Appropriate Technology Institute

You want to turn on a faucet and have water come out; you don't want to know where it comes from. But on almost any continent you will visit, that is a luxury few experience. Clean water is a rare commodity, and in fact, many people around the world die of water-borne diseases. Here at Equip we're seeking to find an answer to this worldwide problem. We offer two courses that can provide practical solutions in this much-needed area of ministry.

Filter Technologies and Well Drilling

In these courses you will gain the experience needed to provide clean, safe water for your family and even for your village. The work will be challenging, but you will learn valuable skills that will give new meaning to giving a drink of water in Jesus' Name.

Filter Technologies (One Week)

During the course you will receive instruction in: 
A. How to build and maintain a BioSand water filter that is suitable for providing a life-time of clean drinking water for a family. You will also learn how the filter works using the model God provided in nature for removing impurities from water. 
B. Hygiene as an important tool in improving the health of a community. Personal cleanliness, construction, use and maintenance of Latrines. 
C. The advantages and disadvantages of current water filtration methods. 
D. Methods of disinfection. 
E. The basics of building and maintaining simple pumps.
This is an informative class with a relaxed atmosphere. There will be classroom lecture and hands-on construction experience. Meals and snacks will be provided. 

Well Drilling (1 week)

You will get hands-on experience setting up and operating the LS-100 shallow well drilling rig. You will actually drill a well, hit water, develop, case, and complete a well with a hand pump. You will also learn about and use a simple hand auger method of producing a shallow well for use where soils permit. Also, how to implement a manual percussion drilling method using a system that can penetrate rock. 

LS-100
The LS-100 and LS-200 are drilling rigs that were developed by Lone Star Bit, Inc. of Stafford, TX for use by Living Water International and Life Water International. The rig is small enough to be carried in the back of a half-ton pick-up truck. The LS-100 and the LS-200 were developed specifically for mission application. They produce a six (6) inch borehole 100 and 200 feet deep respectively through soft to medium rock formation. They are available from Lone Star Bit. The LS-200 operates in the same manner as the LS-100, with heavier constructed parts allowing the driller to penetrate deeper. All the training on the LS-100 is applicable to the LS-200. During the class on drilling with the LS-100 you will drill a well up to a depth of 100 feet and learn what constitutes a good aquifer, how to set a casing, apply your gravel pack, make your own screen, aquifer development, setting the pump, pulling the pump, and proper abandoning of the well site. At the end of the first two days, there is a relaxed evening session to review the events of the day. 

The fee includes a training manual, a training video, meals and accommodations. Your Equip instructors have been trained by Living Water International.

For more information on the LS-100 and 200 the following link is provided. http://www.lonestarbit.com/index.php?topgroupid=3

Hand Auger Produced Wells:
We offer a simple method of producing shallow wells in soft formations where water might be available at sixty feet or less. This method has been used successfully and works well coupled with the BioSand filter to ensure that potable water is provided. 

Percussion Drilled Wells:
During your time at Equip, Inc. you will have the opportunity to learn a method of drilling developed hundreds of years ago by the Chinese. They have drilled wells through rock to depths of hundreds of feet. This method is labor and time intensive, but where capital is not available, and labor and time are, the percussion drill could be used to provide a good source of water. Upon completion of the course, the participant will receive instruction in the use of and plans for the construction of this simple rig. 

Food Production

Your mission field is lush with vegetation, plenteous rain, fertile soil…What is edible?!
The native people around you suffer from malnutrition, and their crops are failing…
You have been sent to live in a virtual desert, and you must provide food for your family…
McDonald's is nowhere to be seen!

What is there to eat?

How many of us really know where food comes from, how to prepare meals from scratch, and even how to determine the nutritional value of what we are consuming? Unfortunately, most of what you grow or purchase on your mission field will not come with labels showing Basic Nutrition Information and fat grams. Your family's and perhaps your entire community's lives depend on your ability to provide good nutrition using the resources that are available in your area. Food Production includes: Food Drying, Canning, Solar Cooking, Nutrition, Bee Keeping, Plant Husbandry (irrigation techniques, soil and plant management, intensive gardening and food production systems), Animal Husbandry (herd health, management and product utilization), etc. Classes take place on a working farm where you will have plenty of opportunity for hands-on learning, such as working with the soil and plants, caring for the animals, baking bread from scratch, milking the goats and making cheese; the list goes on. You will live in a village setting, cook on the wood and rocket stoves and prepare meals together in the community cookhouse. The village has composting toilets, a shower house and propane lighting. A day of study will include chores, classroom instruction and plenty of fresh air.

 

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Construction Technologies

You arrive on your new mission station and discover the house has no running water, the generator won't start, and the stove will not light…

The people you have come to work with lack the skills to provide for even their most basic needs…

Would you be prepared?

America is a land of plenty, but a missionary going to a remote area must be prepared to deal with such inconveniences as inadequate (or nonexistent) public utilities and will likely need to be able to maintain his or her own home. 

Often the missionary finds that the Appropriate Technology skills provide an avenue to get to know their neighbors, who, in turn, want to know more about the missionary's faith.

Construction Tech provides a Biblical perspective on how you should respond to the felt needs of the people among whom God is calling you to minister. We will teach you practical skills to enable you to function in a developing society and skills that can be shared for the betterment of the people group you serve. 

Studies will include: Welding, Construction and Electrical Wiring.

Housing is in cabins with propane heating and lighting, composting toilets, a shower house and a community cook cabin with running water and a gas stove. 

A typical day of study will include chores, community meals, classroom instruction, labs and research projects.

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Energy Efficient Shelter

Building supplies on your field are strange to you, 
and you will be constructing your own mission housing. 
Your mission field is more than just a place to work; it is home. 
How can you make it FEEL like home?

What is available for building your home?

You arrive on a remote mission station to find that there is unreliable power, inadequate sanitation, and the people around the "neighborhood" build with whatever they can find. If you are going into this type of situation, "Energy Efficient Shelter" is just for you! Receive hands-on experience building with straw bales and tires, and using solar power and wind. Cisterns, composting and indoor gardening are also covered. This course is for men and women alike and includes outdoor labs combined with classroom instruction and interesting group interaction. 

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