Last blog report on this trip…March 30,2007

Leaving tomorrow 3 pm Salina time, I plan on about 35 hours of travel time, hopefully it will be uneventful.

Things have come together. All the problems of finding parts and improvising are behind us now. The generator is running after the seller sent a tech to fix it. The trenches have been filled in covering all the armored cable we laid to supply the out buildings here at Hope House.

A new Internet system and café is on line now and working very well. People marvel at the speed, nothing like it locally. Dirk has done a fantastic job of setting it up and training people to install cable, trouble shoot it, and run it.

A totally new electrical service is now installed with breakers feeding different areas, something they never had here. The generator transfer is an easy task with the only problem is keeping diesel in it.

Finally got a break from the heat today. A dust storm blew into town and after depositing a layer of dust we got some rain.

Lots of sites and sounds have been experienced this trip….pictures to follow…

Pedro

3rd post march 21,2007

3^rd posting from Nigeria,

March 21, 2007

Another hot day in Zaria Nigeria. Saw a thermometer showing 110 degrees. Felt air conditioning for the first time today by going in a car ride to get parts.

Got the BIG generator problem figured out but not fixed. The electric fuel pump quit after about 20 minutes of run time. The outfit that sold the unit is baulking at replacing it under warranty and that is slowing the fixing down. We can maybe tear it down and try to fix it which will surely void the warranty or buy a new one, but the trip to Abuja is 3+ hours away to get one…negotiating is basically a controlled argument with a lot of short bursts of words and hand gestures, it would not work well in the states, probably would start a lot of fights.

Good news! The shipment of internet parts have arrived in Abuja and should be here on Thursday. More to report later.

Going to OM Harry’s tomorrow and move the 17’ dish and 30 foot tower back to the Hope House compound. We will use the 17 footer to work with the university students to bounce signals off the moon, fun times on the next trip…

Power has been off almost all the time and we have been using a small generator to keep some lights and a few fans on, I’m charging my laptop off of it right now. Since Monday the utility power has been on less than 12 hours….

Been using the portable BGAN satellite system to get these posts out and check the mail. If you want to get me the only way now is to send me an email to.

Trek@petesias.com

Using the sat system has been in valuable; we used it to find out about the late shipment of parts.

That’s is about it for now…

Pedro

2nd posting

Second entry, still Tuesday night.

It is hot this time in Nigeria, very hot, almost 100 degrees F.

It is dry this time in Nigeria, everything is brown, dry and hot like a Kansas summer with no wind.

Dust is covering everything, towels need to be shook out before use and water is at a premium. Part of the city of Zaria is depending on the hope house for drinking water because it has the only good working well. Kids bring push carts that hold about 10 five gallon plastic jugs that they fill with cool,, clear water from the well the go and sell each jug for 50 Naria, about 40 cents. We cannot drink this water, maybe after sometime our system would get use to it but no sense in flushing out the system so early. It has a metallic taste as I found out last trip.

Things we have gotten done so far:

Generator started and tested. Then a fuel problem developed and we will go for parts tomorrow (Wednesday)

Mast for the satellite internet put in a 4'x'4'x4' hole and filled with concrete. Our shipment of Internet parts from the states has not arrived yet, thanks British Airways. For saying it would be there last Friday and as of Monday still had not left London. They told our shipper it would be here on the Tuesday night flight, we'll see tomorrow........

Linda and Barb held a conference on pediatric eye care. About 12 doctors attended an all day event in the new conference center at the Hope House.

Merric and Cheri went to ABU university to work with the art department.

So tomorrow has a parts run, a check for the shipment, see OM Harry about the 17' dish antenna, and get more drinking water. Going through tons of it. Its hot, dry, and dusty....

first post from Nigeria this trip...

Tuesday night the 20th........

First entry into the blog on this trip and it has been unique as almost all our trips......

Getting the luggage right involved weighing and re-arranging at Linda's house in the driveway. 12 bags most weighing right at the 50 lb limit and 2 at almost 70 lbs. Dirk has some much stuff and was prepared to pay for the extra bag. Left Salina Saturday at 1 pm to catch of 5:30 flight to Minneapolis from Wichita. The counter guy was fantastic, no problems on the weight and no charge for the extra bag. This is something that does not happen often.

Flight to Minneapolis went smooth until I noticed we flew by the airport then the pilot said we have some trouble with the flaps and needed to sort it out. So with that done they requested to have the crash trucks meet us on the runway. No problems landing and it was fun to watch the fire engines chase us.

All night flight to Amsterdam was smooth until I spilt my red wine on the guy sitting next to me, good thing he was wearing black pants and was old and small......2 movies later and some sleep we were headed for the gate and the flight to Abuja Nigeria, 6 hours flight time with the Dutch flight crew. Why they say every announcement in Dutch is beyond me, the only Dutch folks were the crew.

Arrived in Abuja at 8:30 Sunday evening with HEAVY smog and smoke in the air. Total flight air time was 17 hours. By this time we have picked up Barb in Minneapolis and Merric in Amsterdam. Barb is from KC and Merric hales from Savanna. Fun people to have on this trip. All 7 of us ready to head to the Hope House after a stay air conditioned stay in an Abuja motel, it had new razor wire around the compound and a swimming pool, didn't get into either one.