International Law

Expert Bank

By Karl-Friedrich Lenz

That’s the title of a television show I watched yesterday. They had two experts, one who drills wells for a living and another 72 years old guy who has been making charcoal for the last twenty years.

These were sent to a small village in Nepal, to help out the locals. The well drill went badly, he hit a sand layer and had to abandon the project.

In contrast, the charcoal expert was a great success. He built a facility in the backyard of the school from local scrap, mostly from a drum container. And then proceeded to make charcoal from some brushwood and bamboo, since there is a law in Nepal against cutting live trees.

The charcoal worked fine. People who had cooked before by burning twigs in their house without a chimney now have better firepower and much less smoke.

I like the approach of doing much better with what you have already.

Full post as published by Lenz Blog on March 27, 2011 (boomark / email).