Creating a Biogas System

On the fourth day in the Mekong Delta, we drove a few miles down the road to walk about a half a mile and then took a tiny, wobbly boat across the river to a family’s farm. There, we learned how to build a biogas system, and then built one ourselves for the people who lived on the farm. This biogas allows the family to function and run their farm for years and years, using manure that turns into gas to be used as energy.

This process included putting three giant plastic bags inside of each other. Now this might seem like a really simple task, but the bags had to be lined up perfectly, without any folds or crinkles. So this part of the process took about an hour or so. Then, we had to fold and tape the ends of the bags to these pipes that allow the gas to enter and then exit to be used as energy. Though it seemed easy, it took a few hours and many people to finish this task. Meanwhile the other half of our group was digging manure and mud to help reap the energy. Like working on the farm harvesting crops, it spoke to me of how arduous many peoples’ lives are not only in Vietnam, but in many rural areas around the world.

After this, we had lunch in the Can Tin, and then a debrief about all of the work we had that morning. We reflected on the tasks we completed and the difficulty of it all.

Around 4 pm, we packed up our things and just left for Can Tho City, which was about 3.5 hours away, a good middle point that broke up our trip. We were to stay the night there and go to the floating market that next morning before we left. So the rest of the day was traveling and then the night ended with an ice cream social, where we went to Baskin Robbins an enjoyed ice cream and a walk through the city and saw all of the night markets and local people, who hysterically asked to take photos with us, because Can Tho City doesn't normally have many foreigners. We went to bed early, as we had to wake up at 6am for the floating markets the next morning.