3. A back support for carrying firewood, farm produce

The design context.

Design and make a more comfortable, less strenuous method for carrying firewood or water for a person travelling by foot.

For background details of lifestyles etc. see both sections 1 and 2.
Women have heavy burdens to carry every day. They collect water, carry firewood, and carry young children. They may spend many hours every day searching for and bringing home firewood. The only means of support the poor women use is a headband that is tied around the forehead and temple and then bound round the firewood in bundles on their backs. There is massive pressure on the forehead and scalp and the women are bent double by the weight of the wood on their backs. Jeremiah thinks a method of supporting wood, keeping it from digging into both back and head would be a great asset, as long as it was cheap and effective.



Transportation

Before you begin

Web references

Specific design context
 
1. Product Design - A portable carrier

2. Product Design - An improved bicycle taxi seat

3. Product Design - Firewood Carrier

1. A portable carrier for vets

The area where paravets work

The origins of the roads
 
What are the roads like?
 
What are the bikes like?
 
How do they carry their equipment now?
 
What's wrong with current methods?
 
What distance do they travel daily?
 
What's their ideal carrier?
 
What diseases do they Treat?
 
What equipment do they carry?
 
What carrier making skills and materials are available?
 

  2. An improved bicycle taxi seat

The area where the taxis operate

The bicycle taxi business in Kisumu
 
What's a bicycle taxi like?
 
What are the current problems?
 
What would be an ideal bicycle taxi?
 
Have they tried other ideas
 
What materials and skills are available locally?
 
A bicycle taxi for a paravet?