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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