Solar Mountain-Nicaragua

30 dykes have now been built

Tuesday, 17 August 2010 09:06 | Written by Robert |

A dyke is a wall to regulate water levels. They are built out of wood, stones and shrub from the Solar Mountain property in order to stop the rain water from flowing down the slope and instead be absorbed in the ground. The dykes are extremely important. Without them the rain water is flowing away, eroding the slopes along the way. This rainy season in Nicaragua is more intense than normal and the dykes have already helped improving the drinking water situation for the upcoming dry season. The pictures below have been provided by Susan Kinne, Grupo Fenix.

Stone dyke.

Here is one of the wooden stake dykes. The stakes have started to sprout, which means they have started to root as well. These dykes are somewhat fragile at first, but once they have taken hold are ideal, they do let some of the water flow through, but stop the velocity and therefore the erosion and allow more water to filter through to the ground water table.

CSE'11 soon back after the summer

Tuesday, 17 August 2010 09:05 | Written by Robert |

The Swedish summer is slowly coming to an end and in two weeks the CSE class of 2011 will be back, this time in the office space at Vasa at Chalmers. We have an inspiring and fun year to look forward to! Also, we are happy to welcome the new class of 2012 to the school!

Local representative recruited for the community cooking center

Tuesday, 17 August 2010 09:04 | Written by Robert |

An enthusiastic and driven woman living in the community with the 45 houses has shown great interest in starting to work with the community cooking center. If provided with some basic cooking equipment and initial capital she will be able to establish the first small business. This is a very important and great step forward for the community cooking center project.

Trees are planted and dykes are built

Tuesday, 17 August 2010 08:58 | Written by Robert |

The reforestation project is up and running! So far, 410 trees have been planted and more are in the pipeline. The planting is done in collaboration with the local chapel (located close to the Solar Mountain property) and a few trees are being planted at the church's property as well. Also, close to 30 dykes have been built and two signs have been put up in connection to the Solar Mountain property in order to keep people from letting their animals in. Grupo Fenix is now working hard on finding more trees to plant. At this moment another 300 trees have been located. The goal is to plant a total of 10 000 trees.

Cleared area where the new 400 trees are planted. Julian is showing the new leaves on the tree that have sprouted since they were planted in June. This is a Mandagual tree. Young and older trees that were naturally growing in the area that was cleared were saved.

Picture provided by Susan Kinne, Grupo Fenix.

Reforestation effort has started in Nicaragua

Tuesday, 15 June 2010 21:16 | Written by Robert |

Grupo Fenix and the Solar Center have started the reforestation effort at the Solar Mountain. They have now gathered 1000 or so trees and they are mobilizing dyke building and tree maintenance skills from the local people and organizations. The reforestation effort is planned to take place between June 1st and November 2nd. In total, 10 000 trees are to be planted!