Dear all!
Fun things are now happening to the project as they were produced on an assemlby line.
First, one of Sweden's most famous football player Henrik Rydström is promoting the Seaweed Center on his very well visited blog.
Second, the SMF Forum, which is a one day fair created by the students of CSE/ICM now has a newly launched website. Go and visit it people!
At last, we have also been contacted by an American author, filmmaker and photographer now working at Harvard who are really interested in the Seaweed Center. But more information regarding this will follow in the future....
Have a really nice weekend!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tradera Sponsors the Seaweed Center!
Dear all!
I just got off the phone with Hampus Ektröm at the PR & Marketing Department of the auction site Tradera. After hearing about the Seaweed Center they decided sponsor the Seaweed Center by not charging any fees from the auctions that the Seaweed Center uses to sell soccer jerseys!
"At the moment, we are also running a number of charity projects and feel that the money from the fees will better be used by the Seaweed Center"
The Seaweed Center is of course very grateful and we thus hope that many companies follows the Tradera example.
//Viktor
I just got off the phone with Hampus Ektröm at the PR & Marketing Department of the auction site Tradera. After hearing about the Seaweed Center they decided sponsor the Seaweed Center by not charging any fees from the auctions that the Seaweed Center uses to sell soccer jerseys!
"At the moment, we are also running a number of charity projects and feel that the money from the fees will better be used by the Seaweed Center"
The Seaweed Center is of course very grateful and we thus hope that many companies follows the Tradera example.
//Viktor
Sunday, March 21, 2010
More media attention and a new shirt on Tradera!
Two fun happened the past week;
1. The very funny and talented blogger Martin Nilsson mentioned the Seaweed Center in his blog post www.mycketgutt.se
2. A new shirt, namely a signed shirt from Kalmar FF is up for sale at Tradera. Visit the auction here and take a look at the picture below.
//Viktor
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Media attention and auction of soccer jerseys
Hey all!
Both the CSE class, and Tomas and Annika that also was part of the trip to Zanzibar from the ICM class have now arrived back to Sweden. They have also shared information and pictures from the trip to the rest of the project team and it is easy to say that some fantastic progress has been made in the village of Paje. This can also, of course, be seen in the blog posts from the trip.
Furthermore, it is very fun to tell you that some of the signed soccer jerseys from the teams in the Swedish Allsvenskan are now up on the auction site Tradera. The t-shirts that now are up for sale are IF Elfsborg, GAIS, IF Brommapojkarna, Trelleborgs FF and Halmstads BK.
When promoting the auctions, the project team was in contact with the famous swedish sports journalist and blogger Robert Laul that works on the well known newspaper Aftonbladet. Very fun was that Robert Laul first mentioned the Seaweed Center project in his blog posts on the 7th of Mars and on the 8th of Mars (this is very fun since the blog has approximately 50 000 unique visitors every week).
Moreover, i his web-tv show Laul Calling, Robert Laul and his co-host Erik Niva also discussed the football on Zanzibar and promoted the Seaweed Center. This is very exciting since the tv-show has about 200 000 viewers. You can see the t-show here and the Seaweed Center part will come in minute 34.
That was all for now.
All the best!
Viktor
Both the CSE class, and Tomas and Annika that also was part of the trip to Zanzibar from the ICM class have now arrived back to Sweden. They have also shared information and pictures from the trip to the rest of the project team and it is easy to say that some fantastic progress has been made in the village of Paje. This can also, of course, be seen in the blog posts from the trip.
Furthermore, it is very fun to tell you that some of the signed soccer jerseys from the teams in the Swedish Allsvenskan are now up on the auction site Tradera. The t-shirts that now are up for sale are IF Elfsborg, GAIS, IF Brommapojkarna, Trelleborgs FF and Halmstads BK.
When promoting the auctions, the project team was in contact with the famous swedish sports journalist and blogger Robert Laul that works on the well known newspaper Aftonbladet. Very fun was that Robert Laul first mentioned the Seaweed Center project in his blog posts on the 7th of Mars and on the 8th of Mars (this is very fun since the blog has approximately 50 000 unique visitors every week).
Moreover, i his web-tv show Laul Calling, Robert Laul and his co-host Erik Niva also discussed the football on Zanzibar and promoted the Seaweed Center. This is very exciting since the tv-show has about 200 000 viewers. You can see the t-show here and the Seaweed Center part will come in minute 34.
That was all for now.
All the best!
Viktor
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Friday, 5th March – Last full day at Zanzibar
The morning was spent doing leisure activities again where some headed for a dive, while others headed for the Dolphin Tour. While the dive was good, the marine life was nothing exceptional. As for the dolphin tour, we were lucky to have been able to spot and ‘swim’ with the dolphins. It wasn’t so much swimming with them, but more of jumping into the water where they were passing by and having the dolphins swim under or around us. They did come quite close and many of the dolphins swam only an arm’s length away. However, at the same time, there was a fleeting feeling that we were trespassing on their privacy.
In the afternoon, we held another workshop for the women where we shared with them our ideas on how to package the soap and also shown them one of the machines (the mixer) which has been hooked up to the generator.
After the workshop, we continued to work by candle light to get the extruder and grinder working. At last, although some adjustments were still necessary, some soap was made. Unfortunately the outcome was not the same as expected. The soap did not look good and the worst was "diarrhea soap".
In the evening, we had a barbecue to celebrate our 12 days on Zanzibar. It was a sumptuous meal with barbecued octopus, squid, 2 of the fish which were caught during the deep sea fishing the day before, beef and spice-flavored rice. Jan Iversen and Masai joined us and we were able to express our appreciation and gratitude for the hospitality they had shown us during our entire stay.
After dinner it was off to ‘Paje by Night’ for one last party before heading home!
/Jan and Kati
In the afternoon, we held another workshop for the women where we shared with them our ideas on how to package the soap and also shown them one of the machines (the mixer) which has been hooked up to the generator.
After the workshop, we continued to work by candle light to get the extruder and grinder working. At last, although some adjustments were still necessary, some soap was made. Unfortunately the outcome was not the same as expected. The soap did not look good and the worst was "diarrhea soap".
In the evening, we had a barbecue to celebrate our 12 days on Zanzibar. It was a sumptuous meal with barbecued octopus, squid, 2 of the fish which were caught during the deep sea fishing the day before, beef and spice-flavored rice. Jan Iversen and Masai joined us and we were able to express our appreciation and gratitude for the hospitality they had shown us during our entire stay.
After dinner it was off to ‘Paje by Night’ for one last party before heading home!
/Jan and Kati
Friday, March 5, 2010
Thursday 4th of March - Leisure day
Today was dedicated for leisure activities again! In the morning, some members of the class took basic dive lessons, while most of the class headed to the Makanduchi village tour to get acquainted with the local culture. Our guide explained how local houses were built out of branches and mud, and we visited a family where we were introduced to their daily activities. We even had the opportunity to make rope, cook and do the laundry in the traditional way. We also met a local healer who explained about ghosts and sniffed some oils, made veeeery strange noises, threw something at Jonas and almost barfed on Erik (crazy guy). The last part tour was perhaps the most interesting. We were shown the different ways and meanings behind the way women used scarfs, known as ‘kanga’, for example as a head-dress for formal occasions, at home, and even to carry a baby.
In the afternoon, the class was split into two again. Some of the class went deep sea fishing on a speedboat, riding the ways at 62knots! In total, 5 kingfish and 1 travelly were caught. 2 of the kingfish were 2m long and about 30kg, it was a tough fight given that the fish were surprisingly smart, but it was a lot of fun at the same time and everyone came back tired but happy.
Part of the class headed for the Spice Tour, where we were introduced to local fruits and spices. It was an interesting trip as our guide took us around the plantation and we were picking and eating fruits and spices straight from the trees! We also had a three course traditional Swahili meal which was delicious, and a chance to buy lots of spices to bring back to Sweden.
Wednesday 3rd of March - Workshop on making soap
There is still no electricity on the whole island and difficulties in connecting to the Internet. Nevertheless, here are the updates from our activities.
The day started with cleaning the soap machines and preparing them for start-up. Unfortunately there were some drawbacks, because we got wrong plugs for the machines and thus could not start. It was really nice to finally meet dr. Flower from eye to eye. The management team had a discussion with her of how Seaweed Center should work.
In the afternoon we had a workshop with the women about making soap. As the machines were not ready for usage, we had to conduct the workshop manually. Annelie and Jonas showed the soap making process step by step and dr. Flower translated it to the women.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Update from ICMers on Zanzibar
Hi!
We finally have both power and internet access, which is a scarce resource on Zanzibar!
During this week we have seen the wonderful results of the Seaweed Center Project. We are very excited about continuing to work with this. We have met the seaweed farmers a couple of times and it is obvious that our work is highly appreciated.
This far, we have met with many of the key persons involved in the center like Dr. Flower, Jan and Rasmus. We have also produced some marketing material for selling the soaps. Yesterday we got in contact with a couple of hotel managers and we are hopefully going to meet them to present our product before we have to fly back to a frosty Gothenburg.
We have been to Stonetown twice(!) to acquire the application form for the NGO for the seaweed farmers. We are currently filling this application out and we are later going to try to find a printer (with electricity) to print the constitution written by our great law students.
Now we have to send this in before the generators are turned off!
We are really looking forward to show what we have learned and experienced when we get back. We have a lot of pictures to show everybody!
Tuesday 2nd March – distributing toys and women visiting Seaweed Center
The day started with going to the local kindergarten and school to distribute toys we had brought from Sweden. When we arrived to the kindergarten with our big box of toys, the kids just went crazy. They were running around us and gathered around the box to see what is in. Then the teacher came and started to hit all the kids with a big broomstick to calm them down. After we had given them the toys, some of us started to play with the kids. It was a lot of fun :)
Thereafter, we headed to the school where we saw how lectures are given and distributed pens to all of the students.
Jackie’s mission was to design a CSE sign for the Seaweed Center. Mikael, a carpenter from Denmark will help to carve the sign in couple of days.
The construction of drying racks continued throughout the whole day.
In the afternoon we finally had a chance to show the women how to use the racks at the Seaweed Center.
We also gave a general overview of the concept of the Seaweed Center and showed them around the facility. Everybody in our class was so overwhelmed to see the women for the first time in the Seaweed Center. The first impression from women was that they enjoyed being there and are very grateful for the effort we had made.
/Kati
Thereafter, we headed to the school where we saw how lectures are given and distributed pens to all of the students.
Jackie’s mission was to design a CSE sign for the Seaweed Center. Mikael, a carpenter from Denmark will help to carve the sign in couple of days.
The construction of drying racks continued throughout the whole day.
In the afternoon we finally had a chance to show the women how to use the racks at the Seaweed Center.
We also gave a general overview of the concept of the Seaweed Center and showed them around the facility. Everybody in our class was so overwhelmed to see the women for the first time in the Seaweed Center. The first impression from women was that they enjoyed being there and are very grateful for the effort we had made.
/Kati
Monday, March 1, 2010
Monday 1st March – Visiting the women in their homes
Arta went to Dar Es Salaam to pick up the soap machine today. Unfortunately it was not ready and he is spending a night alone in Dar. We hope he is doing ok on his own!
The highlight of the day was definitely visiting the women in their homes. We were very fortunate to have the opportunity to be involved in such a unique experience. We talked to the women about their daily activities and followed them to see how they sell dried seaweed with ridiculously low prices. Positive feedback was that some of the women have already made soap themselves manually, but they would use the machines gladly if they would have the chance.
Thereafter, the women showed around in their houses and we helped to prepare a meal together. Some of us had an opportunity to grate coconut in the traditional way!
In the evening, we met a local football team for youths to distribute jerseys and footballs which we had brought with us from Sweden. Seeing the smiles on their faces was an unforgettable and heart warming experience!
/Kati and Jan
The highlight of the day was definitely visiting the women in their homes. We were very fortunate to have the opportunity to be involved in such a unique experience. We talked to the women about their daily activities and followed them to see how they sell dried seaweed with ridiculously low prices. Positive feedback was that some of the women have already made soap themselves manually, but they would use the machines gladly if they would have the chance.
Thereafter, the women showed around in their houses and we helped to prepare a meal together. Some of us had an opportunity to grate coconut in the traditional way!
In the evening, we met a local football team for youths to distribute jerseys and footballs which we had brought with us from Sweden. Seeing the smiles on their faces was an unforgettable and heart warming experience!
/Kati and Jan
Sunday 28th – Various activities
Today we got back to business again. We had divided ourselves into different groups to take care of different activities. Mikael, Gustav and Rizwan were in-charge of building a prototype to dry seaweed.
Annelie and Jonas looked into obtaining the ingredients for making soap. Arta, Erik G, Daniel and Annika looked into the organizational structure of the Seaweed Center.
Bethan, Lai Kim and Andreas had an inspiring meeting with local women to discuss a visit to their homes the following day. As none of them spoke English, we had local friend Abel to translate. The women really liked the idea of having Seaweed Center in the village and they felt that it would change their lives for the better.
In the evening, Markus and Jan gave a pitch to the students at the Zanzibar Adventure School about our project to see if they could help us out with e.g. painting the Seaweed Center or planting trees and plants around the facility. Initial feedback is promising and seemed that the students were fired up.
Also, a piece of good news and a reason to celebrate – soap machines are soon ready and will be transported to Paje any day now!
Annelie and Jonas looked into obtaining the ingredients for making soap. Arta, Erik G, Daniel and Annika looked into the organizational structure of the Seaweed Center.
Bethan, Lai Kim and Andreas had an inspiring meeting with local women to discuss a visit to their homes the following day. As none of them spoke English, we had local friend Abel to translate. The women really liked the idea of having Seaweed Center in the village and they felt that it would change their lives for the better.
In the evening, Markus and Jan gave a pitch to the students at the Zanzibar Adventure School about our project to see if they could help us out with e.g. painting the Seaweed Center or planting trees and plants around the facility. Initial feedback is promising and seemed that the students were fired up.
Also, a piece of good news and a reason to celebrate – soap machines are soon ready and will be transported to Paje any day now!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)