Rich Kao

Compliments of a recent post by Guy Kawasaki, here are a couple of inventions that can change the world and illustrate how much can be done with innovative thinking.

• Pot-in-pot. This is the invention of Mohammed Bah Abba of Nigeria. He is from a family of pot makers and discovered a way to preserve food despite in the country's high temperatures. One earthenware pot is place within another, and the space between the two is filled with sand. Users add water to the sand, and when this water evaporates, the inside pot is cooled.

• Q-Drum

  

  Hans Hendrikse invented this apparatus to enable people in Africa to transport fifty liters of water in a safer, easier, and more hygienic way. Rather than carrying water on their heads, now they roll it along in a drum made of low-density linear polyethylene.

  Me: I LOVE this kind of stuff.  Having worked for a well known "invention company" (i.e 3M), it gets my juices flowing seeing these innovative, practical, lost cost ways of touching and changing lives.  My thinking cap is on as to how we could use these across our various humanitarian platforms.   Thanks Guy, once again.
  

   

Friends, our simple tents can make a world of difference.  Here's a clip that shows us how. This is a literal "tent communty" in the heart of Chengdu city, the primary entry point into Sichuan's earthquake region.  Help us locate tents.  Spread the word. 

In the aftermath of the earthquakes in Sichuan provinces, nearly 80,000 have died, and 420,000 homes have collapsed.  The suffering and trauma continues, as nearly 5,000,000 are homeless.  Adding to the pain is the devastation of many families that lost their only child due to China's one child policy.  At 5 Stones Church, we continue to work feverishly in our relief efforts to build a coalition of organizations to mobilize tens of thousands of tents.   For more of a sense of this disaster, click video below, you'll also get a sense for the need for tents.

What a whirlwind last 24 hours! We now have an end-to-end operation set up. We have a team ready to receive shipments in Beijing or Chengdu, as well as execute distribution when the tents arrive.   See our website posted in the Nashville area.  We hope to get a Vancouver site up soon.   We are trying to line up media coverage in both cities as well.   Added tidbit:  United Airlines which is our shipping carrier has also agreed to waive shipping charges from this end.

We just received word ALL OUR SHIPPING costs for tents to China will be covered by the government. Fantastic news.  All we need to do is procure thousands of tents!  We're hoping to fill as as many shipping containers as we can.  Please help us with sourcing if you can - be creative!