Kibuye 2018

A lot of things happened as this massive team began its work today.  We got the batteries fully connected inside the PowerPac, we also fired up our small inverters that will eventually provide power for all the communication equipment.  We also began work on the Solar Inverters on the outside of the PowerPac. We began running conduits in the open trench headed for the Hospital Utility Room where our centralized panels will be located. One funny thing happened as the guys were putting conduits in the trench.  A roll of duct tape got dropped into the open sewer trench and rolled down the hill right past the PowerPac.  No one reached into the trench to retrieve it while it rolled past... If things go well tomorrow, we may turn the PowerPac on using the incoming utility power, so that we can begin testing the system.  Solar panels are being installed and by sometime next week they should be providing power from the sun to the PowerPac. ...

We continued to work on some of the Power connections related to the Solar Combiner Panel and also the Generator.  We expect to get the generator finished tomorrow, finish the connection where the incoming Utility Power is connected, finish connecting the Battery terminations inside the PowerPac, and begin running conduits to the hospital and other places.  These are tomorrow's projects and they should get us closer to turning the power on in the PowerPac. The next team members of nine people arrived safely along with all of their luggage.  At the end of the afternoon we toured the facility and discussed a plan of action for tomorrow and beyond.  We had some minor injuries today, so we would appreciate prayers for safety as we have this many workers in multiple locations working on various things.  One of our injuries today required 22 stitches, the other was minor.  Fortunately we are working at a hospital where the proper care is only a walk away. ...

It is now Sunday evening and well after dark.  As I sit here it is 54 degrees and we all have jackets on.  Amazing this is only a few degrees from the Equator... Last evening we enjoyed a time of fellowship in the home of the Cropsy's, where we sang and worshiped together.  Alan, who is on a regular worship band in his church, played guitar along with one of the missionary women who is an accomplished pianist. We visited the Kirundi language church this morning.  We enjoyed listening to the African worship music.  Often the singers start singing and then the guitarist and keyboardist have to figure out what key they are singing in to accompany them.  Guitars are often a little out of tune, but the voices take over and it is just a joy to hear them sing something that we may know, like Count Your Blessings , even though we never knew there were fifteen verses of the song at a minimum...  One of the songs we caught a small amount of English words, bu...

Here is an aerial photo of the completed 1st Solar Array at Kibuye.  It is not operational yet, but you can see how the solar panels will lay out on the steel frames. This morning we pushed the wires from the generator up into the MultiCluster in the PowerPac.  We measured what wire we have on hand and where it is supposed to be used, so that we can know whether we have enough or not.  We laid out more underground trenches to be dug early next week. After noon a few of us went over to the Sister Connection site again to correct some problems with the Communication package we installed on the way up to Kibuye on Tuesday.  While there Tom took some aerial shots of the completed PowerPac and Solar Installation there at Sister Connection. Remember to SUBSCRIBE to the blog to get an email every time we are able to update it.  We appreciate all of you who are following along, and we especially appreciate your prayers for us and for the incoming team as ...

It is now Saturday morning.  A week ago we were making final preparations to head to the airport for the trip to Kibuye.  As I write this the next group of workers is approaching their departure time to head here to join us.  We are excited to see what is going on here at Kibuye.  It is a very busy place.  For this country of 11 million there are 20 surgeons.  Jason is one of them and he is kept busy every day.  There is an extreme shortage of eye surgeons in the country, and John is one of those few.  But they are making a difference here, and the Gospel is being given out to so many lost souls.  We are happy to be a small part of what the Lord is doing here and you are there with us in your prayers and support.  We thank you. We have 2/3 of the batteries in the PowerPac strapped together now.  We have had the Burundi diggers working on ditches for us  to put underground electrical conduits in them.  Our guys have inter...

Today is a bit different.  We have had a number of our volunteers down for the count - Don, Michael, Paul.  Others have had a few extra trips to the bathroom than normal and some have had some slight fevers.  We would appreciate your prayers for all of us as something must have caused this.  Several were looked at by a doctor from the hospital here and are getting needed rest. Today we continued working on a number of things.  All of the batteries are now in place in the PowerPac, and the battery connections are being worked on.                                           38,160 lbs. of batteries now in place in the PowerPac.                                          A great crew of Burundians and Americans working together. In addition to the Batte...

After breakfast we started out by moving tools to the work-site and dividing our manpower for different tasks.  We had determined that getting the batteries into the PowerPac is a high priority, and so began to do this.  We had discovered that there had been some damage in shipping and locating the PowerPac onto the concrete pedestals.  The steel beam under the container and beneath the second set of batteries had been twisted causing the floor to be uneven.  This separated the racks somewhat and we had to do some prying and finally making up some brackets that could hold the top of the rack together.  We also discovered that one of the battery skids may have been damaged when loaded at I-TEC or unloaded here.  Anyway, one of the battery cases is cracked.  We will be contacting the manufacturer for instructions. Michael began to prepare the cross-members for solar panel installation.  This wil...

Tuesday Today we drove from Bujumbura to Kibuye by way of the Sister Connection project near Gitega.   Our purpose for stopping there was to install a Communication Package onto the Inverter System there, so that we can monitor it from the USA, and when needed, make changes in settings.   The system was installed in February 2016 and we had limited access to it until now.   The install went well and we snapped a photo of those in our present group who had been there for the original installation. We then proceeded to Kibuye Hospital, arriving around 1PM.   We immediately went to the Cafeteria and had lunch.   After lunch we got ourselves settled into the rooms where we will stay for the duration of the project.   We then took a walk around the entire complex, looking at the scope of work ahead of us.   We looked at the Solar Structure, as well as the PowerPac itself.   Some minor floor damage had been done to it in setting it into p...

The following is from Steph: "Nine of our team met in Harrisburg Saturday for the first leg of travel to Kibuye Hope Hospital.   Several other volunteers traveled from Washington State and Indiana, meeting up with our team at either Dulles or Brussels Belgium.   Delays departing Belgium put us in Bujumbura a little after 8 p.m. and at our hotel, in our rooms – late.   Connections along the way worked well.   Our flights and landings were smooth and unremarkable except for the airline food, which always tend to provoke remarks… This hotel is in a very quiet part of town, no dogs barking through the night, no 3-4 a.m. roosters crowing.   What a gift for a band of tired travelers!   We enjoyed a great breakfast of omelets and fruit and then headed across town to do a survey of Hope Africa University.   One of the men will tell you all about that a little later in the blog. For Deb & I, it was a joy to meet La Charit é Buconyori.   Yo...

Our team is now together in Belgium.  Several from the West Coast caught up with us here.  It is a beautiful cloud-free morning.  The overnight flight here from Washington DC was bumpy at first but smooth after an hour or so.  Our next flight leaves here for Bujumbura within the next two hours. We have received some photos of the preliminary work that has been done at Kibuye.  We are amazed at the workmanship.  It looks like they have been preparing for us for a long time. The PowerPac sitting on the permanent structure. The Ground-mount Solar Structure awaits.