Lumen

MoonLight goes online

2009-06-23T19:50:00.003+07:00

Check out http://www.moonlight-lantern.com

"FEEL THE PLANET EARTH" Cifial Design Award 2008

2009-06-23T18:50:00.006+07:00

At the "FEEL THE PLANET EARTH" Cifial Design Competition 2008 (Yes, the procedure took some time...), MoonLight has won one of the two first prizes. The 18th of June we received the award in Porto.

Loucas in action... The award money is equally divided between design team (perfect timing: from an economic point of view, it was not the smartest decision to graduate right now!) and University. TU Delft pays its part to Kamworks and supports this way their ambitious plan to produce the product for sale in fall (!).

We had enough time to visit the beautiful city of Porto...

...and spent quite some good time with the hospitable family of the award organisator...

The thing with the main lesson

2009-01-30T21:24:00.017+07:00

I have been asked so many times about my main lesson from my BOP/sustainability design experience and I still struggle with the right two-sentences reply for a party, without pictures to show. Too many factors, a too long story, I definitely do not want to bore people. Besides, being a designer as well as a foreigner in the country I live in, I feel more comfortable with visual than verbal communication.

However, a Chinese friend and journalist asked me two months ago for one or two very short general statements in relation to our project that he wanted to implement in an article for a Chinese magazine about the Dutch Design Awards 2008.

"Absolute relevance is essential for success in sustainable development: Make it affordable, push quality AND make sure to understand the user's context. If these aspects are not in balance, it is not sustainable."

It becomes clear for instance that green technologies just represent a small part in sustainability. On the other hand I would have to tell in the same step that understanding the user's context cannot happen from a distance. And why. And how to translate affordability into marketing options that go beyond small unit prices. Und so weiter.

"Designing on the spot for the so-called Base of the Pyramid is an extreme challenge, from a personal as well as from a professional point of view. The biggest challenge is probably get these two important parts combined. Especially in a team"

Those who have worked on similar projects, will know what I mean. And maybe, a party is just not the right spot to tell about our experience.

Toon-van-Tuijl design award for the MoonLight

2008-10-20T13:38:00.010+07:00

The MoonLight is the winner of one of the Dutch Design Awards, the Toon-van-Tuijl design price (check www.toonvantuijldesignprijs.nl and www.dutchdesignawards.nl). During the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, the lamp will be shown in the "Greenhouse" with all the other winners of the Dutch Design Awards.

Kamworks is now working even harder on the quick realization of the lamp... The price also includes some financial help for further development. There is also a new, more informative website with explanations of the company's core business and collaboration possibilities concerning further projects (www.kamworks.com).

Movie Design Award Show

2008-10-18T22:00:00.000+07:00

And here is a small movie of the award show.

Movie about rural Cambodia and the development of the MoonLight

2008-09-27T20:30:00.007+07:00

And here is a last movie to give a short impression of the surroundings of Kamworks and the living circumstances of families in rural Cambodia. Also, the last part shows some user research, which we did a lot and helped us to find an appropriate solution in this totally different context.

"MoonLight"/ "Ampoul Preahchan"

2008-09-07T23:40:00.011+07:00

Officially, the project has been finished for a while... officially. Since our presentation end of July, we have still been busy with writing articles (e.g. for the BOP book of the university and for sponsors) and giving presentations (for sponsors). Doortje has been working on a range of new prototypes that will serve as demonstration pieces in different networks and projects.

Here are some more pictures of the last project phase in Cambodia:

Finally: At night in the workshop, excited about finishing the assembly of our very first prototype.

First test in a hut at night. Hard to capture the real effect with a camera, but: first enthusiastic reactions!

Some impressions from the extended user feedback sessions:

As many participants know us already from previous sessions, they dare to be very critical. Big relief: people are positively surprised and very motivated as they try out the lamp with the solar panel in their houses. Some families were even willing to buy the prototypes on the spot!

Kamworks indicated they would like to start producing the "MoonLights" as we called the product ("Ampoul Preahchan" in Khmer) as soon as possible. Hopefully this will happen! For more detailed information, please contact us!

We spent our last days in rainy Cambodia in rainy but beautiful Kampot instead of rainy Rattanakiri: Due to the weather, the roads to the North were too muddy and we had to return halfway... Some impressions from Kampot:

Women, working hard on the typical salt fields for very little money.

Rangers at Bokor Hill, a constantly foggy ghost village; a former recreation area for the French while colonization, later a refuge for the Khmer Rouge.
We collected so many pictures by now, that it is hard to choose... let us know if you are interested and want to know more about our project and/or our personal experiences in Cambodia. For now, a last one:

The "MoonLight" bringing Ana into trouble at Frankfurt airport...

Letzte Runde

2008-06-08T21:58:00.014+07:00

Arjen during first production tests.

User tests including PV panel installation...

... and manual tests.

The solar campus has become empty and we are also leaving tomorrow. For a few days to Rattanakiri, then back home where we will have one and a half weeks to finalize the report.

Sad to leave the Kamworks people.

Sad to leave the canopy beds.

Looking forward to eating potato and pasta again.

Last cosy evenings with Angkor beer...

Prototyping

2008-05-30T17:44:00.009+07:00

We have been working on the the prototype for a few days now. We have to make four moulds out of MDF, two for the outside shells and two more simple ones that are part of a new way of assembling the inner components. In parallel, we worked on the circuit boards for the prototype. The facilities are better at the TU in Delft, but until now it has gone quicker than anticipated. People here are used to improvising and know tricks.

Layer cake with non-subtle 12mm MDF, cut out by human power. Almost ready! In only one afternoon.

The MDF shapes the Dremel tools instead the other way around. Details have to be shaped by hand. Fits more to the speed of the environment (see pictures of the campus) anyway.

Doortje and Jan in the electronics workshop. Jan for the Angkor light, Doortje for our prototype.

Tom, lost in calculations for his graduation project about solar home systems.

In case we feel lonely, we will always have company outside.

How many kids fit into a car?

2008-05-26T22:42:00.005+07:00

not enough yet...

Add some big kids. Go to the swimming pool.

Home.

2008-05-25T12:01:00.002+07:00

The Solar Campus from the solar panels' perspective.

Typical scene: Desperate students searching for Kamworks WLAN in the period that the PicoSol net is down.

Waiting for the thunderstorm. Rainy season can be beautiful.

Horse with workshop.

Philip's construction: Lost fight against rain and wind.

On the way to our dinner.

Horse 2.

Happy housecalls

2008-05-25T11:57:00.001+07:00

Never seen in Germany or Holland:

A typical image at our feedback sessions. As soon as mock-ups and drawings are involved, toda la familia, friends and neighbors join...

Life - an update

2008-05-18T19:48:00.023+07:00

Internet is more often unavailable, just to explain why we posted less pictures the last weeks.
Waiting for feedback for our work we spent a few days in Sihanoukville which is situated at the coast. We had a very nice time, relaxing, a real source of energy.

Ana (white shirt) before getting sea-sick.

Tradition vs. change.

Beauty vs. dirt (smell!). The fishermen's port was a very special experience.

Coming back, we got quite a lot of interesting user feedback (we made simple cardboard models and storyboards and people loved to try out the handling and to participate in finding ideas). No clue why we thought that these sessions would be much more difficult!
Saturday was our first shopping day for the final prototype. We arranged a lot of things that we will need, except for yet undefined features, so that we can start whenever we took the crucial decisions.

Shopping à la cambodgienne. Most of the times we had to communicate with drawings...

... what turned out to be especially tough for electronic components. However, we found the needed tools and materials much quicker than anticipated.

Besides... rainy season brings little surprises from time to time.

Nobody knows how that fish came into our bathroom. Loucas says that it walked. The stupid thing is that there is no other option!

Anyway, it died, being fried together with a bucket full of snails by our 15 Khmer "flatmates" who have been following a course of four weeks at the Solar Campus.

Thank you!

2008-05-14T11:41:00.003+07:00

Dear all,

we would like to thank you for your interest and participation on the concepts' poll.

Results

With 30 votes in one week the results are:

Concept 1 (doughnut): 15/30 (50%)
Concept 2&4 (lamp shape) : 5/30 : 5/30 (17%)
Concept 3 (backpack light): 10/30 (33%)

You were right concepts 2 and 4 are quite similar and should have been presented as one. The concepts merged at the end, without really noticing it...

We have to remove the concepts at the moment, for confidentiality reasons...but we will keep you informed with all our progress in the future.

Modeling

The modeling just started yesterday with some problems. We bought pigment clay from Phnom Pehn (the only thing we found), which proved to be more pigment than clay...Hence, we decided to go for plan b and modeling the volumes of the concepts with papier-mache, and enhancing our drawings with storyboards. Unfortunately, from Tuesday to Thursday is the King's birthday celebration, which means no translators for us and no feedback till Friday...

More news are coming...

Again, thank you very much for all your feedback!

The concepts are coming!!!!!!!!!!

2008-05-05T15:37:00.009+07:00

The first part of the conceptualization phase is coming finally to an end! The last details are being worked out at the moment...and four new concepts will be presented to you!

At this phase, we really need your feedback!

Vote for your favorite concept in the poll!

Send us your comments, be critical, tell us what you like and what you don't like!

Based on your feedback and of course the feedback of the local people, we will select the one concept on which we will work further on details and prototype it...

So, please give us feedback!!! ;)

In advance, thank you for your participation and concern!

Claim 2: “But they have already done it...” (or they attack of the LEDs!)

2008-05-05T09:44:00.003+07:00

Claim 2: “But they have already done it...” (or they attack of the LEDs!)

That’s a very cliché phrase too. It’s also true that a lot of solar products have been developed for the BOP markets, but have you seen these products? Most of them look like discarded robots from Futurama, or like they are coming from a Japanese splatter movie (e.g. Tetsuo)

Already one attacked to Steffi yesterday night!!!

But let’s get serious…These products are probably the outcome of beneficent engineers, who during the weekends try to use their skills for a good cause, designing lamps for the BOP. I recognize their good intentions, but the quality as well as the product’ price is often poor…

So far, the only good examples we have seen are either very good solar lamps, in the price range of €50-80; the cost of which are covered by NGOs, or good students’ graduation projects that have not been launched in the market yet (hence, no final price is known).

To wrap it up, BOP projects does not mean a hobby for pensioner engineers neither cheap, bad products. A BOP project requires a lot of effort to understand the people’s needs and wants and cover them in a qualitative and affordable way. We believe that we can achieve it, and win the bet that we put to ourselves.

Since then, please tease us and “feed” us with more claims and “BOP products” ;)

Claim 1: “But in China costs €2…”

2008-05-05T09:39:00.003+07:00

Since, the beginning of the project the big challenge has been to combine quality with affordability. The design brief from Kamworks stated a cost price in the range of €10-20. We raised the stake and aimed at €10. If we will win this bet, we’ll see at the end…

However, I am writing this post to respond to some claims that we have been acquainted with, so far. Please, no offense to the ones that did these claims…we understand them, we take them into consideration, but also they make us obstinate to prove with our project how quality and affordability can really be combined.

Claim 1: “But in China costs €2…”

It’s true that man can find a lot of Chinese LED products that cost no more than €2. Affordability has been achieved, but what about quality? In Cambodia people do not trust Chinese products, because of the quality. Are they crazy? For instance, Kamunasal had ordered several cheap products from China for testing, which almost none of them qualified the standards. In a talk with a NGO company, in Phnom Pehn, they told us that often the Chinese hand-cranking lights are slapstick. The cranking function is just an effect, which makes you feel that you charge the product, while in fact the product runs on primary batteries that cannot be recharged…

Hence, in the first claim I would answer that “Cambodians are not that rich, to buy so cheap”. In the long run, Chinese products accumulate several “2€uros” that surpass by far the price of an affordable and qualitative product.

I like 25

2008-04-28T19:33:00.014+07:00

I turned 25 and it felt good.

I got a birthday cake from Leap, ...

... snow...

...and my friends invited me to a real orgy after one week of mainly rice and soup.

Six girls (one behind the camera) in one swimming tuc-tuc. Rainy season appearently decided to really start for my birthday...

...so that we were glad to pass the night indoor. In the picture: Doortje in a dance battle against a local.

Back at Kamworks: Thanks for a great day and the cool presents!

“The Product System”

2008-04-23T10:40:00.001+07:00

We left from the Netherlands with three basic concepts in our mind: a battery product, a solar product and a hybrid one; meaning a battery product that can be extended to a solar.

Now that the second phase of our research comes to an end we can come to some conclusions:

· A product system based on a battery product is too much hassle for the rural population in Cambodia. Cambodians have to go to a battery charger early in the morning, leave their battery for charging, and come back in the evening to get their battery back. This procedure is a routine for the Cambodians, and takes place almost every 3 days. Hence, 121 times in the year. Adding another product that runs on rechargeable batteries and requires charging from an external party would be an additional burden to their lives…

· Cambodians pay too much for energy and light. Charging the battery every 3 days (1500Riel/time), costs to them 82500Riel/year ($45). If they also use a kerosene light, it costs to them another 50400R/year ($12,6/year). If we add to these costs, the costs of the primary batteries for the flashlights the total costs can exceed the $70/year. That means that almost 1/3-1/4 of the people’s income goes to energy and light expenses (without calculating how often people substitute a battery or a fluorescent lamp). As a result, a solution that adds more running costs is not an option for the rural population of Cambodia.

· From the interviews we conducted, we found out that people like a solar powered light. Although that it is something totally new to them, they seem to embrace the idea. As they often stated they like the fact that they do not have to pay anymore for the light. In one case, an interviewee stated that he is willing to pay even the double price for a product running solely with solar energy.

· A solar powered light is not sci-fi. Using amorphous cells, we can power a lamp of 5-6 LEDs cost effectively.

As a result, our final concepts will be around a solar powered product. That means a light either with an integrated solar panel or with an additional one.

“How2Reach the people…?”

2008-04-23T10:39:00.001+07:00

Kamunasal’s willingness to build a brand and keep it formal looks like a joke to me. Trying to be formal in Cambodia it’s like trying to keep dust out from a hut in the dessert…it just doesn’t work!

Instead of considering the informal way of doing business in Cambodia as an additional burden, man should look at them as opportunities. The charging mobile service in Africa, and the second life of mobile phones in (China?) thanks to people’s creative mind are great examples to get inspired from.

Kamunasal should not worry that much about being formal, but more about reaching the people and selling products. The pilot phase so far is not encouraging, with almost zero sales. It seems that something has to change…

Koky Market, where Kamunasal is located in, serves more like a wholesales’ market, where little vendors can supply all the necessary products for their shops and less like a retail market. Kamunasal instead of following their examples to reach the rural population chose the tough way; waiting people to come to the shop…Like we say in Greece, when the mountain does not go to Moameth, Moameth has to go to the mountain.

Hence supplying a local vendor in a rural village with Kamunasal’s products looks like a good solution… The micro entrepreneur, who already goes everyday to the Koky Market for supplies, will also go to the Kamunasal shop for more supplies. This way the micro entrepreneur can increase his/her income, while Kamunasal can reach the rural population more effectively. To retain some level of formality, Kamunasal can train the local people on the basics (to sell a solar lamp and not a home solar system) and try to build a trustful relationship with them.

At the same time, if Kamunasal wants to expand from the Kandal province, which at the moment looks impossible, it would be wiser to look for a partnership with a NGO. NGOs have the funds and the capacity to reach a lot of people, very fast. Selling Kamworks products or the Kamunasal idea to a NGO could prove a good idea.

Keep it simple!

2008-04-23T10:31:00.000+07:00

Having done the interviews and seen the houses lighted in the night, we realized that people do not need a primary light. The car battery serves the peoples’ needs quite well, although it is rather expensive. Charging the battery every 3 days (1500Riel/time), costs to them 82500Riel/year ($45). The car battery substitutes the electricity grid, and allows the people to connect to it from a fluorescent light to a TV, a DVD, a stereo home system etc.

Nevertheless, you cannot tell that people do not need light. The fluorescent lamp might serve as a generic, ambient light that lights the main room and a little bit the entrance of the house, but it is not enough. The fluorescent lamp is most of the times attached to the wall or the roof, offering limited functionality to the people. Various needs that require a minimum amount of light and portability remain uncovered. People need a light to go outdoors; to the toilet, to visit a friend, to check the chickens or the cows… They also need another light indoors, apart from the fluorescent lamp, to cook, to light the bedroom, to watch out the kids, to watch TV…

An affordable, portable, orientation light, with low or no running costs would be the ideal solution for the people. Firstly it would substitute the kerosene lamp which not only harms peoples’ health and is a permanent risk of fire in the house, but also costs 4200R per liter that lasts for one month [50400R/year=$12,6/year]. Furthermore, it would also save some energy from the car battery. People sometimes watch TV with the fluorescent light on (for more comfort?).

The solution does not have to be oversized, with a lot of LEDs, functions etc like a lot of NGOs do. People just need a secondary, multipurpose light, which ideally should not have any running costs for them. A torch does not serve their needs really; the task light and the torches’ grasp limit its functionality a lot. Although that people have most of the times more than one torch at home, it seems not to prefer them, and pick a petrol lamp instead.

Last but not least, do not forget that people already have the burden of the charging system for their car batteries. Adding one more product that requires charging and money, for sure would not be for peoples’ benefit.

In conclusion, KEEP IT SIMPLE!

Just a normal day...

2008-04-21T17:45:00.023+07:00

We have already spoken a lot about all our work and other experiences, but we did not yet give you an overview of a normal day, so there we go:

Normally we stand up together with the sun at about 06.00 in the morning. This seems quite early, but actually is the best time of the day regarding the temperature...

We live in the campus of Kamworks, which was built for the Dutch students and also sometimes to teach a a group of possible new Cambodian entrepreneurs for the new shops. Till last Sunday we had the campus for ourselves (11 Dutch students), but on sunday 18!!! Cambodian entrepreneurs arrived for a course of four weeks!!! This made our campus a bit overcrowded and we have already moved our workspace to a bedroom...

Kamworks is placed in Sre Ampil, a rural village in the middle of nowhere, about 40 km from Phom Penh. A sand road will lead you from the main road to Kamworks and the Campus. Always when we walk or cycle on this road, all the children call ‘Hello, Hello..’ as if they saw white people for the first time in their lives...

It is also a nice mindsetter to be here. In the Neterlands you take everything for granted, but now we are here, it is a very common situation that we do not have water, internet or energy. Last weekend, we stayed at the Campus to work (we have had a very long trip the weekend before), but for a large part of the weekend we didn’t have water in half of the building and we did not have internet. Everything will be so wonderfull again when we are back in the Netherlands...

At 09.30 we always have tea time and we dink some coffee and tea in a kiosk and we can discuss some things which Arjen (Manager of Kamworks) or with the other staf of Kamworks.

At 12.00 we have lunch. Because Cambodia was a colony of the French, we can eat the French breads every day in the morning and at lunch. For the filling we can buy eggs, fruits and vegatables on the steets next to the Campus or buy peanutbutter, pate, jam or tuna in the international supermarkets in Phnom Penh (but.. 1.5 hour away...). This week we started to also have a warm lunch at the orphanage, just like the diner in the evenings...

Sometimes it is really hard to keep awake after the lunch and we take a small nap...

The last week the SPD people (Ana and Loucas) were busy with doing more interviews and trying to find out more about the market and a good way to reach the people with our new product. The IPD people (Steffi and Doortje) have been working on sketching ideas for specific subproblems (how to's...) and did some electronic tests to find out more about the needed energy input and light output of the system....

Today we had our deadline for the idea generation phase and so we had the last 2 days some nice things to do in the evinings... But it worked out and we are very convenient with our result and conclusions... Up to the next phase!!!

Testing the charging speed of this home-made low-cost PV panel...

Making a LED light of 3.2 Volt work on only a 1.2 Volt battery.... How many hours could one LED work on a battery that was charged for one day in the sun on a low-cost PV panel?

At about 17.00 we sometimes go out for a short trip before dinner at 18.00. Since a few days we have a few motorbikes and normal bicycles with which we can discover the surroundings...

At 18.00 we have dinner at the orphanage, next to Kamworks. The meals are very good and mostly consists of rice with some filled cucumbers or tomatoes, potatoes, fish (cheaper than meat) and/ or chicken. As a desert we always get a bunch of fresh fruits, very good as well!

At about 18.30 also all the childen of the orphanage arive at the dinerplace and always start with a very nice song to thank for their meal...

After diner, we often get back to our computers (yes, we are really addicted :) ) for about 1 hour and then we still have some time left for relaxing. Most of the time we do some game or watch a movie with a big part of the group. It is a really nice combination between hard working times and good relaxing times!

But.... We don't make it too late... the next day starts again with the sunrise at 06.00....... =)

Angkor - from sunrise till sunset

2008-04-18T13:28:00.014+07:00

Jan, Loucas ans Tom, disguised as statues.

Fake sunrise à la Cambodgienne.

Climbing, observed by a bunch of lions.

Ohne Worte.

Angkor Wat, reversible...

..and from inside.

The "Lara Croft temple".

At the end of the day, it becomes hard to distinguish us from the locals...

Leap and his wife, our guides and tired heroes at sunset. In the foreground: dusty foot and a new friend.

Getting inside of the Cambodians heads....

2008-04-17T20:02:00.004+07:00

A big part of our project and one of the main reasons why we are here, is to conduct consumer research. You can read all you want from books about a culture but it will never be the same as living it.

At the TU Delft we learned several techniques that help us understand the user and the behavior, also that help us define the target group we want to design for. We left the Netherlands with two target groups defined: Rural Affluent and Middle Poor. We also concluded from past reports of students and other sources that a good way to identify the social class of the people here is by looking at their houses. So, we felt prepared!!

BUT.....

As soon as we came to Cambodia and began to interview the people many things change, for example we learned not to judge the book by its cover, the houses from the outside might not always tell the truth, some people living in houses that you might classify as rural affluent, were actually very poor.

Every situation is different, every single person we interview has a story to tell that will always be different than the others.

We try not to generalize but we do have to find points in common to be able to reach as much people as possible.

Another thing that changes is that targeting the rural affluent with the type of lamp we are designing is not a challenge, this people have the money to buy something better and they have already a source of light.

The first phase of our research, we designed a open questionnaire, if one thing we do know is that you can not expect to get very concrete answers, you as a researcher need to be very open to any answer and ask many times....why,......why...

Most of the people will answer with words that they consider will please you, instead of the reality. For this first interviews we showed some products we bought back home. They thought we were selling them......

Another interesting thing was trying to keep up with our translator, some time he spended a long time talking with the person, and just said a very short answer to us.

On this second phase of interviews we are aiming to get deeper answers from the people. For this we are using Participatory Rural Appraisal techniques, this are methods that involves more the participant by asking him or her to describe with the aid of graphics and visuals (previously designed by us) their daily life for example, or when, along the day do they use light.

No matter how much you try, you will always feel there is much more to know and to ask, and we are very thankful with the attitude of the people, they are always happy to share their life, needs and hopes.

The more people we visit the more we want this product to be a success and to actually reach the most in need.

We will continue our quest to find out what they actually want and need.....

Leapfrogging?

2008-04-17T16:46:00.010+07:00

If I say to you that in a remote, off the grid floating village in Cambodia, Chong Kneas, you can get a picture of yourself printed on a plate in less than an hour would you believe me? It sounds crazy, specially if you see the place, but it is true!

It goes like this...You are about to enter to the small (Mad Max) boat that will get you in 10' to the floating village, when a kid is taking you a photo (wondering why...?). You go to see the floating village, and by the time you are back and you get out of the boat, a cute little girl is showing your picture printed (or better sticked...) on a kitsch plate, decorated around your picture with the Angkor Wat and is asking for $5 per plate! Nobody bought a plate, as it was really kitsch...but it would be good if we had bought one just to show it to you...

As far as it concerns the plates, don't worry nothing gets in waste in Cambodia...they just pill off the sticker with your picture and a new one takes its place...

Isn't that a great example of what leapfrogging can do? With a little bit more taste and design, I am sure the smart Cambodia entrepreneurs could sell hundreds of these, generating valuable income for themselves

"Please, lady, buy this for only one dollar..."

2008-04-16T17:14:00.024+07:00

In Phnom Penh there are a lot of children selling (copied, not original) books or drinks to tourists in the street. Tourists should, however, not buy anything to prevent the misuse of children on the longterm as they do not profit from their sells. An advice which is hard to follow. Some, like this boy, like to train their English and they often speak better than other children. Besides they are very interested in learning about the different countries. Hopefully this will help them in the future.

In Siem Reap, which is more touristic, it is almost impossible to enter the little shops on the markets as everybody tries so hard to sell you postcards, clothes or pineapples (usually they all sell the same).

This girl tries to sell drinks to boat passengers. She was brought by a little boat, but had to swim back, without having sold anything.

Some people seem to cry almost, having difficulties to walk but start insulting those who do not give anything the next moment, walking away normally. Some kids point at your bag or follow you for several minutes repeating "dollar, dollar". We preferred to give food or drinks in some cases, luckily many people do this instead of giving money.

Anyway: hard, hard, hard.

Busy

2008-04-08T18:59:00.017+07:00

The days pass and we start to converge our conclusions so far to be able to start making concepts. Under such extreme conditions, many compromises have to be made, but it is important to define the priorities right. In the end we want to develop a relevant product which will not fail due to unforeseen complications. Affordability has to be balanced against functionality and independence from central charging systems. The discussions are tough. Luckily, that shows that the ambition is still as high as in the beginning.

Talking about unforeseen complications:
Electricity and internet failures that make parts of the research more difficult (looking for suppliers, specifications, prices etc.) and the freetime less fun are not the only troubles any more. The first monsoon rains (too early!), attacks of ants and interesting flying bugs and short-running water kept us busy last week.

On the other hand we got a new translator for a next round of interviews, mainly with market people and battery chargers to be able to judge scenarios in which the batteries of our product are charged by third parties. Finally someone WE can keep busy...

Phnom Penh impressions

2008-04-06T22:28:00.002+07:00

The "bus" to the capital

Phnom Penh was a nice change after ten days of complete isolation in Srê Ampil.
It's a city of contrasts. Poor and vivid, chaotic and beautiful. Some visual impressions:

The Mekong

Typical markets

Black humor on the cocktail menu...

Checking out the best places to get electronic components... but the coming prototypes will still have to be made with cardboard.

View on the poorest areas next to the Mekong out of the tuc-tuc

JC, Kirsten's and our project supervisor from Delft, is enjoying Cambodia for one day before traveling further to Vietnam.

Monsieur chat...

2008-04-04T07:35:00.008+07:00

...likes to have a front-row seat

haha...

This is Cambodia...

2008-04-02T21:35:00.008+07:00

Yesterday arrived our luggage, with all our prototyping staff , from Delft. It weighs around 10Kg and it's full with casting material, Printed Circuit Boards, laminated plastic etc. It worths around €150 (+ another €50-100 shipping costs). Unfortunately, we are not going to have it! The customs expenses to import it will probably exceed the double price of its worth (around €300)!So, we are going to leave the luggage resting at the Cambodian airport...

This is a way for the Cambodian government to earn some money...but how much does it really earn, when it discourages imports and encumbers any international entrepreneurship?

This is Cambodia...

p.s The courier company DHL seems to have found a way to bypass all this bureaucracy...I wonder how... ;)

p.s 2 Team Lumen does not get discouraged by any bureaucratic nonsence, and developed the same day its first prototype!!!

The Children of the eternal smile

2008-04-02T13:29:00.007+07:00

Since we started walking around the streets of the towns near by, we realized how friendly and warm the people are here.

Specially the children, every time they see us they scream: HELLOOOO, and they won't stop until you answer back.

Even though they live in very questionable conditions, they still keep that BIG smile on their faces.
They make you feel welcome!!

If you take a picture of them, show it after to them, they love to see themselves on the camera screen.

We have dinner every night at the orphanage of the Khmer Foundation, they take care of more or less 50 kids, most of them boys. Every night, when they come to eat, they sing a song to give thanks for their food. The song is beautiful.

It makes you think, how a country with so many problems and difficulties, still has the kids with the biggest smiles we have seen.

How poor Cambodians really are?

2008-04-01T07:35:00.006+07:00

According to the GDP records, Cambodia ranks in the lowest positions of annual income per capita (133rd) . At the first sight, that seems to be the case. Very poor houses, barefoot children running on the streets, no infrastructures etc...

But how much does this affect the life of the people and how difficult is it to live with $1-$2 per day?

It seems that the GDP is not analogical to the quality of life of the people. Living in the rural Cambodia, you realize that people look happy and enjoy their lives peacefully despite their poorness.

But how poor Cambodians really are? The GDP takes into consideration only the official income of the people and not all the informal activities of the people. Rural Cambodians, aside to their jobs grow multiple, small crops of mangos, bananas and other fruits, of which the overplus is for sale out of the door of their houses. Furthermore, most of the houses feed some chickens. If you consider that the price of the chicken in Phnom Pehn is 20.000Riehls per kilo ($5 dollars/Kg), then this means that the people have some dollars running and clucking on the street. Moreover, the strong bonds between the members of a Cambodian family, play also a significant role. More affluent family members take care of the less affluent, and provide them systematically with food and all the necessities. The same seems to happen, to some extent, also in the society. Neighbors and friends exchange or gift food to the poor ones.

Concluding, in a few words we could say that although GDP can be an indication of the wealth of a country, it is not that accurate and should not somebody heavily rely on it...In the end quality of life can not be quantified into some indexes...

Getting started

2008-04-01T07:06:00.012+07:00

We had our first regular working day and... it works! Although it's hot and the facilities are not optimal, the work days seem to be much more efficient here. As we are dependent on translators for the interviews, for instance, we have to be flexible and are forced to do the boring paperwork in between. Not too bad, actually.

Doortje and Loucas had a first round of house calls in the poorer areas and got more output than expected.

Luckily, people like to tell a lot as they are not fed up with phone calls of insurance companies yet.

Ana and I had the first interviews this morning, which also went quite well despite the language barrier. Später mehr.

At the same time we started testing different lamps and LEDs we bought in the complete darkness of the Cambodian nights. Yeah. We are planning to get Cambodians involved into that part as well...

Dating and surviving

2008-03-30T22:40:00.009+07:00

A young Cambodian proposed Kirsten (another student working for Kamworks) to show her around in the village. And... She brought a bunch of people (us) to this "date".
His brother works on the rice fields and he showed us how they pump water onto the fields.

Life on the campus is sometimes tough, but a good experience.

Arriving with four students at the same time we apparently disturbed the developed living patterns of the other four students. The power supply by solar panels is running short from time to time, internet is slower and breaks down more often and as more students are expected to come soon, we might run out of beds as well =) We will see and share in the meantime what we have, haha, also the spiders.

Meeting the locals

2008-03-30T09:30:00.017+07:00

Yesterday, we basically walked, walked, walked around. First impression: Very intense colours, sometimes the grass is so saturated that it looks unreal.

We came along a Pagoda complex (beautiful!) where we had unexpectedly contact with some Cambodians which made us pray by repeating sentences and imitating gestures.

They constantly touched our arms and hands and took pictures with a mobile phone of one of the boys which both made them laugh very hard. Strange but nice experience...

Looking for a shop to buy some food, we were invited by a family to have lunch with them. Although we said that we were not hungry we at least had to drink beer with them and to try some of the dishes. Two of them spoke fluently English as they work for an international organization in Phnom Penh.

They also tought us some basic Khmer words that we could immediately try out on the rest of the family.

We spent a whole hour chatting and joking. In the beginning it made us feel quite uncomfortable to accept the invitation, but they seemed to like to have us as guests. In general, the people are very friendly and talk to us in Khmer, English or sign language. Children run towards the road when we pass by, saying "hello" and "bye-bye".

Landed

2008-03-28T20:50:00.016+07:00

Hoi allemal,

We managed to land safely in Phnom Penh yesterday night after a long, long and exciting trip.

The airport of Bangkok, where we had to change planes, did not really feel like abroad yet, but eventually the flight with Thai Airlines (great food!) and the airport of Phnom Penh provided us with that surrealistic feeling you need to get into the right mood for such an adventure... Far less Western faces!

We were picked up with a truck that brought us including some freshly gathered mangos to the Solar Campus of Kamworks.

This Solar Campus lies in the middle of nowhere, about 30 km from the capital, between banana plants and goats and next to an orphanage where we also get dinner. April is the hottest month which means that we have temperatures between 35 and 40 degrees and still about 25 degrees at night which makes any blankets superfluous.

Mosquito carpets have to be swept from the floor regularly.

We used our first day to explore the environment of the campus and the workshop and to make plans for the deeper field research next week. A Cambodian is going to take us to the houses of the rural people, translating at the same time the conversations as we did not have the time to learn Khmer yet.

Fortsetzung folgt...

Team Lumen

2008-03-22T16:26:00.009+07:00

Hello everybody!

We would like to introduce ourselves and our project to you.

We are four Industrial Design Engineering students, from the Delft University of Technology. Currently we are working on a project for Kamworks, a young solar company located in Cambodia. We are developing an affordable, quality lighting solution for the rural Cambodian population.

In Cambodia about 85% of the 15 million citizens of the country have no access to reliable electrical supply yet. They mainly use kerosene lamps, which involves high fuel costs, poor light quality and low safety, contributing at the same time to environmental pollution. The absence of reliable electricity sources forms a real barrier for the development of the rural population.

Therefore, we are aiming to to develop a locally producible, affordable and durable lamp for the Cambodian market. To make this happen, we are going to stay in Cambodia for 2,5 months. During this period we want to understand the Cambodian context and design a lighting solution tailored to the needs and wants of the user.

In this challenge we would like to invite you to join in; with your comments, ideas and creativity from this blog...With your support we are sure that the outcome of our project will be more than positive.

Regards,

Lumen