Bram de Vries currently is in Guatemala for his three month anthropology study project. He uses this opportunity to prepare for the local testing, introduction and training of Demotech?s water pump designs later tis year. He told us about a very inspiring moment, when he met a group of women producing traditional crafts for tourists. He put forward our problem for knots to be used in rope pumps.

The women working there thought it was a big joke that we could make a big problem out something as simple as that. In less then a minute they made with their skilled hands a prototype of a disk that could fit the pump pipe (see pictures).

Development work should move more in this direction, is his opinion.?Using the skills and resources of local people, instead of introducing plastic disks should results in a better product. These women should be our research partners!