Another early start for the ewb crew. We arranged to meet at Kakum for a guided hiking tour of the park at 6:30am, always a challenging task for this crowd. I told the team I would use the commute as my long run in the morning and meet them at the park. The run was a thrilling experience to say the least. The Ghanaians are surprisingly supportive of my athletic pursuits. I seem to be universally known as "The Sportsman" in all parts of the country. It caught me off guard to see large machete-wielding men step out of the shadows and suddenly breakout with toothy smiles and shout "Sportsman!" Fourteen miles never felt so short. The team pulled up to the visitor's center just as I arrived at 6:30.
Kakum National Park proudly boasts the only Rain Forest Canopy Walk in Africa. It certainly did not disappoint. Rope bridges span the tops of seven giant trees reaching 150 feet above the forest floor. The hike continued to one of the largest trees in the forest. Danielle, Berai, and Olivia stand at the base of the old giant. And yes, that's the tree behind them.
Later in the day we spontaneously decided to go check out some of the castles down at Cape Coast. It was a scenic drive along the coast highway to some historic castle I had not heard of. The van pulled up at the base of a beautiful white castle overlooking the ocean. We piled out of the van and gleefully walked across the draw bridge. I was the first to spot the chilling inscription on wall beside the main doorway. On it was written
IN EVERLASTING MEMORY
OF THE ANGUISH OF OUR ANCESTORS
MAY THOSE WHO DIED REST IN PEACE
MAY THOSE WHO RETURN FIND THEIR ROOTS
MAY HUMANITY NEVER AGAIN PERPETUATE
SUCH INJUSTICE AGAINST HUMANITY
WE THE LIVING VOW TO UPHOLD THIS
I remember thinking to myself "what is this place?" Elmina Castle was the first, oldest, and largest slave trading post in Africa. It served as a major hub of the Atlantic Slave Trade for almost four hundred years. Men and women were marched in from as far away as Mali to be exported from the castle. We saw the slave dungeon where they were held and the loading room that docked to the transport ships. The door was intensionally narrowed so that captured slaves could not slip through to join their chained family members.
Dinner was quieter than usual tonight. David in particular seemed especially reticent. I think it hit him the hardest.
Day 18 (June 5)
Contributed by: Olivia
We arrived at the site determined to adhere the roofing felt to the panel seams and build the masonry wall for our hose bibbs. Both Johns and James from the Crew adhered the felt while I began supervision of the masonry structure. Matt and Berai walked to the local hand dug wells with their interpreter to test the water quality. Jared and Danielle journeyed via taxi to Bolga to upload the blog at Afrikids and return the oxyacetylene torch. The team was working with much gusto through the morning (assured from the previous day's success of pumping water) before John Campbell checked the CU 200 with the digital multi-meter and found that there was insufficient voltage to operate the pump. There was speculation as to whether a “short” was created when the felt was nailed to the panel and plywood. Work was momentarily halted when the team troubleshooted the problem.
A test panel was punctured with a nail around its perimeter and through its center to compromise its integrity. It was not easily compromised (which was great news) and deduced the problem to a spliced line to the CU 200. The team discussed solutions over lunch at SWOPA. Upon returning to the site, the team isolated an area of the cabana and bypassed the spliced line. Meanwhile, trenches were dug for the 5” x 8” x 16” solid concrete masonry blocks to elevate the polytank. A tic-tac-toe pattern was trenched at Dale's suggestion. Steven from the Crew of 6 assisted with his mason experience.
Danielle and Berai befriended Sherina to assist them on their home visits and women's group meetings. It was with great delight to have the people of Yua visit the work site and greet the team with “Bulika” (Good morning) and “Toma! Toma! Toma! Toma!”
We arrived at the site determined to adhere the roofing felt to the panel seams and build the masonry wall for our hose bibbs. Both Johns and James from the Crew adhered the felt while I began supervision of the masonry structure. Matt and Berai walked to the local hand dug wells with their interpreter to test the water quality. Jared and Danielle journeyed via taxi to Bolga to upload the blog at Afrikids and return the oxyacetylene torch. The team was working with much gusto through the morning (assured from the previous day's success of pumping water) before John Campbell checked the CU 200 with the digital multi-meter and found that there was insufficient voltage to operate the pump. There was speculation as to whether a “short” was created when the felt was nailed to the panel and plywood. Work was momentarily halted when the team troubleshooted the problem.
A test panel was punctured with a nail around its perimeter and through its center to compromise its integrity. It was not easily compromised (which was great news) and deduced the problem to a spliced line to the CU 200. The team discussed solutions over lunch at SWOPA. Upon returning to the site, the team isolated an area of the cabana and bypassed the spliced line. Meanwhile, trenches were dug for the 5” x 8” x 16” solid concrete masonry blocks to elevate the polytank. A tic-tac-toe pattern was trenched at Dale's suggestion. Steven from the Crew of 6 assisted with his mason experience.
Danielle and Berai befriended Sherina to assist them on their home visits and women's group meetings. It was with great delight to have the people of Yua visit the work site and greet the team with “Bulika” (Good morning) and “Toma! Toma! Toma! Toma!”
Contributed by: John Yatsko
Disaster!
Disaster!
Perhaps the most difficult part of construction so far was finishing the roofing and waterproofing the solar array. The process consisted of cutting twelve precisely measured strips out of two felt rolls and lacing them carefully around and between the panels. We then nailed all of the strips to the panels and secured them to the edges with industrial adhesive. The sun felt especially intense today and the morning's work carried into the afternoon as we awaited the return of our teammates from Bolga.
At last, we finished the roofing and climbed down for a well deserved drink from the cooler. To our dismay, we were told the water ran out three hours earlier and the van was in Bolga...drat! One brilliant individual suggested we turn on the pump. So we sent John Cambell up the ladder and... nothing. The pump stopped working.
Thoroughly sun baked and demoralized, none of us had the energy to troubleshoot the system before lunch. We sat under the cabana and discussed the possibilities. The worst case scenario was that we completely destroyed our array by hammering nails through all the panels. If that were the case, we would have to scrap the plans for the school and return home with a half completed project. To rule out this possibility, Cambell opened up the tool shed and banged a few nails through an extra panel in an attempt to reproduce the damage on the roof. The panel was unaffected, so we had some peace of mind while we ate our lunch.
We returned to the site and began the investigation. The system registered 25 Volts on the multimeter, where it had read 130 yesterday. 25 seemed a peculiar number since there was no part of the circuit that should read anything close to that. We had no choice but to tear up the roofing and undo all the connections we had assembled yesterday. I almost cried. We diligently redid all the connections and measured the voltage of each of the eight strings of panels individually. All eight registered 130 volts. We put the strings of panels back together and again...25 volts. Cambell and I sat on the roof and stared at each other for a while until I finally realized the problem had to be in the jump wire buried underneath the array. We cut the wire out of the circuit and replaced it with a fresh one. 130 Volts. We must have hit the jump wire with a nail and grounded out the system when we laid down the felt strips.
We heat shank all the connections again (with hot embers from the camp fire of course) and replaced the damaged roofing. Cambell and I called it a day and Olivia's team began work on the masonry structure.
Day 17 (June 4)
Contributed by: Jared
Water!
Today, water flowed by the sun's power and into the mouths and headpans of the Yua people.
Yesterday, we secured an acetylene torch from a local welder. Bartering the man down from $30/hour to $30/day for five days, we were sure the heat-shrink splices would proceed with ease—and they did, for about twenty 
minutes when the gas in the tanks ran out. (Not that we hadn't asked if the tanks were full; we had been assured that they were.) So, it was a day of heat-shrinking by sticks embered by a small campfire. The pump went down the well, the array upon the cabana, and soon thereafter, water flowed into the open air. Folks dashed seemingly from every point on the horizon, and a crowd was soon assembled for water gathering and even splashing and playing—truly a moment we have all been waiting for.
Day (June 3)
Contributed By: Berai
Today, Dale, Ken, Trotta and I went to another hospital it was better than the others, but still could benefit from the Help of Medical Hands for Healing.
We also traveled to the Sirigu and Yua clinic to deliver supplies that the Medical Hands for Healing crew brought along. Both clinics received the medical supplies joyously and happily as “Santa Ken” handed them out.
On a side note: Olivia and I are roomies in one of the SWOPA guest houses and every night we hear a little creature pitter- pattering all night long—keeping us guessing as to what is lurking above. Keep ya posted if we find out what our little friend is.
Today, Dale, Ken, Trotta and I went to another hospital it was better than the others, but still could benefit from the Help of Medical Hands for Healing.
We also traveled to the Sirigu and Yua clinic to deliver supplies that the Medical Hands for Healing crew brought along. Both clinics received the medical supplies joyously and happily as “Santa Ken” handed them out.
On a side note: Olivia and I are roomies in one of the SWOPA guest houses and every night we hear a little creature pitter- pattering all night long—keeping us guessing as to what is lurking above. Keep ya posted if we find out what our little friend is.
Day 15 (June 2)
Contributed by: Jared
The local children holler three words at us: ponga, Yatsko, and Yua!
Ponga means “strength”, a term we've been steadily hollering at one another for a loose translation of “keep it up!”
Yatsko is our beloved John's last name, who perhaps stands out more than others due to his lovely golden locks. And as a chief designer of the cabana structure, his name is regularly called during the work day with enough emphasis, enunciation, and response from Yatsko himself that the children have caught on.
Yua I think is a beautiful exclamation, which began last year when Danielle found herself briefly without words for translation at the Welcome Ceremony. She hollered “Yua!” and the response of “Yua” in unison from the community spurred Danielle to repeat the cry, each time with a spirited response from the group. Now, Danielle is typically greeted with a “Yua!” cheer, serving as her nickname. This has evolved to the point that when our van drives down the Yuan dirt roads, children chase after us yelling “Yua! Yua! Yua!” with enormous smiles on their faces.
The work continued today and we were able to finish sheeting the roof. Tomorrow we hope to get the panels assembled and placed on the roof. A major obstacle has been locating a torch for heat shrinking the gazillions splice fittings we have integrated into the array design. As you might guess, hardware is not as readily accessible in northern
Anyhoo, back to the torch. In
Day 14 (June 1)
Contributed by: Jared
The work on the “cabana” continues. After last night's late hours, we took it easy in the A.M. and commenced work at a leisurely hour. We met with the Crew—the six folks from the community who have been designated “system chiefs”—and explained the day's intended proceedings: we were to paint all of the wood to protect it from the elements, cut the posts to match the designed angle of the roof, and begin raiser rafters and fascia. We explained the design angle, or the “angle of incidence,” which is the optimal roof/panel pitch for harnessing the sun's energy.
The Crew, many additional members of the Yua community, and EWB worked side-by-side throughout the day, ultimately resulting in: (photo)
The work on the “cabana” continues. After last night's late hours, we took it easy in the A.M. and commenced work at a leisurely hour. We met with the Crew—the six folks from the community who have been designated “system chiefs”—and explained the day's intended proceedings: we were to paint all of the wood to protect it from the elements, cut the posts to match the designed angle of the roof, and begin raiser rafters and fascia. We explained the design angle, or the “angle of incidence,” which is the optimal roof/panel pitch for harnessing the sun's energy.
The Crew, many additional members of the Yua community, and EWB worked side-by-side throughout the day, ultimately resulting in: (photo)
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