Yes, we love our environmental systems. What are they? Well, they're the elements of our villages that work to make us eco-friendly and sustainable. We've nabbed enviro ideas from all over the world by googling, ringing, skyping, emailing and generally annoying any expert we can find. That said, our members and some fellow Aussies, have also lead us to some great discoveries by dropping us a line. So, if you feel inspired to do so, when reading all about our current enviro systems below, please do.

the "sustainable children's village" concept

Yes, of course, the site and conditions of every children's village are different, however, our designs must start somewhere. Therefore, fws uses a standard design to get the process under way. We alter each design so that it considers the orientation of the site, the local rainfall and wind stats, suitable local materials to build with, local irrigation systems and cultural practices, and other elements such as the crops and livestock grown.
In other words, these designs include considerations relating to architecture, civil engineering, environmental sustainability and agricultural production.

enviro system 1: the eco-garden of eden

Imagine a garden where every shrub, herb, fish pond and goat offered an opportunity to learn. To learn about how to raise and milk the goat, how to build and maintain a sustainable fish pond, how to grow and mill the corn that appears on your plate as ugali (polenta) at night.

The "Model Garden" concept (picture below) is being used throughout the developing world to enhance the capacity of villagers to increase their self-reliance. fws likes it - and so incorporates it into each of our children's villages.

The way we see it, the magic garden provides a real-world learning environment for the children firstly, and secondly, an opportunity for our neighbours to increase their own capacity when it comes to establishing and maintaining enviro-friendly agriculture systems.

The model changes depending on existing crops, farming techniques, climate, community needs and cultural issues, however the land is generally divided into:

• A pond for capturing and storing rainwater during the wet season. This allows irrigation in the dry season and fish raising;
• Land for growing staple foods such as rice, corn or wheat;
• Gardens for growing vegetables, fruit, herbs and spices for consumption and sale;
• An area for accommodation and recreation;
• Livestock raising such as chickens, pigs or goats.

enviro system 2: biogas for cooking

enviro system 3: artificial aquifer for rainwater

In many countries, capturing and storing fresh water is a constant battle. In most cases, storing water takes up space (valuable land area that is needed for other purposes), requires infrastructure costs and needs careful management to ensure that stored water is not contaminated.

In an attempt to meet these challenges cleverly, in our Kesho Leo children's village, fws will consult with the Australian company Ecoflex, in constructing a new water storage system (see diagram below). The system uses old car tyres (no shortage of them in Africa!) to construct an underground water tank or "aquifer". The water captured during rainfall is directed into the aquifer and stored there, until it's required in the dry season. A manual screw or rope pump will be used to lift the water out of the aquifer to irrigate gardens.

One of the advantages of the Ecoflex idea is the space it saves. When constructed, the Ecoflex aquifer can support the weight of small vehicles and pedestrians, so no space is wasted at all - think of a dam with a lid that you can walk and drive on!

The other advantage of the aquifer is that it uses old car tyres as a by-product, rather than them being disposed of as waste that doesn't biodegrade.

fws is currently monitoring trials of this system before going ahead with it.

enviro system 4: rainwater catchment system

Capturing and storing rainwater is often the only source of safe domestic drinking water, yet many developing countries don't utilise rainwater. One of the simplest ways to harvest rainwater is to collect it as it falls on a roof and store it in underground tanks. fws has designed a rainwater harvesting system for Kesho Leo children's village that has the capacity to collect a minimum of 280,000L of water in a year of just 200mm of rain (that amount of clean water goes well beyond what is needed to cover the domestic supply of Kesho Leo's 54 inhabitants).

This awesome rainwater catchment system should ensure that Kesho Leo children's village can, after meeting it's own needs, also offer clean water to the local community.

enviro system 5: grey water

Although the amount of grey water generated in developing countries is generally smaller than that generated in developed countries, grey water is still a by-product that can provide benefits (such as putting nutrients back into soil, saving water and protecting river systems). fws will use safe and hygienic methods to collect and use the water from bathing, cooking and laundering for use on our gardens, playing fields, and crops and vegetables.

enviro system 6: solar power

Electricity in developing countries? Generally a bit of a luxury and not nearly so reliable as our solar panels will be. When somebody donates them, that is! Yes, we design our children's villages around solar power and then go about having the panels donated.

What do we use the solar panels for? As well as keeping a fridge going to keep any medication cool, we'll use solar power to power lights (for homework at night), laptops (another bit we'd like to have donated - perhaps if we're lucky, we'll get a look-in from One Laptop Per Child - http://laptop.org and our alarm system.

How you can help

The best help you can provide is on the enviro front is ideas. Naturally, the fws team is constantly researching ideas to incorporate into our children's villages, yet many of the most original ideas, including water filters made from manure and merry-go-rounds for pumping groundwater, have been discovered by ‘accident’ by our members…yes, you!

If you read an article in a paper, see something on TV, or happen across a web page that might be useful to us, please pass on the information. An idea that may seem ridiculous here, can lead to a revolutionary idea in a developing country.

I'll be waiting - you can contact me via email at robert.cork@foodwatershelter.org.au