I’m busy with my master’s thesis but also have other things going on. We finally saw the announcement of the Project for Awesome video winners today. Sadly we weren’t among the winning groups. But we must have been very close. We were featured on the main event and got many views for a first-time entry. They chose 30 charities and who knows, we might have been the 31st on the list. So, I’m a bit disappointed. But we still have a good video for Suubi, and we can try again next year.

Meanwhile, I experimented some more with recycled plastic. I made 2 things: a mattress cover prototype, and a toy car. The mattress cover will hopefully be something that our women in Uganda can develop. They had trouble getting the plastic to be thin yet sturdy enough. I tried laminating a layer of mosquito netting between plastic sheets, and it worked! I had random scrap material, so the resulting prototype was colorful. One side is the plastic, the other side is line with fabric. I sent this prototype to Suubi along with some books for the leaders. They really are trying to find ways beyond the difficulty and I hope this can help.

As for the toy car, that was a result of an experiment gone wrong: I had made a cutting board and tried to even it out. But that made it worse, so I melted it again to form a round sheet in a cake pan. It was still pretty rough. But I decided to use the material to make a toy car! I “designed” the pieces out in paper template and cut them out of the plastic. Most of the connections were done with bamboo skewers, wire, and holes. I occasionally added screws but not many. The result is rough and probably not that sturdy. But I think it’s cute nonetheless. What do you think? Have you ever built a toy out of trash? Leave a comment if you like, and have a great day!