Back in the States and working on the next project

Just arrived back in the states and already busy working on the next two projects. I have been making some design changes to support the increased power requirements to run a remote clinic. Equals3's goal is to only have two very specific designs. One to run our school program and the second to run our clinic program. The school system is working extremely well and we have refined the components and installation process to a point where we can meet 95% of the schools needs. This solution saves money, installation time, and support while still giving a remote school ample power to meet almost all of their requirements! The clinic program is a bit more complicated because of the need to power additional medical equipment. I am busy working with the local development community in Kenya to try and accurately determine what the true clinic requirements are so we can find a way to package a solution similar to how we deliver power to a school. Once we understand that, we can find a way to package a consistent clinic solution so we can build it cheaper, faster, and make it so it can easily be maintained for several clinics. Man...this is fun stuff! John

Visited Sereliopi school

Took a drive east towards Somalia to visit a Samburu school. Equals3 has agreed to get involved with NRT to assist in projects for the Northern Territory of Kenya. Check out our links page of the website for details on NRT. They are an amazing organization that has the community development skills we require to have success with our projects. The photo is of the village that surrounds the school. I spent about 30 minutes with the head master discussing the challenges of educating a nomadic culture. I continue to learn so much. John
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Singing Wells of Samburu

Visited the singing wells of Samburu. Tribes have been coming to the wells for generations. The wells can be as deep as seven people depending on the drought. They use cans to hand the water up to each person and they sign songs to alert their specific herds to come to the water. Each family has its own song for their herds. The animals know the family song to come for water. You are not allowed to photograph the Samburu people and the wells. Very limited information exists about the wells because the Samburu wells are very private. The photo is of one of the elders spears which he allowed me to take. John
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Our Samburu Guide

Went for a walk through the lower plains of our camp at Sarara. Being on foot is wonderful because you can engage wildlife at eye level. We had a guide with us that was showing us tracks and explaining sounds and plants. The photo is of our guides assistant who was there is case we stumbled upon an elephant or Leopard.
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Leaving Lewa for Sarara

Heading north for a few days to see the Mathews Range. Heard amazing things about the area and Sarara Camp. We chartered a Sesna 206 for the journey. John
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Our next project

We site reviewed Equals3's next project. Loborua Clinic which serves several thousand people is located in a Masaii village near our Leparua school project. Power is a critical step for this clinic to attract nurses and doctors. Also the facility needs to have basic lab equipment and refrigeration. This will save many lives. The closest clinic with power is a days walk. This location is perfect for our design and equipment and we are starting now to raise money for a 2012 installation. Your donations will go a long way to making this happen. Please go to our website or click on the donate link on the right. Thank you for all the support. John
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Visited Leparua school

Went back and checked in on Leparua primary school where our first two projects have occurred. Things looked great. The power system is working perfectly and I was able to review data from the system and see how and what they school has been doing. They requested adding another room with lights for additional evening classes. Based on how well they have been managing the power, it is not a problem. The head master was so happy with the news. They will now raise the money for the wiring and lights! It was great to see everything working perfectly and to hear the stories of success from the teachers. John

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Our work is done!

We are heading back to camp from Karimba with the worst ladder ever made. All is good. We heard exciting reports from the teachers via the Lewa community development. They have so many exciting plans for students and parents now that they have electricity. John
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An exciting moment

Nathan Muthomi is one of the committee members for education at Karimba school. He was there when we powered on the lights for the first time. He was speechless. He brought is son Jacob over to see the event because Jacob will be one of the first students that will be using the lights for evening preps. Jacob is hoping to get a scholarship to attend high school. Kids only get to study past eighth grade if they have good grades and evening classes will help these children improve their chances. John
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We have power at Karimba

It was long day but we completed everything at Karimba primary school. Because some equipment we purchased in Nairobi was not actually what we requested, we had a few technical issues to resolve that we would not normally face. Some wiring was mismarked and installed wrong so we had to climb back up to the panels and re-wire. The problem was that all we had was a bent 16foot ladder that we would not even allow in the US. With some rope and stupidity I climb up to confirm the error and attempted to correct it. It became clear that I would need a 7ft basketball player to reach the connectors so I had to go with option 2. You guess it. Option 1 was bad so option 2 was worse. I put on protective eye wear and gloves and re-wire hot leads in the junction box to correct the errors above. It worked great. I only got shocked once and had only two small spark events that freaked out everyone. I don't recommend doing this at home but for anyone who knows me option two is no surprise. Several hours later we were up and running with everyone cheering. Over the next month Lewa will be funding more lights and power outlets to run laptops. Now it is time for me to have a few beers! John
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Another day another flat tire

We keep getting our exercise changing tires. Another flat cause by tough road conditions. We are out of spare tires now (smile)
John
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Local Rug Weaving

Visited a group of woman that hand weave rugs today. They are located on Lewa and sell the rugs at gift shops at the high end tourist lodges. They were wonderful and gave us a tour. They start with wool sheered locally and they spin the yarn in the building next to the looms. All the spinning is done by hand on old style wheels. Artists have created several patterns and images which are then hand weaved on several looms. This is a great example of how small enterprises can be successful. It was a great visit and the women could not have been more gracious. John
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The Drive

No surprise when the rains come the driving gets more difficult. With all the holes and ruts the terrain can be a challenge. The schools we are visiting are not in easy locations to visit so we end up with a lot of road damage. This trip we have had 2 blown tires, a busted mirror and several slides down hills and roads. No worries...the 4x4 is fine...not so sure about us! John
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We are almost done at Karimba!

Had a busy day today working at Karimba. We got about 95% of the installation complete. The last 5% is always the worst. We have power running but 4 solar panels need to be re-wired. They are very high off the ground and these panels arrived incorrect connections on them. Not a surprise the connections were wrong when dealing with vendors in Nairobi. We are still learning who we can trust! Sorry I diverged...we tried to make the connections on the panels work but it seems to have failed. We need to get back up there and cut and strip the wires the old fashioned way. Sounds simple but we don't have any normal ladders to reach this area. I know I will dream something up. We also need to connect the system to the building junction box. We are requesting that the school buy the wire as they need to invest in the electricity they will be getting. We should be back on Wednesday to complete everything! The good news is the everything has been tested and it works great. John
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Sunday a day of rest

Today we took it easy. I did a run to the school this morning and checked on few things we need for tomorrow. We all met up later to visit the equator to work on our tans. Actually, we stopped in at one of the oldest and beautiful clubs in Africa. The Mount Kenya Safari Club is amazing and you feel like you are transported back in time. John
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Nothing goes to waste

The head master at the school has been so gracious and thankful for our efforts. We were in the process of cleaning up the cardboard packing material to take back with us to Lewa when he made a request to keep it. He explained that at this school they offer 3-5 year olds day-care to assist the parents who work in the fields farming and the cardboard will make great story boards for the kids to draw on and place on the walls. Very cool...

I think that he may have been more excited about the large cardboard sheets than the actual power system! (just kidding). John

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Solar Panels are installed

We rigged a truck to support a ladder and were able to get the solar panels bolted and wired into place. The new solar frame kit I designed worked great but we ran into a snag with ground wiring which we will fix on Monday. I will have the designs modified for the next project to fix the issue. Each time we do this we improve the process. Rain was our enemy today. When we got to Karimba, the roads were washed out. If the rains continue, we might face delays next week. We also had to modify the equipment mounting board in the building to handle the amount of equipment we have to install. This was no easy task since we had to cut a 4ft long board with only a hacksaw blade. Really...that is all we had. It took about an hour of sawing but we got it done! Monday we will be back to install the power equipment if the weather permits. Thanks for all the great emails and support. John
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Loading trucks for Karimba

We set out this morning with two trucks and some local labor to deliver and install the heavy equipment. Once everything is there, we can attempt to install the solar panels. While the weather is ok where are storage facility is located on Lewa, we are headed up to the Mt Kenya hills where the rains have started. It is surprisingly cool here and cold where we are working. Karimba is at over 7000ft elevation and has started the rainy season. John
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Elvis is in the house

I walked out of my room unaware that Elvis was next to me. He is a young black rhino who hangs out in the area. His mother is blind and Elvis was bottle fed when he was young. He is wild but likes to hang around humans. He has no idea how strong or big he is. I sat and watch him for an hour devour all the nice plants next to our building. He snapped a tasty tree in half so he could eat it easier. Finally people came to run him off the property and try and save the landscape. I think he will be back tonight! John
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Site review of Karimba

We did the site review of Karimba school today. On this project we were less hands on compared to the last one. I supplied details technical drawings I created based on the last project with a list of things to be constructed. I was a bit concerned on how this would work out but I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived. They had completed all of the tasks and had resolved some of the more challenging issues. They installed the frame structure higher than we expected. The good news is that the panels will be safer from theft. The bad news is we are not sure how to get the panels installed at that height. We spent the day trying to buy a few 15foot ladders but none exist within a few hundred miles. We have decided to build a rig on a truck we can borrow and use it to climb up under the frame. I am sure pictures will follow after we try tomorrow! Should be fun. We also have an issue on the power room we had built with how the mounting boards are installed. We are going to take them down tomorrow and try and cut them to size. We only have a small hand saw so it will be a challenge. More to follow...wish us luck!
John
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Lewa Communications Director

Met with Ruwaydah Abdul-Rahman today and discussed how to take advantage of our joint efforts to get the word out about Lewa and Equals3. They will be issuing out an eNews letter next week which will include a story about our Karimba project plus links to our site and blog. The news letter goes out worldwide to Lewa donors. On our sites we have links to Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and we will be adding more links that reflect education and conservation and how the two work together. John
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Meeting with Lewa Education Director

Had a great meeting with Faith Ruinga, Lewa Education Director. Without her groups support, the school power systems we install would not be used by the community effectively. It is essential that the areas we work in have a strong community development organization. They do the real work to educate the community and to bring other donors to the area to assist in bringing computers and education to the community. Faith is standing in front of a mural that has been painted in the new education center at Lewa. It will be used to educate children on why conservation brings real opportunity to the surrounding areas. It is a very effective tool against poaching. John
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Arrived at Lewa

We arrived at Lewa to start the Karimba school project. We had a chance to meet with the new CEO of Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, Mike Watson, on our way to our accommodations. We talked about all of the projects that are ahead of us and the expansion of Lewa's role in community development with the Northern Range Trust. There are many projects we can assist on over the next several years. Most importantly, there are school and clinic projects that will need our skills to help jump start electricity to solve other critical issues. Exciting times ahead! Visit www.Equals3Foundation.org for links to Lewa and NRT. John
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