Emma's Class Field Trip to Inyenyeri in Gisenyi

Emma’s teacher, Mr. Thies, is young and dynamic and the kids just adore him. Already this semester, their class has hosted two family movie nights at the school and taken two field trips—one to Akagera Game Park (overnight) and on Tuesday to Gisenyi. In Gisenyi, the kids visited the site of a bio-fuels processing “plant” that also manufactures fuel efficient stoves for villagers accustomed to cooking with charcoal or on an open fire. These stoves produce a gas-like flame that is constant and burns cleaner than other fuels. The owner/director of the project is a visionary American, Eric Reynolds. His ambition is to get three of these stoves into every Rwandan home currently using charcoal or wood. He’d also like to eventually power electricity generating plants using these bio-fuels. At the moment though, the operation is in its initial phases. The machinery to manufacture the stoves is on the ground and the local staff is learning how to use these to produce the stoves. The villagers are being enticed into bringing in the raw materials that are needed to produce the fuel pellets. The fuel pellets are a mixture of dried banana leaves, eucalyptus leaves and native grasses, branches and just about anything else that can be burned. The stipulation is that no trees are destroyed in the process. Deforestation is a serious problem in Rwanda and this project aims to stem the cutting of trees for firewood. It’s a noble, ambitious effort and the kids were keen on seeing the production facilities and asked intelligent and thoughtful questions. We wish Eric and all of those involved in the project great success. Access the following link to find out more about what the folks at Inyenyeri do: http://www.facebook.com/Inyenyeri?sk=info Of course, being from Louisiana where we fire up the fronds during sugar cane harvest and produce tons and tons of bio-mass in the grinding of the cane, we saw all kinds of applications for the use of this technology back home. Perhaps someone can capitalize on this idea back home. Below: Eric holding stove as he explains the project. Pellets made from the dried bio-mass to be used in the stoves for cooking.