AIDG is my new favorite NGO. I know nothing about these people, other than what I read on their site, but they seem pretty straight-up. Plus, I dig the fact that the founder, Peter Haas, received his B.A. in the Liberal Arts. (As a graduate of St. John’s College I have a soft spot for those folks.) Here is a guy that received his degree in a totally unrelated field and yet spends his time building biodigesters in Cuba and turbines in Guatemala. I love this stuff. Find your passion and go for it.
After a week of depressing realizations about the tech/aid community my spirits were lifted when I came across this site. I was looking for info on micro hydro projects for my new line of work (green building) when I came across AIDG’s excellent Flickr photostream. Here are some sample pics of some real ingenuity:
Handmade turbine from standard PVC fittings
Pico hydroelectric system with turbine at it's core
It’s basically a bunch of kick-ass hippies making the world a better place on a shoestring budget. If you are thinking about a place to donate money in someone’s name rather than giving them a gift definitely check out AIDG and then head over to their donation page. These folks deserve your compassion as well as legitimate, long term funding.
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