Monday, June 29, 2009

Return and a question

I am back from Baja and I have a question. While we were visiting the orphanage in Vicente Guerrero ( http://www.ffhm.org/landing_pages/16,3.html ) we learned that their fire department had been dispatched to a house that burned very near the house we had built last year, and that two of the five children had died in the fire and two more were in intensive care. The fire started because of a candle burning in a window and catching the curtains on fire, something that hapopens all too often. As it happens, one of our team members had spent a great deal of time and effort working on solar energy collection and utilization for our house this year and for the one we built last year, but the systems are fairly extensive and expensive. We did have some small units that collected energy during the day and could then be use inside at night for awhile, and one of our team administrators asked about them for use by a family he wanted to help. It occurred to me that a great deal of good could be done by finding or designing a unit that would use a solar collector to run a smoke detector that distinguished between cooking smoke and woodsmoke and at least one light. Even just a light would help a lot by reducing the risks of candle or lantern use. I asked Roger about this and he is going to be looking into it, but I am soliciting any knowledge or advice from anyone else who may have knowledge. Expect updates on what we find out and maybe hints about how we can all put such information and resources to work.
In His Love,
Nate

No comments:

Post a Comment