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A generator + second hand industrial washing machine will cost less than $1000 together, and will probably be enough to wash clothes of hundreds of people in a

A generator + second hand industrial washing machine will cost less than $1000 together, and will probably be enough to wash clothes of hundreds of people in a day. That's more usefulness than any of these space toilets NGOs splurge millions of bucks on.

burkaman 5y ago
If you have a plan for a generator that can power washing machines for an entire refugee camp, plus the machines themselves, plus a supply chain to deliver fuel for the generator, plus a stable supply of water for the machines, plus plumbing to distribute water throughout the camp, plus electrical infrastructure for the camp, plus education and materials for residents to maintain and repair all of that, all for under $1000, I'm sure Oxfam would be very interested to hear it.
- baybal2 5y ago
  I see it very simple, and my firsts ache to reach the face of a first person to shout "lets do SWOT analysis!" First, water must be coming to the camp some way, or another, or people would've been dead. Whether it's in tankers, or anything else. Second, just go, and buy a 2nd hand 1kva generator from eBay for $150-$200, and a cheapest owned 10-15kg washing machine. Spend the rest on few months of water in tankers, and fuel.
  - mschuster91 5y ago
    > First, water must be coming to the camp some way, or another, or people would've been dead. The water (and fwiw, also food, medicine, literally everything) coming into refugee camps is extremely, extremely rationed to a point where even in summer months, people have to get by with sometimes half a liter per day and person. Forget about showering, forget about washing clothes. The biggest single cause of the 2015 mass migration was that Germany withdrew its UNHCR funding from 301 million $ to 143 million $ (per https://www.heise.de/tp/features/EU-Staaten-hatten-2015-fast-durchweg-Hilfen-fuer-syrische-Fluechtlinge-gekuerzt-3375668.html https://www.heise.de/tp/features/EU-Staaten-hatten-2015-fast...). The result of that loss of a small amount of money was that suddenly hundreds of thousands of people lost access to food. With the current financing situations, the last thing refugee camps need is more to take account for in the supply chain.
    - baybal2 5y ago
      I don't swallow this. Even in the most water starved countries, 10000 litre tanker delivery costs $10 at most. That's 1 million tons of water for 1 million bucks a year. It will be an insult to my intelligence to believe this. If you don't need drinking water the cost will go down further.
      - mynameisvlad 5y ago
        > 10000 litre tanker delivery costs $10 at most. Source? Because I highly doubt that the entire supply chain, from getting the water to the tanker, to getting the tanker to the refugee camp, to unloading and making it available for use, costs $10 at most for a single tanker. Hell, even without the last step. Even without the first step. The fuel alone to get a tanker to the camp from wherever is itself more than $10.
        baybal2 5y ago
        That's the cost in Karachi with its completely depleted water table, where water comes from tens of kms from outside of the city.
        mynameisvlad 5y ago
        Once again, source? You're making pretty wild claims, you really need numbers to back it up.
        mschuster91 5y ago
        A quick google for "karachi water cost" brought up this: https://www.samaa.tv/news/pakistan/2021/01/karachi-water-tanker-rates-increased-by-rs300-to-rs500/ https://www.samaa.tv/news/pakistan/2021/01/karachi-water-tan... Given 2340 pakistani rupees for a 3000 gal tanker, it's about 12€ or 14$ by today's exchange rate. A tiny bit more expensive than GP claimed, but acceptably close enough.

burkaman 5y ago

If you have a plan for a generator that can power washing machines for an entire refugee camp, plus the machines themselves, plus a supply chain to deliver fuel for the generator, plus a stable supply of water for the machines, plus plumbing to distribute water throughout the camp, plus electrical infrastructure for the camp, plus education and materials for residents to maintain and repair all of that, all for under $1000, I'm sure Oxfam would be very interested to hear it.

baybal2 5y ago
I see it very simple, and my firsts ache to reach the face of a first person to shout "lets do SWOT analysis!" First, water must be coming to the camp some way, or another, or people would've been dead. Whether it's in tankers, or anything else. Second, just go, and buy a 2nd hand 1kva generator from eBay for $150-$200, and a cheapest owned 10-15kg washing machine. Spend the rest on few months of water in tankers, and fuel.
- mschuster91 5y ago
  > First, water must be coming to the camp some way, or another, or people would've been dead. The water (and fwiw, also food, medicine, literally everything) coming into refugee camps is extremely, extremely rationed to a point where even in summer months, people have to get by with sometimes half a liter per day and person. Forget about showering, forget about washing clothes. The biggest single cause of the 2015 mass migration was that Germany withdrew its UNHCR funding from 301 million $ to 143 million $ (per https://www.heise.de/tp/features/EU-Staaten-hatten-2015-fast-durchweg-Hilfen-fuer-syrische-Fluechtlinge-gekuerzt-3375668.html https://www.heise.de/tp/features/EU-Staaten-hatten-2015-fast...). The result of that loss of a small amount of money was that suddenly hundreds of thousands of people lost access to food. With the current financing situations, the last thing refugee camps need is more to take account for in the supply chain.
  - baybal2 5y ago
    I don't swallow this. Even in the most water starved countries, 10000 litre tanker delivery costs $10 at most. That's 1 million tons of water for 1 million bucks a year. It will be an insult to my intelligence to believe this. If you don't need drinking water the cost will go down further.
    - mynameisvlad 5y ago
      > 10000 litre tanker delivery costs $10 at most. Source? Because I highly doubt that the entire supply chain, from getting the water to the tanker, to getting the tanker to the refugee camp, to unloading and making it available for use, costs $10 at most for a single tanker. Hell, even without the last step. Even without the first step. The fuel alone to get a tanker to the camp from wherever is itself more than $10.
      - baybal2 5y ago
        That's the cost in Karachi with its completely depleted water table, where water comes from tens of kms from outside of the city.
        mynameisvlad 5y ago
        Once again, source? You're making pretty wild claims, you really need numbers to back it up.
        mschuster91 5y ago
        A quick google for "karachi water cost" brought up this: https://www.samaa.tv/news/pakistan/2021/01/karachi-water-tanker-rates-increased-by-rs300-to-rs500/ https://www.samaa.tv/news/pakistan/2021/01/karachi-water-tan... Given 2340 pakistani rupees for a 3000 gal tanker, it's about 12€ or 14$ by today's exchange rate. A tiny bit more expensive than GP claimed, but acceptably close enough.