My visit to the Chinguetti Library

In 2006 I went with my mom and aunt to Mauritania. While we were there we toured Chinguetti, the 7th holiest city in Islam. Chinguetty is a really nice little town. Mr Saif the Chinguetti librarian (or one of them) told us that there have actually been three Chinguettys. The first city of Chinguetty was built around 777 the second around 1267 the last was built around 1963.

Each city progressively gets covered with sand and the people move all their stuff out, knock out the windows and ceilings and write their family name on the inside walls so if the sands recede, then future generations can move back in. We learned this and more at Mr. Saif’s library in old Chinguetty. (as opposed to new Chinguetty which is being built because of encroaching dunes)

The town is falling apart but people still live there and there are 15-20 collections of ancient books and manuscripts stored there by several families. Mr. Saif started the tour with the traditional Mauritanian greeting. I screwed up the greeting but Aunti said it correctly. Then Mr Saif went over the architecture, the history of the architecture and the history of the town.

He displayed some ancient relics. Bone jacks (a game and not human bones –sheep knuckles I believe) bowls, stone cylinders, ancient stone axes etc Then he showed us an ancient key and showed us how it works and in order to view the library we each had to open the library door with the ancient key. The key was wood with metal spikes and looked for all the world like a giants toothbrush.

I went first and had it open in about 60 seconds then mom went, she had trouble with it so I tried to help but now neither she nor I could open it. We finally got it open and Mr. saif showed us his collection.

It was amazing to see these old books from the 17^th to 18^th century out in the middle of nowhere in a town that is a ruin but here they were and except for the few that had been eaten by termites they were magnificent. Mr. Saif showed us the old writing implements and the ingredients used to make the ink. And even the wooden board used to practice the Koran.

The tour was great and he ended it by reading from an ancient book of poetry.

I love the way he rolls the r’s, he sounds like a space kat. Then we all wrote in his tour book and scott translated for him what we wrote.

I wish there was a way to either save or record these ancient books for posterity before they are lost to the desert or to termites and time.

Helping Africa go solar

The African continent is rapidly becoming one of the poorest in the world. It's ecology has been decimated by years of colonization and now massive desertification and deforestation are turning once lush jungles into forbidding deserts.
Solar power is rapidly looking like the only solution to many of the African peoples cooking and power needs. I recently went looking for low cost alternatives to using wood for heat and cooking as well as alternatives to petrol for energy and I found two unique solutions that have been tried, tested and proven true.

The first is the solar generator designed by Matthew Orosz, an MIT graduate student. He noticed that that reflective parabolic troughs can bake bread. Now he plans to use these same contraptions to bring power to Africa . His solar generators, made from auto parts and plumbing supplies, can easily be built in a backyard.
The link to his site is
http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?ch=specialsections&sc=solar&id=17169&a=

The second solution is a unique solar cooker that is light weight, folds up and is very inexpensive. It's called the Cookit solar cooker, http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/CooKit
It weights half a kilo, folds to the size of a book and costs roughly $5.00 to make.

My idea on the subject of Africa's growing deserts, shrinking forests and dire need for clean affordable water and energy is to use the aforementioned solar generators not only as solar power but as wind blocks along the edge of the remaining forests in order to regrow them.

In many African countries their are numerous displaced or nomadic peoples who are in dire need of income, community, education and a safe place to raise their children. Who better to hire to maintain solar generators and re grow trees. They could be hired with the promise that in return for taking classes to learn how to make and maintain the generators, they would work in an apprenticeship for two years for a stipend and then take over management of the solar array.

The other perk could be allowing them to use the electricity produced and even sell excess to others by charging the portable batteries many Africans use to power their homes.
By doing so they will be able to make a home for themselves, have a career as they learn the ways of making the solar devices and with that a future for themselves and their children. Also the nomadic peoples would essentially be able to continue their nomadic lifestyle as their town will constantly be moving with the regrowing forests.

Now maybe this is a nutty idea that can't possibly work so by all means speak your mind and let me know. Also if this is being tried or has been done somewhere I would love to hear about it.

The video is of a typical drive through Mauritania...