The Evolution of VertiGrow

...a video montage to catch you up on our work this week!

~enjoy~

When to drop the H-Bomb:

when trying to get through a box full of pvc pipes through Kenyan customs. VertiGrow was held up all this time because Kenya thinks I am sketchy, and that I should be taxed for it.

I argued with three or four different customs officials until they led me to the boss man. Sat down at his desk. He asked for my passport. It was conveniently with the security guard downstairs. I slid him the Harvard ID. Magic.

VertiGrow is sitting safely in my room. I had an amazing day in Kibera with a few community partners, who started conversations with residents, shared the idea, and opened the opportunity for people to ask questions and give feedback. It's nice to finally start laying the groundwork for the project! The video is so that you can see what we're up to, instead of reading what I write about it!

Community Input

VertiGrow still hasn't arrived in Nairobi, but that didn't stop us from starting our research! I spent a few hours at the clinic with Faith, asking people a range questions including what they eat on a daily basis, what they wish they could eat, how much money they spend on food, how much money they make selling food they grow (with the sack garden project), and then asking some more open ended questions based on our VertiGrow model (what do they think of it, what materials do they have access to that could be used to build it, what could make it better, what makes it good?)

Our research is by no means complete, but definitely a good jumping off point! We had a variety of responses which will lead VertiGrow in new and exciting directions, and many which confirmed what our impressions were going in, namely that people do not eat much, or have much money to spend on food. It's pretty cool that almost all people reported eating vegetables on a daily basis, which means we can focus more on access to growing, rather than trying to raise awareness on nutritional needs. We also followed the pediatric patients into the weighing station to link household data on nutrition, farming, and VertiGrow to the height/age data of a child in the house.

~Ellie

2009 Summer Prototyping Update

The VertiGrow team has been working hard on completing the first prototypes that we will test in partnership with Carolina for Kibera in August, as well as on developing a comprehensive health, nutrition and user survey to gather as much information as possible from the community we hope to serve.

Our team member, Ellie, will be traveling to the Kibera slum of Kenya this Saturday to launch our very first in-field pilot study. She will be bringing the first prototype to gather feedback and to introduce the VertiGrow project to the Kibera communities. Carolina for Kibera has graciously welcomed our project into their health clinic, which serves thousands of patients everyday. We will be working with the health clinic staff to implement the surveys as well as to promote the idea and use of VertiGrow to the Kibera families.

Please check back for more pictures and updates as we begin our exciting summer pilot!

Furthermore, the VertiGrow team will be attending the week long prototyping workshop at Le Laboratoire in Paris, France at the end of August, hosted by Professor David Edwards at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, where we will finalize our business models, improve our prototype designs and integrate all the community feedback we will have gathered from Kibera.

~Tina