Infrastructure in Zambia
On Tuesday night, the Seattle section of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) held its 125 anniversary dinner at Salty’s. In addition to meeting plenty of interesting people, I had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Henry Louie present “Engineering a Difference: Seattle University Service Work in Rural Zambia”.
The talk began with a discussion of how Zambians get water. The lack of a reliable water grid in many parts of Zambia forces households to obtain water directly from a freshwater source. Unfortunately, predatory animals often live near water sources; each year, several unfortunate Zambians lose their lives from attacks by hippos and alligators.
In addition to water, getting electricity in Zambia is also a real challenge. Even without electricity, mobile phones are quite popular, but charging them is very difficult. Absent reliable electricity, some Zambians walk ten miles or more to the nearest source of electricity, just to charge their phones.
In conjunction with the Seattle University Chapter of Engineers Without Borders, Dr. Louie worked to develop solutions to Zambia’s water and electricity distribution problems. Whereas many engineers in developed countries worry about efficiency and cost, the EWB team’s solution had to be (1) constructed using readily-available materials (wood, salvage wire, etc.), and (2) serviceable by non-engineers using only hand tools.
To deliver water to the village, the team used a spiral pump-based design, made from a coil of rubber hose. As for the electricity, the team produced a hand-crank generator capable of delivering a few watts when turned by hand. Although charging a phone battery with the generator might take 15 minutes of more of cranking, it’s still vastly superior to walking many miles for a single charge.
Neither of these inventions will serve an entire city, but it’s incredible what a little bit of engineering talent, applied in the right ways, can do to enrich the lives of the less fortunate. More details are available on Dr. Louie’s Website.