Making a Difference (Investigation)

Investigation
Sources
Discuss the relevance
Bayanzurkh Ger District, Mongolia
The whole is project is about making a difference. The word difference is for us, and for the people who are being helped by us. And the project that we are doing may affect the community, the people who are surrounding us, by teaching something really small, but helpful for the others. Something small, can make a big difference. And this is what we are aiming for. And we have to make a technology or make and old technology better, improve it to make life easier.
Word Bayanzurkh itself means Rich Heart, which is a really pretty name, but the place itself, is not that pretty like its name. Ger District, one of the most hardest places to live, although some might think its a really ugly place, but the vibe inside is really colorful. The people who live there aren’t really poor, and there are people who think that living there another adventerous way to live their lives. Most of them don’t have phones, running water, and electricity,but there are few, only few. To get water they have to go to the water station, only the lucky ones live near the water station, but others have to get their water byt carrying them, and it affects their health, when they carry heavy things it may affect their spines, bones, etc. And especially carrying water in winter when its -30 outside.
My feild trip was fine, but worse than before, i was surprised by how the GD got bigger. Plus, the people who live there surprised me by their attitudes, some of them were realy nice, and some of them were really greedy. I remember when we were in our bus heading for the other community center, and i saw a teenager pointing his finger at us.i didnt expect something like this. But i noticed that they have a bad picture of us, “the lazy people” who does everything ith their money and dont work at all, because money can do anything. Well, this is what they think. And some of us, have a bad picture of them too, still, “the lazy people” who doesnt do anything but drinking alcohol. And for me, i think that it’s going to take time to clear these thoughts out of everybodies mind. What i learned it how it feels to live there, but i can’t say i know how it feels to live there, i just tasted a bit of it, by building a fence and even visually, by wactching how they are living there. When i went there. I found some ideas, to make their lives just a little bit better. And i hope this idea is a good one.
The technologies which people who live in the ger district people uses are not eco friendly, but it is cheap to make it, and very logical to design it, which means just easy for a 5 year old to design it. The fences, toilets, they are all made of wood, and mongolia is not really that rich in wood, so everytime they keep getting wood from the forest, the cost is going to get up, because wood in mongolia is getting less and less. To make technologies like toilet better is really hard, and expensive too, but i think that the expensive one is much better than paying 5000 tugriks for a sack of wood in the future. I would recommend using metal for wood, and it wont break, and the posibility to get stolen is way much lower than wood, and it isnt really that eco friendly, but it saves woods.
Whenever there is a way to prevent ger dictrict from ruining health or nature, it becomes expensive, so it is hard for them to afford it, and hard for us to stay “alive”, since things like pollution is expensive. The things that keeps them warm is metall, and you can use them for a long time. But the thing it burns is trash, and garbage, so to avoid pollution some people are buying a coal which doesn’t create smoke. It is just a little bit expensive, but not that expensive to afford. So some people use it...
Life in ger district is harsh and full of pain and suffering, but not all of them. Some people who live their are happy with what they have. In UB, some people spend 10$ for a peice of ham. And this 10$ can do magic in GD. You can buy food, water, wood, coal. Which are the main things they need. I saw fences all around the gers. And the fences play a big role in their life. It secures, it keeps things private, and it keeps things from getting stolen. And if you dont have a fence, things like your toilet can be stolen. Stealing a toilet sounds weird, but they do, by breaking their wood, and burning them for warmth. The fences were ok, but some of them were too short, or they had holes in it, which is really bad. The fences could be better designed, even though its really expensive, but its worth making them better.
What i found out is that some people think that no matter how hard you try it wont make any difference, they got used to their lives and they just cant imagine living in the city with running water and electricity. And there are some people, trying to show them that they can make a difference but trying their best and by being patient.
The person who gave us these informations are mrs.wilson, mr.tvrdik, mr.chilton, sukhee. Mrs.wilson showed us a powerpoing presentation about the ger district, mr.tvrdik helped us by building a fence and organaziing the feild trip, mr.ch
ilton took us on a field trip.
For this project, I’m going to design a something against floods. It and it is going to be very easy one, which won’t need that much money, and it will take time to actually make it, but you’ll need olnly few tools. The reason why i chose this product is because last summer, lots of people suffered from floods, and because of it, the diseases increased and lots of people are homeless and starving now. So, i decided, this is perfect for my product. One of the simplest designs of my product is just to dig a big and kind of deep hole around the ger, and it whenever the water comes closer to the ger, the hole get fill, and there is going to be a small slope so that the water could go into another direction, wherever the slope is looking. In my mind, i made so many designs, and im still planing how to make a perfect one. My design is something cheap, just like the toilet, it may take time. And when i finish it, to make sure it is good, i’m going to take a survey from my classmates. The survey has only few, plus, important questions. And they survey is going to look like this:
· Does this look useful to you, and why?
· Would you make it yourself if it was one of your chances to escape the flood? And why?
· What would you add if you had to? And why?
· What do you like about it and what don’t like about it? And why?
I hope that this small survey will actally tell me if i did a good job or not. And im sure that this will help me a lot.
For this product, you will only need shovel, and a really flat hard wood, and cement (Optional). If the user decides to use cement, then the profuct will be very good, and it is going to be there almost forver, if you use cement.
Design specification:
· It will be easy to do
· It must be cheap, affordable for everyone
· It has to be useful for the user
· Good looking
· It has to be safe for everyone, especially for children, animals
· Eco friendly
· Must be useful, plus, everyone must want it
· So perfect that not everyone can imrpove it
· Everyone must like it
Plus, im going to make sure everything i need to use for this product is cheap, by checking their price. The reason why i wrote good looking is because for people who visit the place it has to be attractive, and they might think like “i want the same thing, it’s a good idea...”
So, i think that my product is very useful and cheap, plus, safe, which are the main things in my product.
Chilton, David. Ger District Field Trip. Technology Class, Humanities Class. Bayanzurkh Ger District, UB. 30 09 2009. Speech.
Wilson, Melanie. Ger District Field Trip. Technology Class, Humanities Class. Bayanzurkh Ger District, UB. 30 09 2009. Speech.