Day 5: Return to Yua (Dec 22)

We returned to the water plaza and were met with a large group of men and very young boys. From there we continued to assess the structural integrity of the wooden structure. It was rotted and falling apart, the community had managed to add a few supports to the middle of the shade portion and reinforced the existing supports with metal beams. It was still falling apart and needed to come down.

The solar panels were taken down first, one by one. From here Kate and a few children wiped down the panels and held them up while we wrote down voltage readings. They all read between 18.3 and 18.8 Volts. The nominal voltage of the panels when first installed was 20 V. This is great, it means we are able to still use the panels elsewhere in the community. We collected them and stored them in a building nearby owned by Stephen, Moses' brother. The control box was also taken down.

This is when the deconstruction of the wooden plaza structure came down, led by Max. He did wonderfully, making sure the panels came down safely and into the hands of the helpers nearby. We managed to get the structure to the ground today. Success!

We also visited a site a little ways from the plaza that the community had specified as the ideal place for the drip irrigation test system. It was a good spot because it was a large amount of community land but was too far from a source of water to be maintainable so will not be used this trip.

I have to say that the best part of this event was the fun we had waiting for the workers to take down the panels and disassemble. Kate would take pictures of the children, they loved seeing themselves, as she would show them what she had taken. After finishing the documenting of the voltage values on Kate's notepad, I decided to draw a young boy that stood next to me and gave it to him. It came out as a silly cartoon, but the other kids got a big kick out of it. I chased down a pig and drew that too, they took the picture of it and laughed even harder. That's when one of the men walked over and asked me to draw him. I was nervous my picture would offend him, but he insisted. He loved it, and insisted he was very handsome, we agreed.

The children were fun, the people very friendly, Yua has been very good to us so far.

We then went to the Sirigu market and had lunch. More Banku! Tonight we also then had dinner with Joe from the Afrikids clinic in Sirigu. He discussed our drip irrigation plans with us and how to manage such a system if it were to become sucessful throughout Yua and Sirigu. He also expressed a big interest in having us install one in Sirigu too.

Anna