| Well, I'll be boarding a plane in Melbourne at the disturbingly uncivilised hour of 06:00 for the flight to Nadi (5 1/2 hours in the air, a 2 hour stopover in Brisbane).
Once in Nadi I'll be met by a taxi driver whom I met last time (I've always wanted to have somebody holding a cardboard sign at the airport with my name on it!) and taken back to his home village to see if it's suitable for the next project (since the current project is for an ethnic Fijian village, the next one will be in an Indian village.)
Off to Suva on Saturday, then aboard a little 12-seater plane for the flight to Vanuabalavu on Sunday. Once there, I have 10 days to to:
- Set up a computer lab in the school;
- Fit solar PV panels to the school roof;
- Finish welding up the 3" pipe for the wind turbine mast;
- Erect the wind turbine (we did the footings and underground wiring last trip);
- Train the teachers;
- Set up a workshop to make 12V fluoro lights and solar controller boxes;
- Recruit and train the Workshop staff;
- Distribute several large bags of donated children's clothes that were used as "packing rags" in my 400kg crate of equipment.
It would have been an easier job if my partner in this venture was able to come, but since he's currently recovering from a triple heart bypass operation that wouldn't be such a great idea. My wife is working at the Commonwealth Games at the same time, so I'm going solo. ;-)
I've put together a website so that all of the "how-to" guides are in the same place. I've posted most of the designs here before, but I've elaborated a bit on the construction techniques. It's incomplete (some pages only have navigation links so far), but please have a look and tell me what you think:
http://one.fsphost.com/smallsolar/
I think I should catch up on my sleeping over the next few days, since I won't have time for it once I arrive in Fiji... ;-)
BTH |
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