Simanjiro update Archives | Page 2 of 2

A Wood-Mounted solar array for the Tanzania’s Maasai Radio Station

Simanjiro update / 30th September 2020

The community radio station: Orkonerei Radio Service (ORS FM), is the first Maasai pastoralists’ radio and was established to better communicate with the Maasai in Terrat, Simanjiro district. For many Maasai who don’t understand Kiswahili or Maasai, it’s their only source of information and important for education on health and agriculture. At their peak, ORS …

A Wood-Mounted solar array for the Tanzania’s Maasai Radio Station Read More »

Animals in the Electronics!

Simanjiro update / 23rd September 2020

Three days before our recent flight to Tanzania, we’d received word that the inverter installed at our 50kW solar array in Ormoti had stopped working. The local electrician was sent in to take a look, and found a lizard had somehow managed to crawl inside and fried its brains. He removed the lizard, thinking it …

Animals in the Electronics! Read More »

First impressions at Ormoti, and a Maasai welcome

Simanjiro update / 23rd September 2020

This post was written new SVRG team member Natasha, on her first day on site in the communities in Tanzania: We arrived at the Ormoti site, to scenes of Maasai men sat around, wrapped in their traditional cloth. The solar array installed by Bernie, Anna and Arran previously was way bigger than I’d imagined, with …

First impressions at Ormoti, and a Maasai welcome Read More »

Innovation Africa-style

Simanjiro update / 2nd March 2020

One thing that the Smart Villages model is based on is the notion of “appropriate technology” – that is the use of technologies that are specified and optimised based on their context and utility, rather than their absolute efficiency or performance. The classic example is the use of, say, an off-the-shelf lead acid battery instead …

Innovation Africa-style Read More »

Unbalanced 3-phase power nearly killed the radio

Simanjiro update / 7th January 2020

So let’s start by stepping back a little. Our innovative partners, OMASI, have set up a number of different productive, social and community projects on their main site in the village of Terat in the Simanjiro District of Tanzania. There’s a shop, a community meeting hall, and a hostel (originally set up as somewhere for …

Unbalanced 3-phase power nearly killed the radio Read More »

Meetings with Remarkable Trees…

Simanjiro update / 13th December 2019

We were delighted to find that one of the many amazing things about working in the Maasai Plains of Simanjiro District, south of Arusha, is the indigenous baobab trees. The baobab, Adansonia digitata, is native to Africa, and classes as one of the biggest trees in the world. Whilst they “only” reach 25-30m in height, …

Meetings with Remarkable Trees… Read More »

Solar Boma Systems should be a thing

Simanjiro update / 20th November 2019

For the Maasai, the traditional living unit is the boma. This is an extended, or multi-family compound surrounded by a thorn hedge (usually), which will contain between 3 and 10 houses. There is an inner circular compound, also surrounded by a thorn hedge, to keep the livestock safe during the night. Satellite photos of the …

Solar Boma Systems should be a thing Read More »