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Making a Difference in Darfur
UCLA Engineering Alumnus Manages International
Cook Stove Project
 Women
living in refugee camps in Darfur are shown how to use
the new metal cookstoves. |
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Brian Y. Tachibana (BS '03, mechanical engineering)
has spent nearly three months in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, helping
to develop fuel-efficient cooking stoves for the internally displaced
people living in the refugee camps. As project engineer for an international
volunteer collaborative effort, Tachibana is responsible for on-site
production of the cook stoves.
"I feel very fortunate that I have the freedom, both financially and personally, to participate in a project like this, an extremely worthwhile cause," he said. "My first responsibility was to oversee the manufacturing and distribution of 50 metal cook stoves, which are currently being used and evaluated by some of the displaced people."
The Darfur conflict, an ongoing armed conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan, has led to the deaths of more than 400,000 people, and more than 2.2 million people have been forced from their homes and now live in refugee camps.
These camps, scattered across Darfur, are in areas that have limited wood available for fuel. This shortage requires women and children in the camps to go farther and farther from camp to find wood for cooking, putting them at increased danger of attack.
Nearly all of the Darfur refugees cook on three-stone fires, which require twice as much firewood as the new metal stoves, according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab researchers. The more efficient metal stoves, which use the same fuel, pots, and cooking methods used by those in the camps, would reduce the amount of fuel needed, and also help ensure that refugee families would have less need to trade or sell limited food rations to purchase wood for fuel.
 Metal
cook stove developed and produced by CHF International. |
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Feedback from those using the stoves in the camps will allow the team to address any technical or usability issues before moving forward with production of 5,000 stoves early next year.
"I live and work in CHF International's compound, so my work day tends to run from when I wake up to when I go to sleep," explained Tachibana. "When I first arrived, my days were almost completely filled with hunting down materials and information, identifying appropriate workshops, coordinating manufacturing activities, etc. Evenings were spent processing the information, exchanging details with the team, and planning for the next day."
Following distribution of the first 50 stoves in the camps, Tachibana's focus has shifted to working on program details and managing the team's activities in Darfur.
"In the U.S. you can usually answer a question by hopping on Google, shooting off an e-mail, or placing a phone call," Tachibana said. "Khartoum is still a place where good, old-fashioned legwork reins supreme. Persistency is also important. On more than one occasion I've been told that certain things can't be done or certain things aren't available just to realize I was asking the wrong person or the wrong question."
Ken P Chow, engineering project manager for Engineers Without Borders - San Francisco Professionals, noted, "Brian's been doing a super job for the project. Everyone from our project leader - Ashok Gadgil - to the CHF-Sudan country director has been very impressed with him. The progress of the project has been exceptional once he arrived in Sudan."
 Women
living in refugee camps in Darfur are shown how to use
the new metal cookstoves. |
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Although the project takes most of Tachibana's time, he has found time for fun, as well. "NGO employees seem to be a pretty hard working bunch, but I have found myself involved in some unexpected leisure activities, including Salsa lessons from a Sudanese instructor who lived in Cuba, happy hours at the U.S. Embassy's Recreational Facility, and 'lawn' tennis on dirt courts."
UC Berkeley Professor Ashok Gadgil and Christina Galitsky, a principal research associate at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, were the driving forces behind the project. The cook stove's design was further improved in a class taught by Gadgil, one similar to UCLA's mechanical project design course (162B). Engineers Without Borders - San Francisco later reworked the design for manufacturability in Sudan.
"This project fits into my vision for my engineering career," reflected Tachibana. "As much as I can control it, I'd like to continue working on projects that I have a personal connection to or that I feel are helping the world. I've noticed that I tend to draw the deepest satisfaction from situations like that."
The Darfur cook stoves project is sponsored by CHF International
(http://www.chfhq.org/). Lawrence
Berkeley National Lab and Engineers Without Borders-San Francisco
Professionals are providing engineering and fundraising support
in the States.
For more about the stoves and the project, please visit http://darfurstoves.lbl.gov/.
Marlys Amundson
12.11.06
Photos courtesy of CHF International.
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