Last Trip to Babati

Hi everybody!

Yesterday was my last visit to Babati for a while. We picked up the third maize sheller prototype. Gaspar, the farmer who was using it, shelled 1000kg of maize over a period of two days. According to his estimates, the machine was about twice as fast as manual shelling—and much less work.

It turns out that Gaspar is also a welder, and he’s interested in producing the bicycle stand Rosy designed. The Phoenix brand bicycle, by far the most common around here, comes with its own stand, but it’s pretty flimsy. I see Phoenix bikes on the streets or in the villages every day, and I’d guess fewer than a third of them still have the original stand. Even if they do, the stand isn’t stable enough to support a person on the bicycle. That’s why each sheller comes with a Twende-designed stand made out of angle iron. We left one with Gaspar for reference, and we’re excited to see how he improves the design and how many he’s able to sell.

Since I probably won’t be back to Babati soon, here are a few more pictures…

Lake Babati

This farmer lives close enough to the lake to irrigate his fields. He runs a big hose down to the lake and pumps up water. Here he’s moving some soil to direct the water to different rows in his field.