Etiene Twagirayezu, 60, lights his biogas digester in his home on November 18, 2017 in Rutabo, Rwanda. Twagirayezu says that before his digester, he'd spend up to 3 hours a day gathering 10 kilograms of wood, and saw kids get injured climbing trees and be late to school doing the same. He added he was happy his workload at home was reduced due to being able to use his cow's and pig's poo instead of wood as fuel, as well as about the resulting decrease of deforestation. (Photograph by Yana Paskova)
Nearly half of Rwandans live in poverty, relying on small-scale farming for survival and without gas or electricity. With so many people spending hours foraging for wood for cooking and light, often damaging their eyes, lungs, forests and the atmosphere, a little inventiveness helps. Enter cows and pigs — not just as a source of food but also for the heat needed to cook them. Or more specifically, their droppings — the fuel fed to a biogas digester, a tank that converts organic waste into methane gas.
Driving through thick smog in Kigali, Rwanda, on November 14, 2017. The land-locked African nation relies on hydropower and wood-burning for its energy, emissions from which combine with automotive and bike exhaust to form a blanket of pollution. While Rwanda is making an effort to source more climate-friendly fuels, like biogas, the country has already experienced temperature increases higher than the global average, which are projected to continue to rise by 2.5 degrees Celsius from its 1970 temperatures, by the 2050s. (Photograph by Yana Paskova)
Even human waste can be put to use this way. All of Rwanda’s prison kitchens reuse waste from inmates, mixed with cow dung. Some prisons have cut their use of firewood and consequent damage to soil and air by 75 percent.
Twelve-year-old Sandra Gihozo cringes as smoke rises from a pot of beans, stoking the wooden fire beneath it in Mount Kigali village in Rwanda, on November 12, 2017. Her aunt Ruth Uwamahoro says Sandra's eyes and throat often hurt from the smoke, and that wood gathering sometimes makes her miss schoolwork. (Photograph by Yana Paskova)
Replacing more firewood and charcoal, which is used by at least two-thirds of Rwanda’s population for cooking, with biogas could free people from long hours otherwise spent gathering wood. This would in turn improve their health and the economy, along with mitigating environmental damage from deforestation, soil erosion, particulate pollution and carbon monoxide from cooking fires.
Marie Claire Nyirahabumufasha, 31-year-old mother to Nayituriki Bienvenu, holds her one-year-old as she cooks potatoes in a small hut near her restaurant in Kigali village in Rwanda, on November 12, 2017. Marie Claire hires others to bring her wood for cooking, and says her eyes and throat often hurt from doing so over smoke. She added she would definitely prefer using biogas over firewood if she had the option. (Photograph by Yana Paskova)
There's no cost, complicated instructions or unpleasant scent in operating the clean, blue biogas flame, and whatever manure the system does not use can be utilized as extra fertilizer. Despite its advantages, adopting biogas in Rwanda has been slow; there are about 11,000 digesters in the nation’s prisons, schools and homes. The obstacles include having enough waste (one or two cows or pigs, or approximately 400 human beings) and access to water to fuel digesters, unfamiliarity with the technology and a shortage of skilled maintenance personnel. Additionally, there is a poor marketing campaign and the limited buying power of the beneficiaries of biogas systems — which, despite government and NGO subsidies, remain unaffordable for the majority of Rwandans.
A child carries wooden sticks by a road snaking through Mount Kigali, Rwanda on November 15, 2017. (Photograph by Yana Paskova)
All of this to say that despite growing biogas use worldwide over the past two decades, biogas for fuel is still a young concept in Rwanda.
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Photographs and reportage for this project were supported by a fellowship from the International Women's Media Foundation.
Kamana Jean, 56 years old, carries wood by a road snaking through Mount Kigali, Rwanda on November 17, 2017. Jean said he'd be more happy to use something else - like biogas - to cook with, adding that wood smoke flavors his food and it is hard on the body, creating problems with eyesight for him and his eight children and wife. (Shortly after gathering this particular wood pile, Jean was surrounded by a group of people who demanded he surrender their wood to them.) (Photograph by Yana Paskova)
Terrace farming, which helps decrease erosion and surface runoff, is seen on November 15, 2017 in the Rulindo District, Rwanda. Wood gathering causes much of the deforestation and soil erosion in the country. (Photograph by Yana Paskova)
Nyiranzabanita Emeliane, 42, carries wooden sticks used for cooking on November 14, 2017 in Shyorongi, Rwanda. She says she sometimes spends hours per day, at times in faraway corners of the woods, to find what she needs, usually using it to cook sweet potatoes and cassava. (Photograph by Yana Paskova)
A neighborhood child plays with the Oxfam biogas digester of Jean Claude Niyibizi, 30, and his wife Christine Manirafasha, 26, on November 16, 2017 in their home in Gakenke, Rwanda. Manirafasha says it is easier and quicker to cook with biogas, and that smoke had become a problem while cooking with wood. Her only adjustment, she says, was to remember to turn the gauge to the off position. Having the digester has also allowed her to develop other activities, like a chicken farm and tailoring business. (Photograph by Yana Paskova)
A pair of pigs owned by Christine Manirafasha, 26, and her husband, Jean Claude Niyibizi, 30, rest in their yard in Gakenke, Rwanda on November 16, 2017. . (Photograph by Yana Paskova)
Mwizeneza Winfrid, 62, traverses her yard, where she raises cows, pigs and goats, on November 15, 2017 in the Rulindo District, Rwanda. Winfrid has been a recipient of a biogas digester by a government-financed private company, and says she wishes everybody had access to biogas - not only to drastically reduce cooking time that is otherwise much lengthier when using wood, but also to reduce damage to the environment. She uses the poo discarded from the digester as soil fertilizer. (Photograph by Yana Paskova)
Jean Claude Niyibizi, 30, sweeps up pig poo as his wife, Christine Manirafasha, 26, (not seen,) cooks food with a grill connected to a biogas digester received via Oxfam, on November 16, 2017 in their home in Gakenke, Rwanda. (Photograph by Yana Paskova)
The animal poo inside Etiene Twagirayezu's biogas digester, seen in front of his home in Rutabo, Rwanda on November 18, 2017. Twagirayezu says that before his digester, he'd spend up to 3 hours a day gathering 10 kilograms of wood, and saw kids get injured climbing trees and be late to school doing the same. He added he was happy his workload at home was reduced due to being able to use his cow's and pig's poo instead of wood as fuel, as well as about the resulting decrease of deforestation. (Photograph by Yana Paskova)
Etiene Twagirayezu, 60, talks about his biogas digester in front of his home in Rutabo, Rwanda, on November 18, 2017. (Photograph by Yana Paskova)
(C-R) Christine Manirafasha, 26, and her husband, Jean Claude Niyibizi, 30, who are the recipients of an Oxfam biogas digester, prepare to eat some eggs they've cooked with it on November 16, 2017 in their home in Gakenke, Rwanda. (Photograph by Yana Paskova)
Prisoners rest in between cooking food via peat and biogas at Rwamagana Prison in Rwamagana, Rwanda, on November 18, 2017. All of Rwanda's prisons use their prisoners' waste - in addition to that of cows - to fuel their kitchens via biogas. At Rwamagana, biogas is used to cook corn, and peat cooks rice and beans. Many prisoners say they can usually tell when biogas is used due to the lack of smokey flavor in food. (Photograph by Yana Paskova)
Prisoners cook corn at Rwamagana Prison in Rwamagana, Rwanda, on November 18, 2017. (Photograph by Yana Paskova)
A prisoner stands near a biogas digester system (within the cement containers) at Rwamagana Prison in Rwamagana, Rwanda, on November 18, 2017. (Photograph by Yana Paskova)
Explosive-laden drones that targeted Saudi Arabia's royal palace in the kingdom's capital last month were launched from inside Iraq, a senior Iran-backed militia official in Baghdad and a U.S. official said. Speaking to The Associated Press this week, the militia official said three drones were launched from Iraqi-Saudi border areas by a relatively unknown Iran-backed faction in Iraq and crashed into the royal complex in Riyadh on Jan. 23, exacerbating regional tensions. Attacks on the Saudi capital have been sporadic amid the kingdom's yearslong war against neighboring Yemen's Houthi rebels.
The next few days will give Republicans opportunities to stand together or fight among themselves, first when the House of Representatives votes on a $1.9 trillion coronavirus package on Friday and again when Donald Trump retakes the global spotlight in a speech to the party's most conservative members. The Republican leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives - Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy - have focused on rallying their caucuses against Democratic President Joe Biden's massive bill and away from internal hostilities over the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and former President Trump's impeachment. But those efforts could prove hard to maintain when Trump speaks to the Conservative Political Action Committee on Sunday and likely wades into the party's efforts retake congressional majorities in 2022.
The first big real-world study of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to be independently reviewed shows the shot is highly effective at preventing COVID-19, in a potentially landmark moment for countries desperate to end lockdowns and reopen economies. Up until now, most data on the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines has come under controlled conditions in clinical trials, leaving an element of uncertainty over how results would translate into the real world with its unpredictable variables. The research in Israel - two months into one of the world's fastest rollouts, providing a rich source of data - showed two doses of the Pfizer shot cut symptomatic COVID-19 cases by 94% across all age groups, and severe illnesses by nearly as much.
New variants of COVID-19 risk a third wave of infections in Germany and the country must proceed with great care so that a new nationwide shutdown does not become necessary, Chancellor Angela Merkel told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The number of new daily infections has stagnated over the past week with the seven-day incidence rate hovering at around 60 cases per 100,000. On Wednesday, Germany reported 8,007 new infections and 422 further deaths.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he’s concerned Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plan to establish a commission to probe the assault on the U.S. Capitol would be overly “partisan.”
The ruling Communist Party is celebrating the official end of extreme poverty in China with a propaganda campaign that praises President Xi Jinping’s role, part of efforts to cement his image as a history-making leader who is reclaiming his country’s rightful place as a global power. The propaganda apparatus has been linking national successes to Xi, including fighting the coronavirus, China’s rise as a technology creator and December’s successful lunar mission to bring back moon rocks. The party announced in November, with little fanfare, that China no longer had anyone in extreme poverty.
When “WandaVision” wraps its initial run next month on the Disney+ streaming service, Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda will make her next appearance in the big-screen “Doctor Strange” sequel. It’s storytelling that determines how and when characters from the Marvel Comics universe hopscotch between TV and movies, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige said Wednesday. “All of the crossover between series, between films, will always vary based on the story,” Feige said.
Jim Watson./GettyLouis DeJoy had a defiant message on Wednesday for those craving to see him ousted as U.S. Postmaster General: “Get used to me.”The comment came after Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN) asked the embattled U.S. Postal Service chief how long he would remain as Postmaster General—“long time,” DeJoy spat back—during a Wednesday hearing in the House Oversight Committee.That exchange was indicative of the entire proceeding, which was frequently chippy, combative, and fueled by Democratic lawmakers’ outrage over DeJoy’s handling of the USPS at a time of worsening mail delays and difficult questions about the service’s long-term viability.DeJoy’s crack to Cooper made Democrats’ blood boil even more. But he may have a point, at least for now: because the postmaster general is installed by the service’s board of governors—and not by the president—it means that President Joe Biden, or Congress, cannot fire DeJoy even if they wanted to.His removal would only be possible when Biden fills Democratic vacancies on the USPS Board of Governors, which has the authority to hire and fire postmasters general. Confirming those spots in the Senate will take time, though the Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Biden has identified three nominees to move forward.In the meantime, though, Democratic lawmakers are working with DeJoy on urgent legislation to reform the agency’s finances and employee pension burden, even while many publicly call for his resignation.To many Democrats, DeJoy’s performance on Wednesday on Capitol Hill may make that balancing act harder: they found much to dislike not only in what the postmaster general said, but how he said it.“I gotta say—I just don’t think the postmaster gets it,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), a member of the Oversight Committee who questioned DeJoy on Wednesday about the agency’s delivery standards. “I think it’s time for him to go.”“I thought he approached a lot of our questions with that exact same attitude, which was one of sneering condescension,” Krishnamoorthi told The Daily Beast after the hearing, invoking DeJoy’s response to Cooper. “That’s not gonna fly, man. Not gonna fly.”Wednesday’s hearing was the second time in DeJoy’s short tenure that he has been subjected to a high-profile grilling in the House Oversight Committee. Shortly after taking the USPS’ top job in June 2020, delays and irregularities quickly began to mount—a particularly alarming development for lawmakers on the eve of an election in which more voters than ever planned to vote by mail.Biden to Nominate 3 New USPS Board Members, Opening Path to Oust DeJoyIn a contentious August 2020 hearing, Democrats interrogated the former logistics executive and GOP mega-donor on everything from cuts in overtime hours to the price of a stamp. Questioning from Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) produced a memorable DeJoy response: “I will submit that I know very little about postage and stamps.”By the time House Democrats called DeJoy back to Capitol Hill this week, their worst fears about the USPS delays’ impact on the voting system had failed to materialize. But they still had plenty of questions about DeJoy’s stewardship of the USPS: in October, the USPS inspector general issued a report finding that the changes DeJoy made to delivery schedules and protocol led to the worsening delays. Already battered by the pandemic, the USPS limped into a busy holiday season, and is now providing the poorest service that many longtime observers of the agency have ever seen.Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-MI), a member of the Oversight panel, was a 29-year veteran of the USPS before she came to Congress. She told The Daily Beast after the hearing that she has never seen the service in such dire straits as it is now: “I don’t think we’ve ever confronted this,” she said.The unprecedented delays are happening around the country. In Washington, D.C., just 40 percent of all first-class mail arrived on time by the end of December 2020—compared to nearly 90 percent the same time the year before. Chicago residents are receiving holiday packages a month-and-a-half late. Lawmakers are inundated with calls and emails from frustrated constituents looking for answers; this week, 33 senators signed a letter to DeJoy asking him to explain the recent delays.DeJoy apologized for those delays at the top of Wednesday’s hearing. “We must acknowledge that during this peak season we fell far short of meeting our service goals,” he said. “I apologize to those customers who felt the impact of our delays"But Lawrence expressed concern about DeJoy’s forthcoming “strategic plan” to get the USPS through this difficult stretch. Though the postmaster general has not revealed specifics, he testified on Wednesday that he will propose cuts to delivery standards, including the standard that local mail be delivered within two days. Democrats believe that would be a disastrous move at a time when the USPS is struggling to compete with private-sector competitors, particularly if it is coupled with consumer cost increases, which DeJoy has suggested.“To say that’s what’s bold and needed… that’s not leadership,” said Lawrence. “He has to prove himself. He heard us loud and clear, that he needs to prove himself.”The Michigan Democrat stopped short of saying that DeJoy deserved removal, and told The Daily Beast that she and other Democrats are working with the USPS on postal reform legislation. On Wednesday, CNN reported that Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) was supportive of working with DeJoy to pass reforms.In the wake of the new political reality in Washington, the postmaster general has begun to attempt outreach to Democratic lawmakers. Lawrence said that during the last administration, DeJoy did not take her calls or respond to her—but after the 2020 election, they had a “cordial” call.Other Democrats see any charm offensive as too little, too late. Krishnamoorthi said he is supportive of working with whatever USPS leadership is in office in order to pass reforms, but argued that DeJoy should go as soon as is possible.Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), a senior member of the Oversight Committee, issued a statement after DeJoy’s hearing hailing Biden’s nomination of three appointees to the USPS Board of Governors—and explicitly stated his hope they would remove DeJoy. “These nominations are an important first step toward reforming the Postal Service,” said Connolly. “My hope is the newly constituted Board will do the right thing and bring in a new, qualified Postmaster General.”A majority of the nine-member board would be required to support DeJoy’s removal. Currently, there are four Republican appointees, and two Democratic appointees. If all Biden’s choices are confirmed, Democrats would hold a majority on the board.The Republicans on the Oversight Committee had questions for DeJoy about mail delays, but largely cast him as a victim in an anti-Trump Democratic crusade. Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the top Republican on the panel, compared the party’s concerns about USPS delays—and Trump’s potential role in those delays—to the Trump impeachment investigation he said was predicated on “baseless conspiracies.”Far-right Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), meanwhile, suggested that the root cause of USPS delays was actually the Black Lives Matter protests that took place over the summer, and read articles from fringe outlets like the Gateway Pundit to prove his point. And Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) raised the unfounded belief in widespread conspiracies about election fraud while saying it was not time to get into “specifics.”At one point, tempers flared when Connolly said that Republicans who voted to object to the Electoral College certification on Jan. 6 had “no right to lecture” anyone on the dangers of partisanship.Democrats left more concerned about the fate of the USPS, however, than the state of things in Congress. “It’s not some theoretical concept,” said Krishnamoorthi. “It’s not some abstract issue, it’s real for every single one of us… I’ve gotta tell you, people are starting to work around the mail, which is a scary concept.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
