Friday 10/03/2006Uneventful flight Melbourne-Nadi. Met Anwar at airport, then met some Indian families around Lautoka that night. The grid connection fee is F$1000, so a lot of families who can't afford it get their electricity via an extension cord from a neighbour's house. Once man is supplying 4 houses in this manner, and trying to deal with a F$250 monthly bill. Met up with Janesh and delivered him his new laptop (an old P120 Hewlett Packard machine). He was very pleased with it, in spite of it's lack of a CD-ROM drive.
Sat 11/03/2006
Visited some Indian farms near Lautoka. You don't have to go very far inland to be out of reach of the grid, some of the farmland is very steep. Many of the roads would be almost impassable in the wet season. If they had real droughts here, soil erosion would be very, very bad - there aren't many trees left to hold the slopes together, and sugar cane is planted on slopes of almost 45 degrees.
Took the Express bus to Suva via the Queen's Highway (South coast). Went shopping in Suva for some fake Rolex watches, then enjoyed a superb Chinese meal for dinner.
Sun 12/03/2006
The aeroplane to Vanua Balave left at 11:30 not 09:30 as I was told when I bought the ticket. My 30kg suitcase cost me F$20 in excess baggage allowance, but was worth every penny. Met at VB by Gabby and Ravi (the new woodwork teacher). Met the new Principal and some departing Department of Education men. Dinner at the Fotofili's.
Mon 13/03/2006
Moved the equipment from a storeroom in the main school building to the workshop. Ran around finding timber with which to build shelving for the workshop toolroom. Unpacked, sorted, stored and secured the equipment. Made photocopies of the workshop manuals.
Tue 14/03/2006
Set up the computer lab using the battery charger only - the solar panels and windmill can wait. Had some unexpected problems with the boot CD-ROM, which after 4 hours effort I tracked down to a misplaced CONFIG.SYS line. I'll have to find a computer to burn new ones, but I've made a boot floppy which will get us going for the time being. 4 of the computers have flat CMOS batteries which prevent them from booting from the CD-ROM anyway, I'll have to find out how to replace them when I get home. 6 computers running, will start classes for the teachers tomorrow night. Gave the microscope and other gifts to the primary school pricipal, he seemed pleased.
Wed 15/03/2006
Constructed 2 control boxes, just to verify that we had all of the tools we need in the workshop. We seem to be missing the engineer's vice and some linesman's pliers, the vice will be the harder tool to do without.
Visited the Fotofili's house to burn the new CD-ROMs, but their laptop has no floppy drive! Will have to burn them at the hospital instead. Arranged for teacher's computer classes from 20:00-22:30 until the end of the week. Arranged to do the Daku job on Monday. Found a source of steel for the solar panel racks - Tevita's brother has some old pallet bases that somebody had a motorcycle delivered on.
Drank too much Coke.
Fixed the first laptop boot CD-ROM, it tested out OK. Held the first computer training session, which was mostly about playing solitaire to regain mouse skills (it had been a couple of years for most people). 6 out of 8 computers functional.
Thu 16/03/2006
Finished & fitted control box in workshop, so that we have a 12V power point. We're using the old starting battery for the school generator (a big 3-cylinder diesel Lister) because the one earmarked for the workshop is currently being used on the generator instead. It's worn out, but holds the solar panel voltage down to 12V while the sun is shining.
Directed a couple of boys with making workshop posters, fixing chairs, and assembling 2 lights (I brought 6 completed circuits with me). Diagnosed a problem with Uncle Charlie's portable fluoro light (burned out Darlington transistors). I don't have replacements, so we'll transplant one of the new circuits into it instead.
Attended lunch with headmaster and Dept of Education dignitaries (2 hours later than the invitation indicated).
Prepared windmill tower parts. Arranged material for solar panel racks. Collected tools and supplies from Richard's stash at Fotofili's place. Set up 7 computers in lab, unfortunately most teachers were absent and the dignitaries also failed to turn up.
Fri 17/03/2006
Showed up at the Telecom office at 07:30, as arranged. The Telecom man was not there, I eventually found him at his house instead. Rescheduled for 08:30, met his boss, picked up a big spool of 3/8" wire rope, a pivot bolt, and some tower pipe.
Cut up the steel pallet (an angle grinder would have made that job a LOT easier!), then marked out and cut the parts for the solar panel racks.
Finished cutting and fitting on the windmill tower parts.
Got the key to the storeroom near the windmill base, retrieved the used wire rope, and the bag of rigging gear (bolts, turnbuckles, saddle clamps, etc.) that I left there in September.
Welded the tower, spot-welded one solar panel rack - then ran out of welding rods (I'd only brought 2 dozen). Painted the welds with rustproof paint, which seemed very runny. It later turned out to be wood primer. Finished the day's work at 20:30.
Sat 18/03/2006
Called mum in the morning, wished dad happy birthday.
Erecting the windmill was a day-long ordeal of broken drills, inadequate tools, and improvisation. The most interesting job was threading the power cable through the tower - it was blocked with (among other things) a dead land crab.
My day was made more trying because of some dodgy food or water I'd consumed the night before.
Numerous people turned up to help throughout the day, including teachers, village headmen, and even the doctor (who fortunately didn't have to exercise his professional skills). By 18:30, Adi Maopa Junior Secondary School had a 2.1m windmill on an 11m tower.
Sun 19/03/2006
A fairly slow day, which seemed fair given that nobody around here works on the sabbath.
I made up 6 complete lights for tomorrow's Daku job, which adds to the 1 that was already here for a total of 7. Also sorted tools, wire, etc. that we'll need. The principal came along to learn how to make lights, so we constructed and tested 3 new fluoro light circuit boards. That nasty stomach upset has eased, partly due to strong drugs and partly from using a different water tank.
Mon 20/03/2006
Headed off to Daku at 07:00. It's a 2km walk along a road that's like a 1km uphill staircase followed by a 1km downhill one. It had rained fairly heavily earlier, so it was fairly muddy and slippery.
I arrived at 07:50, and waited for my helpers at Inea's house until 09:00 before I went looking for them and found them waiting for me at a different house.
The installations went relatively smoothly, with the only problem being a shortage of tools which prevented us from dividing into separate hardware/wiring teams. We finished the 6 houses by 16:30, when we started on a previous installation where the owner wanted the batetry and control box moved. I wasn't happy with the state of the previous wiring, so it effectively became a 7th installation. All done by 17:30.
Everyone who had a new system seemed happy, one owner of an existing system seemed unhappy that they weren't getting a free upgrade.
Back at Lomaloma by 18:30, set up for teacher's computer classes at 20:00. Only Ravi, Gabby and the headmaster turned up.
Tue 21/03/2006
Spent the whole day in the workshop training people. The Jehovah's Witness fellow who came by on Sunday turned up again, this time wearing overalls and equipped with a clipboard and determination to learn. I managed to cover sheetmetal marking, cutting and folding, fluoro light transformer winding, PCB assembly, soldering, testing and troubleshooting. Only 1 of the 3 fluoro lights worked first time, rewinding the primary and feedback coils solved their problems.
I was allocated 8 Vocational Studies students (boys who had left school and returned to study), but because I didn't have enough work for such a large group I kept them busy dismantling a couple of old computer monitors for parts. I fixed Uncle Charlie's light and another one for Carolyn Fotofili. I'm hoping to finish up most of the jobs tomorrow.
Wed 22/03/2006
Early start - in the workshop by 06:00. Fixed the electronic piano (defective power switch). Made up printer power cables and a 12V computer power cable for Gabby. Fixed a couple of broken trouble lights.
Stopped for a quick breakfast at 08:00, was interrupted by Tevita Fotofili who had arrived with a wheelbarrow load of broken computer parts and his broken 50W solar panel. Fixed the panel (wires resoldered to pads, fixed frame, added a piece of timeber with screws to serve as a new junction box) while he went home to retrieve his cordless 7.2V drill to get its 12V jumper lead conversion. Continued with the control box assembly (a fair bit of sheetmetal work is needed to cut holes in the front panel for switches, etc.), added an external antenna wire to the doctor's iPod transmitter.
After lunch started work on LED voltmeter construction, the class managed to finish 3 by 06:00, as well as mixing up etchant and making 8 more fluoro light PCBs.
Dinner in my honour in the school's Home Economics classroom (biggest available kitchen). Set up the electronic keyboard afterward as everyone seemed very eager to use it. When it turned out that nobody actually knew how to play it yet, we went back to a guitar.
I was disappointed when Uncle Charlie turned up with his light and it didn't work - looks like the transistor has gone short-circuit. I'll try to fix it tomorrow before I have to leave for the airport. Stayed at the Kava bowl until about 22:00, then went to bed.
Thu 23/03/2006
Got up at 06:00 and was VERY surprised to find Ravi waiting at the door (he usually likes his bed much more than that). We got straight to work on the "Loose Ends List" that I wrote yesterday, and managed to get through all of it except Uncle Charlie's light:
School assembly photo under windmill;
Arrange clothes distribution and "Dear Rotary Club" thank-you letters;
Set up computer printers;
Make backup copies of boot floppy disk;
Show Ravi through the workshop supplies in the toolroom;
Catalogue workshop tools & donated equipment;
General photo-shoot;
Solder windmill electrical connections;
Fix Ravi's torch;
Fix Uncle Charlie's fluoro light.
Headed off to the plane at 11:00, it arrived at 11:45. While checking in I was surprised to learn that I'd lost 5kg while on VB, although I suspect that the scales lost most of them for me.
A quiet, bump-free flight to Suva on a half-loaded plane. I shared a taxi to the town centre, booked back into the Travel Inn (Gorrie St, F$30) then went shopping for the remaining workshop tools and supplies. F$150 finished it, with the tiny 1/8" bolts for the voltmeters being the most expensive (200 bolts and 600 nuts cost F$34).
Checked my e-mail, had something to eat, then went to bed at 19:30.
Fri 24/03/2006
Went shopping for breakfast and a couple of books at 08:00, then off to the Suva minibus terminal. Found my bus, waited half an hour for additional passengers, then after an unexplained round-the-block-back-to-where-we-started we changed drivers and set off for Korolevu.
Arrived at Beachhouse resort (dorm bed, F$25) and settled in. I've decided to stay here 2 nights, then go directly to the airport on Sunday. I'll call Anwar and janesh tonight and let them know. Breakfast sat heavily all day, hopefully dinner will be better.
Sat 25/03/2006
17:20 - I'll be in Brisbane by this time tomorrow. I've suffered a relapse of my digestive troubles, so I'm taking lots of strong drugs to quell it.
There are 2 possible buses tomorrow to get me to the airport: 09:25 and 10:30. The 10:30 one will only rn if at least 5 passengers sign up, and since I'm the only name on the list I'll probably take the earlier one.
My total food intake today was a small bacon and egg sandwich and 2 scones. I'm unenthusiastic about dinner, but I'd better try.
Sun 26/03/2006
Managed to eat a little pasta last night, and some eggs on toast this morning. The drugs seem to have settled things down, which is good because otherwise today's bus and plane travel would have been difficult.
The "Express" bust stops at every Coral Coast resort, then makes another 3 stops around Nadi Town before going to the airport. Since it takes 2 ½ hours, I don't like to think how long a "Local" bus would take!
I met Janesh, his wife, and his sister at the airport. They left me a small farewell gift (a 4" wooden bowl and a shell bracelet), then I boarded my plane to come home. The 2 flights (Nadi-Brisbane, Brisbane-Melbourne) were uneventful, although the screaming/shrieking/howling/shouting (depending on age) children in the seats around me on both flights sorely tried my patience.
Arrived at Tullamarine airport at 00:10, to find my Beloved waiting for me in her Commonwealth Games Volunteer's uniform, holding a sign with my name on it. The best part of the trip by far.
