5 cents per at in Bamako. Bamako was a blast, for day this child can...,” but instead of a me it was a somewhat familiar whirldisembodied narrator their own life’s wind of developing world urban chaos; narrations show through their faces of motor bikes and choking on clouds and hard worn bodies. Goats with of diesel, of women trying to sell you hip bones jutting from their sides ceramic bowls, Chinese DVDs, and and wiry dogs roam the country side fetishes (also known as dead animal between shanty homes, mud huts and parts); the smell of sweat, urine, gas, half-finished development projects tropical flowers and heavy ozone mix that serve as a real reminder of the into an eau de Bamako. It’s ridiculous, seriousness of our project. it’s dysfunctional on levels from the Along side this striking poverty ruby dirt dust clouds to very the top of is striking beauty of creation, of the half-abandon hotel funded by Mua- Sunset over the Niger River, as it flows threw Mali’s capital city, Bamako. mountains with red cliffs, patterns mmar Gaddafi; but it’s also fantastic and textures and colors that the best and in the initial scene of what seems landscape architect could only dream to be urban chaos one can find patterns to have created; spriggreen brush, generously spaced and exceptional function, like all natural systems. It’s wiry trees and yellow grass-es contrasted against deep just like home in the United States in ways, but there red earth. The trees speckle the arid scape with bits of is something about the zipping of motorbikes and the green, reminders that there is landscape that is verdant spontaneity of literal chickens crossing city roads with and giving, ready to burst fourth in a matter of weeks no adequate excuses that add a dimension of newness. when the dry season ends. Further, the inter-actions between the vendors and our On the way we stopped at a garden sponsored by client, reveal a deeper sense of kinship that make this the Minster of Water. There was a woman near a pile place stop being such an incredible sensory overload of mangoes, watering okra on her plot using a bowl
Appendix A
June 4, 2015
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Appendix A 112
to scoop water form a five-gallon bucket. There were foundation where a building previously stood. plots throughout the woman’s garden, most were bar We travel onwards towards the villages, with Chris, ren, but a few were covered in vegetables, like onions. the client, and I all periodically nodding off in the The set-up had a water tower and large solar panels back seat of the pick-up truck. In the front of the car that collected electricity to pump are Bintou and Soulaymane, Bintou’s son the water from the ground and into and our translator for navigating between the tower, from there it flowed into Bambara, the national language, French, strategically placed cisterns through and English. Once we left the graded road underground piping. Compared to the ride became too turbulent to sleep, the other places we had been it had nevertheless the anticipation of arriving at some serious infrastructure. Despite the villages was palpable for Chris and me. the clear investment in infrastructure Greetings from Nicaraguan villages I had it did not appear to be functioning experienced the previous summer (while much better than other gardens that leading a service trip at my undergraduate we saw, with the acceptations of a college) flashed though my mind: the music, few plots. the incredible kindness, and trying really We arrived in Kita and settled hard not to cry but going all waterworks the into our rooms at Bintou’s brother’s first time I was greeted at the extraordinary residence. I glanced at the car clock welcoming and love offered by the villagand realized that it was just about ers. I braced myself in the car. I thought to 6:30am in Conway. Bintou’s brother the maps we made, the families identified, Seydou and several other men stood their compounds, and a semester’s worth of up from their tea pouring and greeted studies and life; we would finally get to meet us. It is a tradition to drink a mint the people who are the directors and users tea that is ceremoniously heated over A child from watches the dancing during the of our project; the people we are designing coals and then poured and re-poured initial welcoming celebration. for and have yet had a chance to design with. until it lightly froths at the top and The greeting was wonderful, not too tearful, perhaps some other criteria are met that I did not oband full of one of my favorite forms of communicaserve or understand. tion: dance. We settle into our rooms in one of the buildings “Wow” ended up being the word of the week. Not and get a tour of the compound; it included the house a very attractive word, but pretty much the only word of Bintou’s father that was built 60 years ago, store I can use to explain the experiences from my personal fronts currently being built, and the house we are staylexicon without serious mental effort at the moment. ing in. There are signs of construction everywhere, like We were greeted by students from l’ecole de Paul the cement bricks baking in the sun and half-remnant
Appendix A
Shaftel in their uniforms and with their friends, young and out of its dark bottom with a hoe over his shoulkids excited and curious to see the car, and Bintou and der, he had emerged from the darkness 6m below the the rest of us. Some of them were shy, some were a surface. This was a game changer—all of the sudden bit scared. There were a lot of high fives we have a sited area to also think about, and names that I wish I could remember having it between the villages makes me exchanged between us. At the entrance excited for the possibilities, logically tryto Djangoula Kita the remaining villaging to be pragmatic about what we can ers, including adults and elders, waited to do with the reality that Chris and I are greet us. set to graduate only two weeks after our Chris and I stepped into a maelreturn, and excited for the next people strom of drums and chants, women with that may get to take all of our analysis babies strapped to their back shuffling, and build from them something that and men jumping in the center of a circle could really work. of people. It was fantastic. If you got a The afternoon was spent in the scarf thrown at you, you had to dance. Chief ’s family compound where the In a short matter of time Chris and I villagers discussed political affairs with found ourselves holding a scarf and being Bintou. I spent a lot of the time still beckoned into the circle where we had to coming down from the excitement, batbounce around and dance. tling against my normal afternoon pow The circle turned into a massive proer nap schedule, and just looking around cession towards the health clinic. We sat and listening to the Bambara converunder a tree that I remember putting into sation that I could not understand, but an Auto-CAD model the week before, a could appreciate the sonority of. After A baby stays close to her mother’s legs as she model that showed where the hydrologists watches dancing in Djangoula Kita. the meeting we headed back to Seydou’s had suggested a well site. The energy of and had a fantastic dinner (though feast the greeting was intense and incredible, may be more appropriate, we are eating and the abstract models and re-search we had done incredibly well; one example would be fish over rice were visible along side so much of the reality of the and vegetables with all sorts of sauces, the fresh peanut Djangoulas that we could not understand from home sauce being a favorite and fresh mangoes). We planned and that could never be captured or properly articulated out the analyses we would do the next day. I went to with a model. bed, carrying on with gratitude. After the greeting ceremony we walked into an already sited women’s garden, in the center was an open well under construction. A man scampered up its walls
-Molly 113
Appendix A
Summary Reflection
114
Chris and I just wrapped up our time in the ments in conversation, dances, and laughter together. villages this afternoon. Since the last update we ended “Don’t go. Don’t go,” one of the women I had become up focusing more on the human ecology of the villages close with pleaded over and over as the week came to a than anything. Chris and I occasionally split up to have close. Today definitely was not an easy goodbye. Their conversations with different people. Over the past life is very hard in many ways. I will miss them much. week I had the incredible experience of conversing Today Chris and I gave a proper Conway prewith a handful of women from both villages about life sentation with simple graphics on trace in each town as a woman and what it is like growing up as a girl in about simply ideas of irrigation techniques, water the villages. The women and I also talked about their management, and agriculture strategies that we had current and desired labor input with water and agriculheard villagers express interest in and some examples ture systems, which work is the most physically taxing, of what we had seen or researched about working in and how they feel about the work they do in relation to men’s work, and other options they know about or are interested in. This week I had to co-facilitated a women’s council meeting on the fly with Bintou, run a village discussion with the Chief in D. Foulala, I was proposed to at least once, took plant sample photos surrounded by swarm of at least 70 kids, and I was given the Foulala name Marion Djala; not quite your typical week, but then again, I really am not sure I know what a typical week is anyways. A handful of the rain fell during the community presentations in Djangoula Kita. women and I became quite close through this process. Language barriers did not stop similar regions. We talked about each example’s pros us of from sharing some really intensely sobering moand cons, and expressed that nothing was a fix-all but
A heavy
world, hopefully changing for the better, but unfortunately not necessarily so at times in places. Looking forward I know I will carry these memories as long as I have a memory and keep the people of these villages in my thoughts and prayers. My life was changed by this in ways I could not have imagined, nor can I quite grasp at this moment. Chris and I have to synthesize the relevant parts of this as thoroughly as we can and include it into our final document. Then, I guess, we can only hope that what we do truly goes back to the villagers and helps them and does not join the landscape’s graveyards of dead aid, but that the designs we articulate, connected with the people of the place and a committed NGO that has made some seriously positive changes in these villages, will be more sustainable and improve quality of life for the people of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala. This experience brings me back to writings from one of my favorite ethicists, Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas. He poses a first question of philosophy as something similar to “why do I have my space under the sun?” I relate to most of his sentiment in this question and response; to be with the other, the support the other, and serve the other until there is no other and we stand in place of genuine solidarity. What he presents is as much of a Philosophia (love of wisdom) as a wisdom of love. I can safely say that there were truly exceptional moments of solidarity on this trip. Once again, thank you for all the work you did to get us here and the support working on this project.
Appendix A
may be able to help, we further connected them to problems we had heard villagers express related to current cultivation and water management techniques. We also talked about various pressing issues villagers had expressed to us throughout the week, including some gender issues. I am a bit too wiped out right now to go into depth explaining it, but even if I had the energy I doubt I could adequately explain. We opened the floor for conversation at the presentation’s close and people amply responded with blessings, thoughtful questions, ideas we had missed, and opinions. There were easily 75 people at our first meeting in D. Kita, around 30 in D. Foulala. To present people were translating for us between Bambara, French, and English, rain hammered loudly on the tin roof, there was the occasional baby crying and this is the first day on the trip thus far that I am pretty nauseous; these may have been the most challenging conditions that I have ever had to present in, but they were also some of the most rewarding. The chief of D. Kita stood up at the end and thanked us, blessed us, and said that he could say no more because he would cry with gratitude. I am reminded of a day when I road through a village on the way home from Kita and people came out and greeted us with smiles and waves, “now imagine the same scenario in the US, but this is a pickup truck full of black people in the back going through a white neighborhood in the US,” John says. He looks at me, points to his head and says “tell me whose more developed.” It has become clearer to me that even using the language of “developing world vs non-developing world” is far from sufficient or respectable, perhaps more holistically, we live in a dynamically evolving
-Molly 115
Resources DIVA, Mali Data: Roads, water, elevation http://www.diva-gis.org/gdata
Planet Natural, Composting Myths https://www.planetnatural.com/composter-connection/soil-science/myths/
Child Health USA, Maternal age and infant mortality http://mchb.hrsa.gov/chusa13/perinatal-risk-factors-behaviors/p/maternal-age.html
Agri Cultures, Composting: Soil improvement in a semi-arid Sahelian environment http://www.agriculturesnetwork.org/magazines/global/enhancing-dryland-agriculture/composting-soil-improvement-in-a-semi-arid
African Biomes Image http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa#/media/File:Vegetation_Africa.png Mali Agriculture Documentary http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/land-rush/ Songhai Farm in Benin, Home Page http://www.songhai.org/index.php/en/home-en Harouna Yossi and Amadou Malé Kouyaté, Forest Resources Programme, Institute of Rural Economy, Bamako, Trees outside Forests: Mali 7 http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y2328e/y2328e21.htm World bank, Mali: Trees for Food Security http://www.worldbank.org/html/cgiar/newsletter/june97/9icraf.html
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Goodnet, 7 Water Organizations You Should Know http://www.goodnet.org/articles/1000
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The Water Project, Wells in Africa http://thewaterproject.org/digging-wells-in-africa-and-india-how-it-works SCL Water, Grundfos solar pumps, projects—case study, pumping systems http://shop.sclwater.co.uk/ Solar Pumps Africa, SCL Water http://www.solarpumpsafrica.com/exporter-of-water-pumps/ United Nations, Agriculture: Africa’s ‘engine for growth’: Small-scale farmers hold the key, says NEPAD plan http://www.un.org/en/africarenewal/vol17no4/174ag.htm Gardening Know How, Cow Dung Fertilizer: Learn The Benefits Of Cow Manure Compost http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/composting/manures/cow-manure-compost.htm
The Ecologist, Farmers lead composting revolution to heal African soils http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/Blogs/2559683/farmers_ lead_composting_revolution_to_heal_african_soils.html Bonnie Plants, Composting 101: What Is Compost? http://bonnieplants.com/library/what-is-compost/ The Royal Horticultural Society, Crop Rotation https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=124 Sid Brantly, UDSA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Rotational Grazing: What - Why - Where - How?? http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/ky/newsroom/factsheets/?cid=stelprdb1101721 Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Vegetable Resources: Chapter V, Irrigation http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/vegetable/guides/texas-vegetable-growers-handbook/chapter-v-irrigation/ Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Collaborative Research Support Program (SANREM), Rotational Grazing for Soil Carbon Sequestration, http://www.oired.vt.edu/sanremcrsp/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/ResearchBrief6.pdf Scientific American, How does chlorine added to drinking water kill bacteria and other harmful organisms? Why doesn’t it harm us? http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-does-chlorine-added-t-1998-05-04/ 28 too Many, Country Profile, FGM in Mali http://www.28toomany.org/media/uploads/mali_final.pdf
United States Geological Society, Mali, Climate Change Report [PDF]
Kraig Cole, World Help, Africa: Clean Water & Education Go Hand-in-Hand http://worldhelp.net/africa-clean-water-education-go-hand-in-hand/
United Nations, Mali, Climate Change Report [PDF]
UNICEF, Child Malnutrition http://www.unicef.org/specialsession/about/sgreport-pdf/02_ChildMalnutrition_D7341Insert_English.pdf
Central Intelligence Agency, World Factbook 2011 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
Rehydration Project http://rehydrate.org/water/ United Nations, United Nations’ Girls Education Initiative http://www.ungei.org/ Peace Corps, Clean Water and Quality of Life http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/lesson-plans/clean-water-and-quality-life/ Unknown Source, Hydrologists Report 2015 shared by Mali Nyeta PDF FAO, Small Diameter Well (Closed well) http://www.fao.org/docrep/x5567e/x5567e05.htm FAO, Large Diameter Well (Open Well) http://www.fao.org/docrep/x5567e/x5567e06.htm Mali Nyeta, About and Bios http://www.malinyeta.org Mali School of Geography and the Environment, UNDP, Climate Change Country Profiles Mali http://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/research/climate/projects/undp-cp/UNDP_reports/ Mali/Mali.lowres.report.pdf Wikipedia.org, Mali, West Africa, Mali History, Kita Cercle, Desertification, Uromastyx https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Climatetemps.com, Climate Information, Kita, Mali http://www.kita.climatemps.com/
Washington State University, Desertification http://wsm.wsu.edu/discovery/index.php/tag/desertification/
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Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, Chlorine Dispensers for Safe Water http://www.povertyactionlab.org/scale-ups/chlorine-dispensers-safe-water
National Research Council, Lost Crops of Africa: Boscia senegalensis http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11879&page=221 BBC Nature, Baobab Trees http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Adansonia World Agroforestry, Borassus aethiopum http://www.worldagroforestry.org/treedb/AFTPDFS/Borassus_aethiopum.PDF Lion Alert, Lions in Mali https://lionalert.org/alert/lions_in/Mali Bird Life International, Abyssinian Roller http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=1034 New England Nature, Birds of New England http://www.nenature.com/Birds.htm The Mandinka People, Mandinka People http://www.mandinkapeople.org/ Countries and Their Cultures, Fulani People http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Germany-to-Jamaica/Fulani.html Ceramics.org, Flowerpot like ceramic filters purify water for drinking, cooking http://ceramics.org/ceramic-tech-today/biomaterials/flowerpot-like-ceramic-filters-purify-water-for-drinking-cooking Potters for Peace, Clay Pot Water Filters: Easy to Use and Cheap to Produce http://www.pottersforpeace.org/ 117
Pure Home Water, Safe Water for Every Household http://purehomewater.org/who-we-are/ World Health Organization, Water Sanitation and Health, Chlorination http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/wsh0207/en/index6.html The Water Research Center, Chlorination of Drinking Water, Private Well Owner Guide http://www.water-research.net/index.php/water-treatment/tools/chlorination-of-water Water Quality Products, Provide Safe Drinking Water with Chlorine Providing Safe Drinking Water with Chlorine Technology Review, How to Build a Xylem Filter http://www.technologyreview.com/view/520706/how-to-build-a-plant-xylemwater-filter/ All photographs: Chris Hendershot, unless otherwise specified All graphics and diagrams: Molly Burhans, unless otherwise specified Last input before above: Aster Global Digital Elevation Model - http://www.jspacesystems.or.jp/library/archives/ersdac/GDEM/E/4.html
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Ecova 2014 Year End Report - http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=d5b888480acd98b85a598f3b6&id=9c43c32f26
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A Field Assessment of BioSand Filtration In Rural Ghana - Chris Fehrman http://www.mtu.edu/peacecorps/programs/civil/pdfs/chris-fehrman-thesis-final.pdf Drip Irrigation in Tunisia http://www.psipw.org/attachments/article/342/IJWRAE_2(4)226-230.pdf Rotational Grazing for Carbon Sequestration http://www.oired.vt.edu/sanremcrsp/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/ResearchBrief6.pdf Agroecological revolution in Latin America http://www.oired.vt.edu/sanremcrsp/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/ResearchBrief6.pdf Waterwheel, Wello - http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5432e337e4b0a5f2195c445b/t/54456471e4b0915fe648c992/1413833841499/Wello_Report.pdf
Bing Maps https://www.microsoft.com/maps/developer-resources.aspx Africa Hydrosheds - http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=fedf8e234b614ecaac65893f807344f5 Mali Roads http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=aa711b13d3ae43489516bd031d8db484 Mali Borders, Towns, and Administrative Areas http://www.mapcruzin.com/free-mali-country-city-place-gis-shapefiles.htm USAID Mali Climate Change Vulnerability http://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1860/MALI%20CLIMATE%20VULNERABILITY%20MAPPING.pdf Sahel Overview http://www.pbs.org/wnet/africa/explore/sahel/sahel_overview_lo.html West Africa Overview http://www.worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/at0722 Infant Mortality and Young Maternal Age: Friede A, Baldwin W, Rhodes PH, Buehler JW, Strauss LT, Smith JC, et al. Young Maternal Age and Infant Mortality: The Role of Low Birth Weight. Public Health Report. 1987; 102: 192–199. World Bank, Mali Poverty Percentage Data http://data.worldbank.org/country/mali Chris S. Duvall, Department of Geography, University of New Mexico Biocomplexity from the Ground Up: Vegetation Patterns in a West African Savanna Landscape [PDF] Paul Laris1, Human Ecology, Vol. 30, No. 2, June 2002 (°C 2002) Burning the Seasonal Mosaic: Preventative Burning Strategies in the Wooded Savanna of Southern Mali
Asako Takimoto Æ Vimala D., Agroforest Syst (2009) 76:11–25
Joshua J. Ramisch, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 105 (2005) 353–372 Inequality, agro-pastoral exchanges, and soil fertility gradients in southern Mali USGS/USAID, 2012 Climate Change Report A Climate Trend Analysis of Mali Jens B. Aune, Department of International Environment and Development Studies (Noragric), Norwegian University of Life Sciences Adapting dryland agriculture in Mali to climate change USGS, Prepared in cooperation with the Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières and the Direction Nationale de la Géologie et des Mines under the auspices of the U.S. Department of State Alluvial Diamond Resource Potential and Production Capacity Assessment of Mali
Resources
Contribution of trees to soil carbon sequestration under agroforestry systems in the West African Sahel
IWMI Research Report 154, Gebrehaweria Gebregziabher, Lisa-Maria Rebelo, An Notenbaert, Kebebe Ergano and Yenenesh Abebe Determinants of Adoption of Rainwater Management Technologies among Farm Households in the Nile River Basin British Geological Survey Groundwater Quality: Mali
We would like to thank the following individuals for taking the time to communicate with us about their related expertise: Mary Beth Leonard, U.S. Ambassador to Mali Steve Whitman, Permaculture expert, planner, and teacher Jono Niger, Permaculture expert Don Manning, previous CEO of Agros International Kevin Pepper, Strategic Planner
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F
ood and water security are necessary for the survival of any community. The villages of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala are presented with a significant opportunity through working with the non-profit organization, Mali Nyeta, to adapt their food and water management systems on their own terms before the shifting environment, in the wake of climate change, necessitates it. This document explores possible water management and agriculture strategies that are suitable for the existing site and regional conditions of Djangoula Kita and Djangoula Foulala and how these selected water management and agriculture strategies may be incorporated into a new four-hectare women’s garden shared by the villages.
Appendix A
The research compiled is meant to provide information about the existing conditions of the villages, reveal bits and pieces about the lives of village residents, and illustrate a framework for finding strategies that could work for sustainably addressing the problems of villagers today in helping them prepare for tomorrow.
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The Conway School is the only institution of its kind in North America. Its focus is sustainable landscape planning and design and its graduates are awarded a Master of Science in Ecological Design degree. Each year, through its accredited, ten-month graduate program students from diverse backgrounds are immersed in a range of real-world design projects, ranging from sites to cities to regions. Graduates go on to play significant professional roles in various aspects of landscape planning and design.