Ms. Kurk Fran, USA volunteer, has participated in the Short Term Volunteering Program (STVP) in September 2006. She has donated bio gas plant to the Nepali family and enjoyed the Nepali culture and beautiful landscapes while traveling. She has actively participated in the discussion program with the community people and she tried to understand the grass root problem of the remote people.

Family Member were so happy to have a bio gas in there home and they have thanked her for a grand support.

Mrs. Laxmi Maya Thapa (House wife): " Thank you very much to Ms. Kurk Fran, who came all the way from USA, and sponsored a bio gas. Now we do not have smoke inside the home and children do not have to go far away to collect the firewood."

Biogas Generator for a Nepali Family short story from RECED volunteer

Early each morning before the sun rises, rural Nepali women start wood fires that will be used for the day's cooking. Thick smoke fills their homes as a fire burns in a small pit in the center of
the floor. While this may seem picturesque, in addition to causing respiratory problems, gathering the wood is labor intensive and contributes to deforestation.

There is an alternative, thanks to a RECED project sponsored by an American volunteer, Fran Kurk, a family in the of Thansing village of the Nuwakot district will generate their own fuel to replace the use of wood. In September 2006, construction of a biogas generator that will produce methane from cow dung began. Each day, dung from the families two cows will be put into the ingeniously engineered generator to provide a continuos source of free, natural energy.

Construction of the biogas generator is a significant project that was readily tackled by volunteer labor from many men in the village. Hundreds of heavy rocks were gathered from a nearby river bed, then hand carried to the generator site, adjacent to their home. Cement bags were hand carried down the mountain. In the end it is all well worth it, the family will have a continues source of clean fuel from their own energy generation system.

"Working with this project was extremely fulfilling, just knowing that the family, especially the children will no longer have to breath in thick smoke and yet they have an abundant, readily available source of fuel that is essential for cooking.

All of the hard work done by the people in the village was so impressive, I was honored to have the opportunity to partner with them on this project which is really about improving quality of life." Fran Kurk, American Volunteer

This type of energy generation system is ideal for families with small farms that have cows. More homes in the village need biogas generators - contact RECED if you would like to sponsor a biogas generator project!

Kurk Fran, USA
Email Address: fran_kurk@hotmail.com