Fundi Kipusa, A community based organisation.
Mtwapa, Kenya.
Donate
A Community Based Organisation, Mtwapa, Kenya.
Building sustainable perma-engineering solutions that work.
Fundi Kipusa is a community based organization in Mtwapa, Coast of Kenya. Our core focus is to use engineering to provide solutions to common recurring problems in Africa. We started as a Girl Child Education Programme and have since grown to educate the public and come up with simply designed products that work for Africa. Over the years, we have come up with products and ideas that have been tested and proven to work. With the rise of pollution and food insecurity, we are now working to develop solutions to this. Everyone working with Fundi Kipusa does so on a voluntary basis and we were able to form a well-rounded team. With our modest means we are constantly searching for simple yet functional solutions with the aim of helping the ordinary citizen to keep pace with the developments here, which are vastly too fast and lacking coherence.
What if the simple technology of an upcycled drum could be turned in to a farm that could economically empower individuals and groups and improve food security for millions of households and reduce carbon emissions?
Food security is a very sensitive topic in Kenya.
The I-Pot Maxi is a vertical planting device that is 1.2m high with 80 growing pockets for planting vegetables for human consumption. It is made from upcycled industrial plastic drums and filled with growing media that is light weight and has the ability of recirculating the water. It uses only 5% water that would be used to grow the same amount of plants. This pot will provide food for families and income if commercialized. Fundi Kipusa empowers individuals and groups of people to grow their own food in limited space in the huge surface area on the I-Pot Maxi for plant growth and supplement what they have to buy. It also reduces carbon emissions from food transport as food is produced on site.
The I-Pot Maxi can grow salads, kales, spinach, lettuce, and others. This provides food for a family and if several drums would be used it would ensure throughout the year that there is food growing and this would reduce the part of disposable income that is used to buy food and the produced food would provide the requisite nutrients to ensure a healthy family. The drums that would otherwise be discarded or melted into other plastic; are recycled, this in turn ensures that we reduce CO2 emissions and if we could grow these drums in the millions in deserts. It is ideal for the urban person who can grow food on roof tops or in a back yard. Anyone can make one with materials that can be found locally.
We wish to have urban farming practiced all over the world even in rural settings where soil or earth viability to produce food is greatly diminished by nature for instance on deserts.
We address the following problems:
Fundi Kipusa started of as a girl child education project to give the girls in the community skills that would help them make a living. We do a variety of things and come up with numerous products.
This planting container, fundamentally, resulted from our experiences in developing Hydroponic and Aquaponic products. Some of the advantages that come with the “I-Pot-Mini”:
The aquaponics system is a large growing unit that supports plants, fish and small animals like chicken or rabbits. The unit is self sufficient as the water used in the fish section will be used to water the plants and give them nutrients. Under the fish pond and the growing surface is a large space where chicken or rabbits can comfortably be bred. The watering system can be fully automated so it does not require much attention.
Carbon emission and plastic are probably the most common environmental pollutions. During the rainy season, the Mtwapa creek gets alot of dirt and most of it washes up the beach. We collect this litter and use the biodegradable bit to make eco-char that has minimal carbon emission. The charcoal can be used in place of the traditional charcoal. It burns out slower hence you use less eco-char than you would with normal charcoal.
At Fundi Kipusa we believe in healthy lifestyles. Thats why we make custom gym equipment. From monkey bars to all kinds of benches. We not ony make these for interested gyms but for anyone who wants one. We also make monkey bars for schools and churches and they are made in such a way that the children playing on them are safe from injury.
We need so many more people to make I-Pot Maxis and help us to build up a sustainable production for Africa to better food security and generate income while protecting the environment. Our startegy for the growth of the I-Pot Maxi is mainly focused to reaching to schools, all over the world, where children will learn urban food production techniques and get our children to learn how to grow their own food. How can you get your I-Pot or start your school Project? Just Donate any amount from 10$ and we will send you a complete tutorial on how to make an I-Pot Maxi, you could either build it yourself or get it made by a handy man near you. For every 150 US$ funding we get, we’ll deliver an I-Pot Maxi to a school within Kenya and teach them how to build the I-Pot Maxi and nurture it to produce food.
