The Urban Biogas Project (formerly Rot2Roti)

                                                  Alex Schmidt                                                 

                India is a different place.  Example:  It was my 2^nd day in New Delhi, and I was on my way to my first meeting with a biogas expert.  We spend a few minutes negotiating a price with the local auto-rickshaw driver (which can be much more difficult than it sounds) and then we jump in.  This puts our very lives at the hand of the driver as we navigate the traffic of a developing country, where traffic laws are more like suggestions.  I enjoy it. My teammate Zach say’s, “A rickshaw ride is like an hour long rollercoaster ride”. Our driver stops (at what is obviously not our destination) and begins to chat with a local.  I came to learn that he was actually asking for directions!  It turns out we had been traveling in the opposite direction and arrived 45 min late to our meeting, but we have already been learning that India runs on a different time.  45 min late is nothing, we are escorted to an office and given tea and biscuits, and wait another 45 until the biogas expert arrives and we begin our meeting.

                After a week in Delhi (and a month for my 2 US teammates Zach and Mark), three teammates and I (pictured below), travel down to Bangalore for the ACARA Summer Institute.  After being on the ground here, we realized our business needed to pivot in a new direction. The Summer Institute was the perfect place to step back and look at our model with fresh eyes, and be challenged by Julian, Fred and Brian.  After decisions were made, Harmeet and I headed back to New Delhi to complete the work need before I return.

                Like we had hoped, even though biogas has been around for decades in India, there are still new initiatives and opportunity.  For example, I just read an article on a huge project in New Delhi to use biogas technology to convert sewage to compressed gas to power part of the massive public bus system.  Click here to read it.  As for our project, we are making the necessary connections to build a plant including APMC (governing body of the market), Teri TEAM process, S&S Biofuel Consultants, and others.

                Personally, I would not say it has been easy.  There were many challenges I had to overcome here.  But in spite of it, I have seen opportunity in industry and hope in the people to overcome the challenges of this developing nation.  I am very grateful for the opportunity to be in India.  Thank you to ACARA, everyone involved in the ACARA Challenge, and our outside funder for believing in us.

               

Our team at a flower and produce market where waste was composted to organic fertilizer: Alex, Nitya, Zach, Harmeet (From left to right). Flower waste smells a lot better than produce waste!

Organic waste at Azadpur market being transported to the landfill.

The Cost

Serving the poor comes at a cost.  I’m not just talking about the plane ticket.  I’ve been learning so much about suffering in the past year, and I knew God was preparing me for something. Well now I get the privilege of experiencing it! 

It’s hard to blog about some things when you know your mom is going to read it.  There are some things that mom’s just shouldn’t/don’t need to hear.  So I’ll take this time to remind her that worrying can do absolutely nothing (Matthew 6:25-34, as Jesus puts it, “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?”), and that I’m doing much better now.

I hit the ground running in New Delhi.  My partners on the project, Zach and Mark, had been here for about a month before me, and it was his last week here so I went with on all his adventures (and our project work).  It included touring biogas plants, meetings with experts and our Indian teammates (Nitya and Harmeet), shopping for suitcases, and custom tailored suits for about $200.  All of the running around (and probably some bad street food) lead to something fierce in my belly.

In short, puke, fever, and I went through all of the underwear I brought in one night.  It was pretty bad for about 5 days (the rest of my time in Delhi, before going to Bangalore).

I later came to find out I lost weight one morning when I buttoned my pants and synched up the belt past the worn, usual hole, to a new one.  I don’t think I’ve changed belt size in 5 years. 

God seriously just pulled me through, as I could hardly remember parts of this verse that were sustaining me.  I had no desire to try and find it in my bible when I was sick.  All I could remember of what it said was: for I do not count the sufferings of this present age… and then something about not even caring about it.  I was close: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”  Romans 8:18.  For whatever pain and discomfort I was in, it is just a piece of the puzzle to advancing the Gospel and helping the poor; a small cost considering those who have gone before me.

I was feeling much better when it was time for our train ride to Bangalore for the 2 week class we were taking on social business ventures (business ideas with the objective of helping people in need).  The 42 hour train ride was awesome:

Prayer requests:

- Thanks for getting better, and continued health and strength (the heat takes alot out of you!)
- The monsoon would come, and cool it down!
- A heart for the Indian people
- Our project and the meetings we will be having
- Continued safety