I am using a modem on the laptop to get into the AirTel Edge network. Edge is 2G but here in Yola it is more like 1G. I updated to Windows 7 before I left on this trip. It is now doing a big update in the background. I have shut that down. The AirTel charges by the kilobyte of use. At the Internet Cafe which is a little slower they charge by the hour. I will finish the update at the cafe.
I added some pictures to the previous post from March 27, First Weekend and First Trip to the Bush. They are pictures of the Church at Waya and added a post about my trip to the Shall-homa Diocese on Wednesday.
I hope to go to Dumne later this week and test the borehole camera. I had been using the light system for light at night and tested the enclosures in my water barrels. Good news is there are no leaks. Bad new is that the wires on the Radio Shack AAA battery holders broke. I did not bring a soldering iron. I remade one battery pack using some Harvey's Plumber's Epoxy Putty I brought along. This one still has the thin wires from Radio Shack. I will have to find a cell phone repair place that will solder some thicker wires onto the remaining battery holder. Then mold it up. I would hate to drive to Dumne and not be able to test he camera because of one stupid wire. This is why you make prototypes. If it works and found to be helpful the next thing will be to reduce the size and create a dependable battery pack.
Below are pictures of the house I am living in.
 |
| Front of the house. |
 |
| Living Room mosquito net drying on my indoor clothes line. |
 |
| Kitchen, refrigerator is shot. I use an immersion heater in the black pot to boil water, then pour it into the ceramic filter system (tall silver thing on the right) and pour some in the thermos for tea. In the cabinet on left I have canned veggies, tuna, sardines, Skkippy Peanut Butter (That is not a miss spelling this PB has 2 K's), mix fruit jam, powdered milk, some canned salad (mixed with tuna fish makes a couple good tuna fish salad sandwiches and oatmeal. |
 |
| The bathroom. The sink is balanced on the pipe going into the floor. Not connected to the wall. The blue barrel is one of my water barrels. The can on top of the barrel is my shower. I use about a liter of water, soap up then about 3 or 4 liters to rinse off. If it is really hot the rinsing continues. |
 | |
| Looking into the bedroom. There are two beds, The frame against the wall is for the mosquito net. The hooks I put up last year are gone. I will have to walk to the hardware market and find some more eye hooks. |
I think I am going to boil two more pots of water and call it a night. Oh I almost forgot. Just after dusk I was sitting in the green chair by the kitchen. It was too dark to read and too early to go to bed. All the sudden I started seeing bats flash by the window and door. Then one was flying through the room. Fast little buggers. I got this picture. The door is open to let it out. I am not sure how he/she got in.
1:50 AM 90 degrees F. I will take a 1 liter shower and sit under the ceiling fan before I go to bed.
Jay,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the blog. The information is so useful as I continue to spend time in various congregations speaking about malaria. Great pictures, too!
Peace and I spoke to the St. Paul Area Synod Women of the ELCA's annual gathering on Saturday. Peace says that our materials need pictures of children who have malaria and look like they are not doing well. She says the happy, healthy children shown in the video do not adequately tell the story of malaria's devastation. She says it would be particularly good to see pictures from rural areas rather than in hospitals where children receive better care. Is there a way you can help with this while still maintaining people's dignity and showing them respect, please? Thanks.