One of such smart ideas is the Ventilated (Improved) Pit Latrine, in short: the VIP – which was developed as the “Blair Latrine” by Peter Morgan, who has been living and working in Zimbabwe for over 35 years, researching and developing water and sanitation technologies.

Diagram showing effect of vent pipe on functions of pit latrine (source)

The major advantage of the VIP over a normal pit latrine is that it comes with a ventilation pipe (covered with a durable fly screen on top) which reduces flies and odour. In the absence of other alternatives, the Ventilated Pit Latrine is considered reliable, which explains the success of this technology: over 500.000+ units of this type have been built in Zimbabwe alone and it has proven to work elsewhere around the world.

The VIP clearly isn’t the solution to sustainable sanitation as it comes with a few limitations, but it does function without water and has very low investment, operation and maintenance costs.

Next to some interesting experiments with different water pump systems such as the Blair hand pump (also known as the Zimbabwe Bush Pump) or the spiral water wheel pump, Peter is also active in the field of ecological sanitation and recently published a very interesting booklet titled “Toilets That Make Compost” where he writes about his experiences with compost toilets such as the Arborloo and the Fossa Alterna.

screenshot from Peter Morgan’s manual on how to build an Arborloo (PDF,~ 3,1MB)

While there’s no single sanitation concept that will work in all places around the world, the VIP for one is a proven technology which has been accepted by its users since 30 years.

The rest is a story for another day but the ladies we were transporting ended up in K2 courtesy of the ladies’ everpresent plan B as Henny and I awaited the cops andstatement/insurance/excessmisery!!!Nyangaus! Nyaaaaaaannnnggggggaaaaaaaauuuuuuus!!!!!

But above all, while some scam e-mail may still come from Nigeria, most are not. The new sources of those scam-emails are irrefutable substantiations that, Nigeria and the Nigerian government are fighting financial crimes and the country is definitely changed.

Nii Simmonds will be hosting the 4th Carnival of African Enterprising at his blog, the Nubian Cheetah, next week. Submit your best blog posts here.

The Financial Times claims that Angola will be the third hub for Africa, along with the Nigeria and South Africa. (Interesting that Kenya was left out)

The combination of its oil bonanza and a huge investment in infrastructure has led it to become the hot destination for businesses seeking to invest in Africa. “There’s a general feeling that if we are not a player in Angola in the next five years we will have missed the best opportunity in Africa,”

(hat tip Emeka at Africa Unchained)

Steve Mugiri does an excellent interview for AfriGadget on the Sietch:

The primary challenge is of course finding the stories while looking through the blinders of having lived these stories ourselves, For example, I suspect that I would be hard pressed to find someone from my generation, rich or poor, who did not make their own toys while young. This was simply a fact of life. Having lived this all through our childhoods, it thus becomes a little difficult to step outside our experiences and realize that just this fact is a story of itself.