During the working weekend on 15 and 16 November, many tasks, both small and large, were accomplished. The first day started off with the yearly routine of emptying most wells and water reservoirs. This is done to prevent the pipes inserted into the water from being damaged if the water freezes and expands.

Besides drowning the grass with all this well water, the ‘boederijpomp’ next to the Crete windmill was repaired for a second time. Earlier, the pump had already been repaired, with the seals and some screws on the piston being replaced. But when the top section was again placed on the base, the mounting flange broke, preventing the top and base from being sealed together. The solution to this problem was to make a new seal with two rubber rings and a metal ring. These were made by grinding metal and cutting rubber. The only problem with this ‘fix’ is that the pump is now mounted 90 degrees off from the basin. A ‘beunhazen’ solution was to use a bicycle inner tube to guide the water into the basin.

Last on this day, the attic was cleaned. This cleaning spree consisted mostly of sweeping up a kilogram of dust, throwing away unused materials and random junk, and moving important documents downstairs to the office. Notably, amid all the mess in the attic, we found an old projector with a lot of old projector slides. So when it turned dark in the evening, we all sat together to watch these old projector slides, and it was really cool to see this time capsule of the WOT from years ago.

The next day, the decision was made to repair and replace the water pump in front of the office. The wooden parts of this pump were completely rotten through, and the pump had already broken earlier this year. Repairing the pump consisted of two parts: the pump’s metalwork and the pump’s woodwork. Starting with the pump’s metalwork, layers of old paint were stripped away from the metal body, which revealed the pump’s long and well-worn history. After welding several holes in the pipe shut, the pump was given a fresh coat of green paint, which hopefully will protect it for many years to come. For the woodworks, the wooden handle and supporting structure were replaced with new, higher-quality wood, which should last a lot longer than the old pump

Last but not least, a shelf in the kitchen cupboard had been replaced, and the newly created ‘suggestion box’ was painted.

On Saturday the 22nd of November “Stichting boot vluchteling” (the boat refugee foundation) organised a lustrum event, a series of lectures and interviews followed by an information fair in Amsterdam.

Stichting boot vluchteling is a foundation that aims to provide essential humanitarian aid to people that are stuck in refugee camps on the edges of Europe. They do this by providing physical and mental healthcare and by raising awareness and trying to influence asylum policies throughout Europe.
In the past we have had the pleasure of including two course takers from this foundation in our annual T-week where they brushed up on valuable technical skills that can greatly increase self-reliance in the field.

We were honored when they proposed we could fill a stand at their information fair. Two of our members took the trip from Enschede to Amsterdam.

We arrived after a nice drive and set up a stand. One extra thing we added to this stand was a small quiz on recognizing car fluids. We took 8 jam jars filled with different oils, fuels etc. and whoever could guess the contents right won a small prize!

All in all it was a very interesting event, we got to hear some very moving stories from both volunteers and refugees that were present and got to share our T-week experiences with new people. 

We want to thank the Boat Refugee Foundation for inviting us!

 

On the early morning of October the 11th, six determined WOT members set out on a unique challenge: walking 40 km while carrying a complete drilling setup – and then drilling a well by hand. All this to raise funds for TADEH, a charity that teaches people to drill wells, as to sustainably supply safe drinking water.

The organization began weeks in advance and included raising awareness through every available channel: Whatsapp, email, social media, newspapers, and more. A GoFundMe campaign was also set up to raise funds, and many companies contacted for sponsorships.

The walk was a great success! Heavily packed our team crossed the finish line after just over 10 hours, where they were greeted by a vast group of friends, family and other supporters. Soon after, the drilling begun. A settling pit was dug, barasol mixed, and a drilling stem prepared. The soil turned out to be soft, and before long the second and third drilling rod were added. With more stems, the work became heavier and heavier. Finally the 6th and last pipe was in place. Working in pairs now, the stem was lifted, dropped and turned gain and again… until eventually, it was all the way in.

Then all pipes were removed, and a plastic casing inserted into the freshly drilled borehole. Using a simple marble pump, the water could then be extracted from the well. What an achievement!

The event raised 5580 euros in funds for TADEH, which will be used to train people in Zambia to drill their own wells. This way, we hope to have helped bring safe drinking water to many communities.
 

The introduction period is one of the most fun months at the WOT, where we meet new people that come here to learn and do fun activities. The first Intro activity was the Marble pump course. Here, kiddos learn how to use various pvc-forming skills to make a waterpump. It was once again remarkable to see how quickly a pile of pvc pipes turns into a big water fight, mostly with semi working water pumps. The kiddos were very excited about the technology and many WOT memories were made; And all this on the first activity.

This year’s soldering course had intro participants learning how to solder on prototyping boards by making a simple current limited LED circuit. The participants quickly took  the task upon them and quickly has a series of three LED’s glowing brightly (barring the LED’s lost through leaving out the resistors, may they Rest In Peace ☹).  With extra time left the participants were provided with a single pole double throw switch and instructed to design a circuit that would switch between the three LED’s and another one, also giving them some introductory knowledge to simple circuitry.

In preparation for the well drilling practical the next day, we were lectured by Menno about well drilling. During this lecture we were taught all kinds of drilling techniques while Menno talked about his own experiences. He showed us loads of demonstrations and actual drilling gear, which made the lecture very interesting to watch. Most importantly, the goal was set to drill at least 11 meters the next day, crushing the previous year's record of 9 meters.

Dragos: I was really excited to do the EMAS drilling as we had a lecture about it the day before. The actual drilling was way harder than I expected, especially on the hands, but it was fun to do. As tried to do a bit of everything, I can tell you that pumping was fun for the first five minutes, pulling the rope was not that hard if you had gloves on, otherwise you would get rope burn, and turning the drill was the most fun, but also the most exhausting part, in my opinion. All in all, I would do it again if the chance arises.

After a very successful GMA, where two old board members were freed from the WOT board, the remaining members gathered to play the greatest game ever played in the history of games: “WOT members, old and new, what do they know? Do they know things? Let’s find out!”

The game featured such categories as “Which myths have these two busty boys busted, and which myths busted these boys?” and “Get your gribby grabbers on those items and then tell us their diameters, lengths, or other measurements.”

After six nail biting rounds where WOT members showed off what they knew and learned many new things, everyone left a little wiser. And after only a little bit of cheating from the teams, Buurman and Buurman reigned supreme, winning the grand prize of six chocolate bars and wrapping up an eventful night.

The third Thursday of the introduction evenings brought a great opportunity for every broke student, both old and new: fix your bike for free! Participants quickly discovered what was really expected: to get their own hands dirty! Soon, bikes were flipped upside down, saddles removed, and wheels rolling around, where small groups teamed up to lend each other a helping hand. By the end of the night, a whole fleet of bikes, of both participants and WOTters, rolled out of the workshop in a better shape than when they had arrived that afternoon. We hope to have learned the participants an occasional practical skill along the way!

In the last week of the introduction period, we (the new WOTers) were instructed to make a shelf bracket out of steel. During this workshop course, we all had to pair up and were taught all kinds of techniques to process steel by older WOT members. These techniques included cutting & bending and most importantly: welding steel and using an angle grinder. At the end of the workshop course, everyone succeeded in making a shelf bracket. One too few to actually attach a bookshelf.

This is the last introduction activity and this evening was very similar to what we do on a normal Wednesday evening. We did not have that much turn up, but with the people that were at the WOT this evening we did a lot! We started fixing the Farmers’ pump, people practiced welding for an EMAS set that will be used for Wot Walks For Water and we continued building things for the hydroponics system. And in the end everyone helped clean the workshop and enjoyed the campfire afterwards. Now the new members are really ready for the WOT.

The Kick-In started with the introduction market: The place where new students get to meet the associations at the UT. One of these associations is, of course, the WOT; we too want to attract new members. Luckily, this year we got a very central spot on the market terrain. Quickly after setting up our stand, with our small portable windmill and the other demo setups (flamingo pump, mini Crete, and solar cooker), the first new students were attracted to our stand. This year, we saw faces of varying studies that were interested in the WOT, and by the end of the afternoon, we had a full mailing list of potential new members.

The MTAD lunch is the second opportunity for the WOT to attract new members. In the beginning new students were mainly enjoying lunch and did not come to the stand, but when their stomachs began to be filled, groups started forming at our stand. We gave the same explanations about what we do at the WOT, about our introduction activities (you can read a blog about that soon), and everything else they wanted to know about the interesting demo setups at our stand. It turned out that there were even more people interested during this lunch than during the intro market.

Due to the influx of new members of the WOT who studied TCS, this year the WOT had not one but two Kick-In Do-groups! One for ME and one for TCS!

The Kick-In for the WOT mechanical engineering do group was an absolutely amazing week, filled with campfires, parties, and most importantly, giving the new first years an amazing introduction to their new life at uni, and much more importantly, the WOT.

The week started out strong when a very enthusiastic (and only slightly hungover) pair of parents gave a speech about the WOT so good that it caused every first-year student in the room to put the WOT as their first choice. They ended up with 11 kiddos, soon adopting one more that night.

As the week went on, the 12 kiddos slowly started becoming more, as more first years learned about how amazing the WOT was. More started joining the do group, including one night where they started with 11 kiddos and ended the night with 18.

After 9 days straight of partying, jumping off bridges, getting sick, bakfietsen, storming the Bastille, and having fun, the week ended with the ultimate challenge: making the heroes breakfast on the last day of the Kick-In. 13 kiddos and Brodie set out to party all night and had the night of their lives, and after only one casualty, 12 kiddos made it back to enjoy sausages, eggs, and bread at the WOT to celebrate before promptly passing out from pure exhaustion.

The WOT Technical Computer Science Kick-In slightly differed from the ME one, but was just as great. We filled our week with campfires, board games, music, and parties.

On the first day, we made pancakes to convince people to join the WOT do group. But we found out people actually liked the WOT talk we gave so much that the pancakes were no longer needed to convince them. We talked to kiddos who wondered why we might build a windmill at 2 am, and kiddos who loved campfires. Our plan was to do as many of the activities this Kick-In could give us, so that our kiddos could find out what they were interested in, and we hoped they would also like the WOT. 

Eventually, we got 9 kiddos, one of whom was lost at first, but then was found a few days later. We started that day with pizzas, and when we had finished those, we showed the do-group around at the WOT terrain. We explained how easy it is to transport and build the Diever, and why the Kreta turned out not to be a great success, and what the PTB is used for. Our kiddos liked the WOT, and that is eventually where we spent most of our Kick-IN, with about half the do group becoming members during the week and starting some small projects in the workshop.

Overall, the Kick-In was a humongous success, which got many people excited to join the WOT. 

Last but not least, a few words about the faculty Kick-In. The first day of the faculty Kick-In, Deadalus kiddos swarmed the terrain to make their famous beerboards. Armed with pen and paper, they begin carefully sketching. To then, all at the same time, request a large amount of reciprocating sawing and hole drilling. This was no problem; the kiddos were delightful, and the BBQ that evening was delicious. The free beer also helped.

For the last two days of the faculty KickIn, the WOT once again had the pleasure of having Newton on our terrain. They came with heaps of pallets, bikes, and big blue water drums. The first day, they made their classic catapult, which once again proved to be harder than it looks. The WOT was treated to a great BBQ with plenty of beer as a reward for the volunteering. The second day, they brought back an old tradition: Raft building! With pallets, empty milk jugs, and two 200L water barrels per group, they embarked on their quest. It turned out to be quite the hassle to build a raft that has the buoyancy to hold up to people but is still stable so as not to fall over. It was an endearing sight to see! We hope to see the rafts return next year!

Next to the Kijito we wanted to experiment with the diesel powered pump to see how far we could drill into the ground with just water flow. The reason was, to test a claim of some companies that they could drill a deep enough hole with this method for a ground loop used in ground source heat pumps. With our setup we were able to go approximately 10 meters into the ground when we hit an impenetrable ground layer. This depth would be sufficient for some (low efficiency) heat pumps and with this method it would be able to be done cheaper and less work intensive than current methods that use specialized drills. It is important to recognize that this would only work in the sandy ground in the Netherlands, as there are not much impenetrable rocks in the way

On the Saturday of the working weekend a lot of progress was made on the hydroponics system. This day the IBC tank was bought and brought to the WOT to create housing for the worms and store fertilized water. But first, in order to install the tank a firm structure was to be built to keep the tank from bending. So the path in the greenhouse was dug out further to create a wall of earth for the lower part of the ibc to be reinforced. Meanwhile supports for the sides of the path in the greenhouse were made from pallets and installed. Together with steps going into the greenhouse.

Can you hear that?? Far away… behind the horst… a dreadful but familiar sound can be heard faintly. It seems like Mariah Carey has defrosted once again, and All I Want for Christmas Is You echoes in the Kiwanda like it’s almost the 25th of December again. Saint nick might be long gone, but on the 10th of January the WOT is high on Christmas. Quite on time if I may say, my student house had its Christmas diner on the 25th of June last year. Which is literally the furthest date from Christmas.

Coincidentally, just a catapult shot away, Newton also had its Christmas dinner on the 10th. When I noticed this, I feared that some of WOT’s Mechanical engineers might be kidnapped and forced to go there instead. But luckily that was not case (with some exceptions). Even though I was sceptical about this date, our board assured us that the 10th was the right date because they ‘felt it’. Now, I have to admit (and I don’t do this often), were they right. We had a whopping 39(!!) WOTters show up for this fantastic candle lit dinner.

Preparation for the diner began two days beforehand with taking inventory, choosing recipes and of course the groceries. Then Friday morning the cooking began. I wasn’t there myself, but I can say with certainty that they cooked.
The appetizers (made possible by Norah and Erik) were savoury cupcakes with cheese, sun-dried-tomato and olive. Now whenever I hear ‘savoury’ and then something that’s not supposed to be savoury, like cupcakes, red flags go off in my head. I can confidently say that since I had these cupcakes those red flags have burned away. These cupcakes were a true delight, and I have plans to make them myself.

From here my light dimmed a bit, I may have had one to many glasses, or rather, bottles of wine. What I do remember very sharply are the next few dishes, and how great it all tased. The carrot-tomato soup, the Hachee with potatoes and red beet, and of course the apple crumble cake. Sometimes when I eat too much, I wonder whether all the food would be worth the extra weight. This is not one of those times. Hats off to Norah, Erik and Robin! The dishes they prepared were expertly made. Also, by pure coincidence, this was also the third homemade apple crumble cake I had in two weeks. Ranking these three is difficult since I made the other two myself, so I will have to call it a three-way pie.

Oh and we can’t forget the candles! As per WOT tradition, the candle holders are beuned just before the diner. Now all candle holders are special in their own way, but some were more special than others. Out of all of the candle holders, there are a lot of contenders for the nr 1 spot. But my personal favourite would have to be Nathan’s. Not because it was an original design, or because it had functionality, no in truth it’s a candle holder only it’s mother could love. That made burning the candle holder (which was just a block of wood with a hole in it), so much fun and memorable. Nathans attempts to save its pathetic creation just added fuel to the fire. And that’s why its nr 1… also because I forgot all the others.

All in all, it was a great Christmas diner. There was a lot of great food, deep conversations, flaming candle holders, and, of course, gezelligheid. Christmas is about sharing Joy with others. Whether you believe Joy goes through the stomach, or Joy is laughing with (or at) other people, or if you are an addict and think Joy is alcohol, there certainly was a lot of Joy. Here’s to next Christmas diner! As my great friend, and WOTter abroad Santiago would say, Happy Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy birthday!