Next to the last

day in Zaria. Thought I would post some
pictures that I found interesting.........

• 1 swing, 100s of kids

• Before looking North East. Picture taken from the tower at the 50 foot level on Monday.

• Same direction, North East, taken on Friday. To say it is a very hazy day is an understatement. The air is a combination of dust and smog.

• Sewing while you wait. A street vendor stopped in to do any sewing that is needed. He is making a key holder and hoping to sell it. Well worn old tools with a gentle smile. The facial scars are tribal markings made at birth.
  

• Some older kids from the water well area. Styling.........

• Yes, Please be careful with this! Sign in Internet control room at Hope House.

• It's all about marketing...........Seen in Zaria
  

Enjoy from Pete

Ahmadu Bello University

abbreviated ABU was where I lectured today. The university is big with an enrollment of over 20,000 and has a 5 year engineering degree program.
The invitation to speak was initiated by Steven, one of the university students I got to know from previous visits. I indicated to Steven I was willing to share my experiences with his class mates on engineering work in the USA and he took it from there. I was formally invited by Dr. Mu'azu, department head of electrical engineering to talk on any subject matter that would be interesting to electrical engineering students.
I titled my talk "Made in Nigeria" in which I stressed the entrepreneurial aspects of engineering work. I discussed economic justice and how it is important to their country in order to compete with imported goods. We discussed the lack of practical training in their education and it was echoed by professor Mu'azu that they need basic parts in order to build projects. I discussed the role Hope House can play in their education by being an incubator. One that provides a laboratory, tools, and parts for developing projects that these students design. This will be a major effort in both time and money to equip this technical center.

The talk was well received by over 50 students and once they got over the initial shock that they could be business men and women, the questions flowed.
In the question and answer session they were direct and honest with their concerns about competing with cheap imported goods. How they were going to get practical training and acquire the tools to write micro processor software were discussed. Hope House and the planned technical center will play a major role in making this happen. We have an informal understanding with the university to work together on these needs and this will be a big part of my future work. Dr. Mu'azu is planning on visiting Hope House tomorrow and I hope to have more time to discuss our relationship with the university. Nigeria will benefit from these young, intelligent, focused, and want to succeed engineers. All they need is the tools and guidance to get started, like I got 25 years ago. Email me if you would like a copy of the power point I presented.

The children came

to Hope House. They are brought by their parents seeking help in raising a child with special needs, a difficult task in any society but compounded by tough living conditions here in central Nigeria. As the pictures will show, the love of the child by the parent is very evident. Here is a couple of human interest stories of how the low vision conference is helping families.

The child care team of Anne and Barb worked with the children, aka 'playing' and teaching the parents ways to help the child develop skills. They brought with them books and toys of all colors, shapes, and sizes, which is surprisingly missing in many children's lives here.
Anne said she is going to visit the kitchen pantry to improvise / fashion some toys from can goods or what ever she may find. Come to think of it, I rarely see children in any typical activities other than soccer and that is with an improvised ball. No hide and seek, no trucks or cars in the dirt, no dolls, no make believe, and none playing with a pet animal. But I do see many on the streets selling peanuts or fruit that they carry on their heads. Apparently it is survival and no time for play........

Barb is 'playing' with a child who has albinism and is 19 months old. She started by using balls to determine at what distance she can 'see' or focus. Next she used an Elmo book that has big shapes and bright colors for her to look at. There is a high probability that this child has never had a book before. The black mat on the floor provides a high contrast for the child to see the toys.

This 8 year old girl traveled with her mother and grandmother from
Abuja, a 4 hour drive. She attends a school for the blind in Abuja and is a very good student. Having very limited sight, she has to put things within inches of her eyes to make any thing out. There is a possibility that surgery could restore her sight but the risks of losing what little sight she has if things go wrong has made the surgery unacceptable. Hope House has offered to have her stay during the summer school vacation period and learn how to use computers to accelerate her learning.

I'm proud to be a part of this good work......................................

Future engineers of Nigeria

have been attending classes at Hope House Technical Center. These engineering students are enrolled in both mechanical and electrical disciplines at ABU university. Most are in their 5th year of studies and will graduate this spring.

The Hope House Tech center was started to provide additional training and exposure to technology not normally taught in the university. I first became involved with 5 students in September of 2006 when, with their help, we installed the first amateur radio station for the blind in Nigeria. I was so impressed with these student's attitudes, intellect, and desire to learn that I wanted to do more teaching. During my visit in March of 2007 there was very little time that I could spend with the students due to their class schedules but we did manage to visit about their needs and wants. From this discussion it was decided to do future training in micro processor computer development which is the heart of almost every modern day electronic device.

For this trip things were going to work out well with their class schedules and my time here at Hope House. 8 students were able to commit to 3 afternoons of hands on training in learning the basics of computer controls. What would be a semester course was covered in 2 intense days to get the process started. The students preformed brilliantly! On the second day we were programming a computer chip using the hardware I brought with me.
Armed with this knowledge of how things work they can begin to identify opportunities to design and build electronic devices to solve problems. One student is going to design a water tank control system that will automate what has been a manual process. I have encouraged them to be entrepreneurs and control their own destiny and I think it starting to happen. By being engineers and solving problems then starting businesses to build the products will help create economic justice by reducing imported technology. Built in Nigeria!

The final day of training focused on a project for Hope House. Dirk and I brought with us hand held radios (walkie talkies) and a UHF repeater system. The radios are needed to enhance security and provide a way for staff to stay in touch with each other to become more efficient. The Ultra High Frequency repeater is a device that extends the range of the hand held radios. Being exposed to 2 way radio design was a new concept to the students and it is not taught at their university. After installing an antenna part way up the tower then soldering connectors, the repeater was turned on. It was an instant success. Andee could communicate from the far reaches of the city with only a hand held radio to the staff at Hope House! Another successful project that also taught by involving many in the process........

Even though the 3 days was not near enough time to cover everything I wanted to, we have the foundation started that I'm sure with their enthusiasm great things are going to happen. Besides, we have the Hope House Internet system to stay in touch with to keep the fires going......

The international low vision conference

started today with a large attendance. The Hope House retreat / conference center was the kick off point for this years conference designed to train health care professionals from all regions of Africa in techniques for eye care. Doctors, nurses, and educators from many African regions are in attendance to hear from the team of eye professionals from the US and Canada. It was very gratifying to see such a large number of people fill the conference center.

Dr. Linda Lawrence has assembled a great team of eye care professionals that are sharing their knowledge and techniques with conference attendees who will in turn use this knowledge in their home locales. After the opening ceremonies with speeches from government dignitaries which included the minister of health, groups formed to hear from the presenters. In the afternoon part of the presenters traveled across town to the ABU teaching hospital to work with the doctors there.

This is really a big event and a very important first for the Hope House to be the nucleus of learning and the facilitator of an
important health conference in Nigeria.

The rest of the group

has made it to Hope House. But before making the final drive to Zaria a stop was planned at ACCIF "All Children Charity International Foundation" in Kaduna. It is a NGO whose mission is to help children with disabilities.




Next stop in Kaduna was at the government run school
"Kaduna State School" which serves deaf and blind children. With an enrollment that is growing daily the children live in tough conditions. Current school population is around 1200 children. It is said that sometimes a child is just dropped off at the school and never picked up again.
Here Brad and Paul are interacting with some of the deaf children in the compound.



This is the 'kitchen' and the pots contain a porridge that will be today's lunch.







Now the team is at Hope House Sunday afternoon. They were delighted to see the all the improvements and have a shower. After a delicious meal together they went to work finalizing plans for this week's conference. Of course with the road warrior look it was early to bed.

At the gym

What started as a way to stay in shape was moved from behind Emma's quarters to the water well area. Nothing more than a bag of sand hanging from cross arms used for punching and pushing around, it serves a purpose. Then a home made bar bell was added. Kinda hard to change the weight........The barrel is for the younger ones to reach the cross arm.

I noticed from across the court yard the one with the orange vest using the "bar bells made with concrete" and tracked him down to get some pictures. Anytime I do that I can guarantee you there will be a crowd of friendly onlookers. This was no exception. That really put him on the spot and with good natured ribbing, his mates urged him on to put forth a massive effort that was almost there. Then Emma stepped in as the teacher and helped him with the technique to make it work.








After that Emma then demonstrated why he is so strong by lifting the bar bell without effort. Emma is Andee's right hand man for all the maintenance work around Hope House. He is extremely conscientious and tries very hard to make things work with limited resources such as using old tire inner tubes strips to warp around a leak in a water pipe. It stretches and seals quite effectively. We made a sign and hung it on his door..... "Rambo's Plumbing Service"




Anyway back to the gym. This pictures shows Emma doing an ABS sit up workout. Try that by holding your legs around the bar with your arms then do a sit up!

You can see the original sand bag hanging at the right of the cross arm. They say it is easier on the hands when punching if the sand is dry and loose versus being wet then dried out which makes it very hard.





Next another young man stepped up to show how he does his ABS work out. After first falling off the bar and shrugging off the laughter, he rubbed sand on the top of his feet for a better 'grip'
In this picture he is not holding on with his hands, he is actually doing a sit up with only his feet holding him on the bar.


Most everyone can get along fine without their flip flops for shoes. I have seen men digging a trench and leaving their flip flops off while working.

I hope you enjoyed this side of life at the Hope House where the little things are used to great effectiveness.

Pete

A new landmark

is now at the Hope House. The tower arrived yesterday around 3 PM and the workers started right away erecting it. They finished it in total darkness around 9 PM.

This tower will enable internet to be distributed into the city of Zaria where businesses need a good, reliable internet connection. Dirk will be engineering the system to also do WiFi hot spots at selected locations in the city. Hope House internet has developed a reputation of providing the most reliable and fastest internet cafe in the area and now this capability will be built out to more customers. Already people are lining up to receive the service once the equipment is installed.

As with any microwave signal, line of site to the receiver is important and having the antenna 150 feet up means more area can be covered. The tower is a product of a company located in Kaduna and is very well made.

Dr. Gani, Andee's father, is checking out the top section of the tower. Dr. Gani is the founder of Hope House and has been blind since childhood. His is a remarkable story and I will tell it sometime soon. Shortly after this picture was taken, the group gathered for prayer giving thanks and asking for safety of the tower crew.



The first section was carried by hand to the base location. This 20 foot section was lifted and set on the pre-installed anchor bolts. A couple of taps with a hammer and the tower base was set.

A gin pole is used to hoist each 10 foot section up then guided into place by the two workers.

Notice that they men are not wearing any safety belts and they have on flip flops for shoes!!













These 2 young men spent all the time on the tower without a break. Water was sent up to them on one of the sections. I did offer the boss the use of my climbing belt and safety lanyard but he politely told me the men did not need it. Funny, I will need it on the tower.........

Pete

Its hot

and dry here at the Hope House and that makes us consume large quantities of bottled water.

Some of the kids that hang out at the water well.

The last 2 days have been scorching and driven Dirk and myself inside during the afternoon hours. Yesterday we waited until late afternoon before we tackled the water system issues and then worked until 10 pm. We are trying to pressurize the gravity fed system that feeds the new retreat center rooms. With several hundred feet of small pipe between the water tanks and relying on gravity to provide some pressure for showers, that is not the best solution. A new larger plastic line was laid in and a small boost pump installed to provide some pressure. A test late last night reveled all the leaks and short comings in the plumbing system. So this morning more digging and repairing of damaged plastic pipe. We will test again later today. But first I need to run to town and try to find some faucet washers to repair the laboratories that won't shut off. This is with only 30 pounds of pressure.......

We are still expecting the 150 foot tower to be delivered and erected today. The firm that is doing the work called and said their truck was having gear problems and they are stuck on the road. Sounds like they can't get the transmission to work........

More kids with one big white one. They all loved seeing themselves after the picture was taken. A nice feature of digital cameras, instant viewing.

After food and some funny sounds, Dirk got this hound to come out of hiding and hang out with us. Last time he had a pet lizard so I think this is an improvement.

By the way I have been taking Marlarone which is an anti malaria drug, seems to be working since I have not seen any mosquitoes .


Later, Pete

To Zaria

which is about 300 km North of Abuja and a 3 + hour road trip. A taxi was hire to carry our extra luggage and Emma and at $50 dollars US that was a bargain.

Today was hot with temperatures in the high 90's and with only 4 windows down for air conditioning made for a hot trip. We did stop in Kaduna, the half way point, to grab a bite to eat at a 'French Cafe' and that was it's name. They bake their own bread and serve it with real butter with each meal, almost like home! I had the chicken and fries, Dirk had a pepperoni pizza, Andee had a pasta meal, and Emma had camel meat on a stick. My chicken must have met a violent death as I did not recognize any parts of it, but it was kinda tasty.

The roads and driving in Nigeria is a made for a free for all. No real speed limits, you dodge other things such as cars, slow trucks, motorcycles, and animals. Sometimes it is best to take a nap rather than get worked up watching all this happen.

One picture shows a "truck stop" which is no more than a point in the road where truckers stop. There are places to buy stuff but no real parking as the picture shows.

When we arrived at Hope House the first thing I noticed was the huge crowd of water salesmen. Hope House has the only really good water supply in the area and these men and boys buy water from the well, fill their carts, and then resell it in the community by going door to door.

After a hot and dry trip one really appreciates having water considering Dirk and I can not drink the well water as we will get sick, I know first hand from a previous trip.

Here you see some of the water salesmen waiting their turn at the well to fill up.








Here is one of the younger ones filling up, imagine pushing that cart around town and selling water. My best guess is that the cart full weights around 400 lbs.

So were here at Hope House and I'm using the high speed internet we installed last March to get the blog posted. Renewed past friendships with the staff and tomorrow we will turn our attention to the water system and get pressure to all the faucets before the conference kicks off. Temps will be hot and dry with wind and dust......we are now in the sub Sahara.

Satellite Internet is working…

It is always nice when the hard work pays off right away as has happen here at Dr. Obaka’s office in Abuja. The picture shows Dr. Obaka on the right with his staff right after we hooked his computer to the internet. "no more going to the cyber cafe and coming back frustrated" to quote Dr. Obaka

Our 9 AM scheduled time to talk to the satellite provider almost didn’t happen due to power going off just after we arrived at 8 AM. This is usually not a problem because the big generator is started but today they were out of diesel. Finally at 10 minutes to 9 the genset came on line and we were able to make the call to finish the setup.

As it turned out the dish was in complete aliment, good enough that the provider did not want to try any improvements. Emma and I finished tightening the bolts and climbed down, we were done with the roof work!

Dirk is now finishing up programming equipment that will allow VOiP (voice over I P ) phone calls to be made with the system. We also had some discussions with a power back up (UPS) salesman that took some translations in Hausa and back to Nigerian English then to American English before everyone understood the problem. The salesman will be back with the proper adapter cables to finish the emergency back up power system.

Dirk and I truly enjoyed working with Dr. Obaka and his staff. They fed us, found things for us, unlocked doors, and made us work to try to lose our accent, (they said they could not always understand us...hmmmm) Dirk and I knew what we were saying.... LOL LOL
We had met Dr. Obaka on a previous trip and knew it would be fun to work with him on any project......Great success to everyone at GIEVA!!!

Next stop, Zaria

After a night at the Crystal Place Hotel

I didn't want to get up at 7 AM which is midnight in Kansas, that 7 hours difference is my jet lag.

The Crystal Hotel is one of the better ones I have stayed in. There was a window air conditioner that worked with some rhythmic noises that do not sound like it was going bad. The bed was firm and clean plus there was water pressure for a shower. And there is a fairly high speed free wireless internet here. That's how this blog is going out tonight!

We headed to Dr. Obaka’s new office in down town Abuja and his NGO called GIEVA, “Global Integrated Education Volunteered Association” After Dirk and I finish working here, they will have high speed internet to provide testing for students wanting to take tests such as SAT.

We are installing a 2.4 meter dish antenna and all the electronics to allow connection via satellite to the internet. Working on the roof of a 6 story building with a nice view but in hot 90 degree sun. All the equipment was shipped from the states via air freight and was on site ready to haul to the roof! Dr. Obaka had arranged for some strong men to be there and get the dish parts to the roof. Emma, short for Emanuel, used his head and carried some parts up the tower to reach the roof as the picture shows.

By late afternoon, 5:30 our time to be exact, we had pointed the dish to the correct satellite and had a good and stable signal. Next item is for the satellite providing company that manages the data through it to look at several parameters and if OK turn on the connection to the Internet. Our plans are to this around 9 AM Wednesday here which is 3 AM at the satellite control center. (They operate 24/7)

If all goes well we will head to Zaria a day early tomorrow afternoon.

Here is some pictorial steps to getting the dish installed.....click for a larger view.

Dish is shipped in 2 pieces and bolted together on site. To get to the very top of the building we had to climb the tower and step to the side.

Dirk is starting the installation by putting on the mount. This will hold the dish in critical aliment to the satellite.Half of the dish is temporarily bolted in place while we put the other half on.

Emma is installing the cabling for the feed electronics. This handles both the receive and transmit of satellite signals.

And the finish assembly next to several other installations, one of which was not in operation. Total time to get to this point was about 6 hours.





All for now........

Getting to Abuja Sunday and Monday

Dirk and I left Salina around 12:30 on Sunday with the threat of rain farther South. Doris had agreed to go with us in order to drive Dirk’s truck back to Salina. (Over a month in any type of parking would be expensive). After passing McPherson we were in heavy rain off and on till almost Wichita, luckily Dirk had covered the suit cases with trash bags.

We both had packed 3 suit cases and they were all right at 70 lbs. which is the max the airlines will take. We knew this was going to be expensive but we needed to get a lot of equipment to Hope House and this was about the same as freight charges. But we got a nice surprise while checking in. After hearing where we were going and what we were doing, North West Airlines waived the extra charges for the extra weight and bags, this saved us almost $500!

Taking off out in the small feeder jet, the kind that holds about 40 folks, was very bumpy. It was the kind of turbulence that makes it impossible to read, drink, or talk, we just held on until we were on top of the clouds. We were just beating the thunderstorms that were to hit Wichita shortly after we left.

We got into Memphis on time then boarded an Airbus 330 for the all night flight with no further problems. After a typical in flight meal, movie, and some contorted sleeping, we were in Amsterdam on time. I lucked out on this flight as my seat mate was a blond Norwegian teenager on her way home. Stop, it is not what you are thinking. Her traveling companion, also young and blond, was setting behind her and she wanted to trade seats with me. You guessed it, I said no. But not for what you think! This plane seats 2 rows on a side with 4 seats in the middle. I like the isle seat and her friend had the window seat. I said if the person, who had not shown up yet for the isle seat, would take her window seat I would trade. It turned out that person was a no show so during taxing, we traded and I had 2 seats to my self which was a rarity on this full flight.

The flight to Abuja was uneventful. Landed on time, got into a long line for customs and the only exchange between me and the agent was that he was from Zaria, where I was headed. It probably helped that my passport had visas from past trips to Nigeria.

We got some help to load all the bags which made the trip in ok shape and headed to the customs check out area. This is the part of any trip I dread, going through customs. I have nothing to hide but the time it takes them to go through the bags and ask some questions and maybe want to impose some kind of duty, is nerve racking. So the customs agent asked if these were my bags and where was I going. I said Zaria and the Hope for the Blind, he smiled and said go. No need to show any more paper work or explain anything, Hope for the Blind is getting well known, cool!

Waiting for us outside customs was Andee, Dr. Obaka, and Emma, so great to see our friends after a long trip. The current time in Salina would be 2 pm Monday, we had traveled for 26 hours and covered over 15,000 miles. Off to the Crystal Place Hotel and a real bed.

A little trip itineray info....

Dirk and I fly out of Wichita at 4:40 Sunday and it looks like the cold front will have just arrived before we depart. Expecting to climb out in rain and clouds then have clear conditions in Memphis for landing. Next stop will be Amsterdam after about 9 hours of butt in seat time. I do have a noise canceling headset, extra battery for the laptop, and a couple of movies if I don't like the ones playing on the plane to make the long flight bearable. Next is the flight to Abuja, Nigeria. Should arrive there at 8:30pm Monday night which is about 2 pm Monday Salina time (7 hours difference). Total travel time will be around 22 hours.

Will spend at least 3 nights, 2 days in Abuja, the capital, installing a satellite internet station for another NGO. Then plans are to travel by car on Thursday to Zaria and start setting up things at the Hope for The Blind foundation. I have a generator transfer switching system to install that will replace the burnt out, cheaply made switch I installed last year. I built the new system and it is in my checked luggage.
Dirk will be working on the computer systems at the internet cafe which we also installed last year. Then on to the water system and get a pump running in an automatic mode to keep a constant pressure in the compound. (I will add some pictures of the Hope House / School compound nxt week.) Anyway we expect to have pressure at the shower heads!!! no more "gravity is our friend" to take a shower. The controls will be built on site with parts we have in our luggage also..... see a trend here?
The list goes on... radio repeater system for staff and Andee to stay in touch via walkie talkies. Again we will build the antenna and system on site then install on a 150' tower....I brought my climbing belt!
Dr. Linda Lawrence, other doctors, and educators will arrive at Hope House next Sunday to start a week long conference titled "INTERNATIONAL COURSE ON PEDIATRIC LOW
VISION & MEDICAL CARE"
This is in partnership with ORBIS International USA, ABU Teaching Hospital Zaria, National
Committee on Low Vision and others. Objective is to build national competence on the 2 key
subjects through interaction with International speakers and professionals, pretty big stuff for the Hope House and all of Nigeria. Dirk and I will be the behind the scenes technical support for the presenters. It will be fun to be a part of this important conference.

Anyway stay tuned for more commentary and pictures starting as soon and as often I can get an internet connection. This will be easy now because we have the Bgan satellite Internet system along with us on this trip, the same one I used last month in Honduras. More about the Bgan later......

Pete