TREK - A Travel Blog by Austin Mann » Africa

The Paradigm Project – Stoveman

Austin — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 21:50:01 +0000

Have had the privilege of working with The Paradigm Project a good bit during this last year… I love what the folks are doing at this org, they have a super unique model and from what I can tell it’s making a really neat impact. We have been shooting a whole series of little motion pieces that they are using as part of marketing campaign. Many more episodes to come, but for now, here’s the trailer:

“We Have Solared The Battery!”

Austin — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 22:34:01 +0000

We ended up hiking up and around Mt Kenya pretty spontaneously earlier this week… by that I mean, we basically woke up in the morning and said… let’s go to Mt Kenya today. We drove our van an hour into the middle of nowhere to a tiny (almost completely abandoned) lodge at about 10K elevation. We left it there and hiked a few hours, ascending another 3K feet or and spent the night at the first campsite… I had brought a tiny tent (intended for me when I camp solo) but we ended fitting three of us in there, which was very tight to say the least. I’m a gear head and even tho we hadn’t ever even planned for this trek, I felt a little ill-prepared not having the right gear… thus a little bummed… but not for long:

Kenyan Kitchen

Austin — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 00:05:55 +0000

It’s getting late but wanted to post at least something… I’m working with Paradigm Project and recently spent some time living and cooking in a hut, specifically documenting the challenges presented by cooking over a three stone fire…for now, here’s an image of our Kenyan kitchen:

Isaiah 40:26 Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.

Living in a Hut

Austin — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 22:20:47 +0000

I’m currently in Kenya working with Paradigm Project. Paradigm is a group that is currently focusing on getting wood efficient stoves into the hands of the families that need them. But why stoves? Why is that so important? In a few hours, I leave Nairobi to head a bit north to Meru… there me and one of their directors, Greg Spencer, will be living in a hut for 5 days in hopes to answer that question.

Our goal is pretty simple… we plan to embed ourselves in this community to really paint a clear picture of what it’s like to live in these harsh conditions. We’ll be collecting our own firewood, fetching our water, and as the people in this area do, we’ll be living on less than $2.50 USD a day… Statistics show that living in a hut that uses a traditional open fire for cooking is equivalent to to smoking 40 cigarettes in a day… so we’ll be experiencing (and documenting) that reality, along with other challenges associated with this life.

I am super pumped about this rich and rare cultural experience we’ll have, all that we will learn, the relationships we’ll build and the powerful piece that will come out of it. Will be back with updates in 5 days.

Kenya: From Above

Austin — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 01:19:18 +0000

Photographs made in November, 2010.

December 2010 Desktop

Austin — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 05:39:50 +0000

Here’s December desktop (~~slightly~~ extremely late)

it takes me awhile to settle on an image that I think can work well as a desktop. This one comes from Ghana when I was there with Videre.

We were in Cape Coast, and this frame was shot from a castle right on the water. Enjoy!

December 2010 Desktop - Click image to preview

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Advent Conspiracy – Living Water

Austin — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 19:08:55 +0000

Check out this clip that I shot in southern Uganda with GoPro Camera… Ryan Booth used it in a quick piece he put together for Advent Conspiracy…

November 2010 Desktop

Austin — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 20:43:02 +0000

Sorry to all for getting this out so late… I’ve been in Africa and really on the run for over a month… mostly with very limited internet connectivity. This month’s desktop comes from Marsabit, Kenya. A couple days ago we were sitting on the back patio of the lodge, watching the elephants below this tree…While we were relaxing after our day of woodwalking, I exposed this frame over a period of about half an hour (these are the trails left in the sky by the stars, as the earth rotates.) Enjoy!

November 2010 Desktop - Click image to preview

After clicking the link below, right-click the image and choose “Save Image As”

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Woodwalk In N. Kenya

Austin — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 17:04:49 +0000

I’ve spent the last few days working with an amazing organization called The Paradigm Project. Paradigm has a unique low-profit model in which they subsidize costs of efficient wood burning stoves to get them into the hands of women all over Kenya at significantly reduced costs.

In the deserts of northern Kenya, women are often forced to walk 40 miles or more in a day to retrieve firewood for cooking… and sometimes do this two or three times a week. They begin their journey at the crack of dawn and are back just as the sun is setting… and they all this just to fuel their stoves so they can feed their families.

The climate is incredibly dry, the landscape arid as can be, and walking in the 110°F temperatures with 80-100 pounds of wood on your back is near impossible. I got to experience (and shoot) this experience for an entire day yesterday… Today, I am incredibly sore all over… I have bruises on my collar bone from the ropes, my hips are locked up and my calves feel like rubber. Though it was difficult, I was deeply honored to get to experience this and share this time with the women…

Paradigm Project builds and distributes super wood-efficient stoves that reduce smoke levels inside the hut significantly and burn wood much, much slower… They work with organizations like Food for the Hungry and World Vision and they are really doing amazing stuff.

I definitely have a whole new respect for the women that are faced with these hardships all over the world, and a new understanding of the need for carbon and fuel efficient cooking solutions… Check out The Paradigm Project.

Woodwalk in N. Kenya from Austin Mann on Vimeo.

Mahadaga Waterfalls

Austin — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 21:50:18 +0000

Today was a little slower so we took the Rhino (off-rhoading beast) about 10 kilometers up the road to some pretty epic waterfalls. They’re beautiful at first, but once you hike about a 1km back behind the first falls, there’s a beautiful pool with some stunning waterfalls hidden there. It was raining, too, which made it even more epic. Here’s a handful of images from the afternoon…

Driving the Rhino… this thing can handle just about anything… they have two of them out here, jealous.

Today was the first day we really had any contrast in clouds… every other day has been pretty much completely overcast. Nice to have some beautiful skies.

This dude was fishing in the run off of the pond we were swimming in… I wonder what kind of fish there were in there…

Native people to Burkina Faso are called Burkinabe. Can you find the Burkinabe?