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Published: January 3rd 2007
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A SolarAid First
Andy Bodycombe with Taimon, Nelson and their assistant Geston in the background after the first three modules are positioned on the roof of the KALIYA Vocational Training Centre in Bwelero, Nkhata Bay. Day Four
The distant rumbles continued all night until finally, at about 7 this morning, the storms abandoned Mozambique, swung west across the lake and twisted and crashed into Njaya, scattering table cloths and pepper pots and flooding the restaurant floor. Given that the my path up the mountain is actually a stream bed and the lakeshore was already starting to turn brown as floodwater tumbled from the hills, I decided to postpone the hike up to the village. I have an image of Mr Banda, Gilbert's translation of my direct warning ringing in his ears, trudging through the storm with his trusty green-handled screwdriver while I am sat making notes in the house, serranaded by the soft rhythmic sound of water dripping into buckets, pans and vases as the roof of the house finally gives up its fight against the torrential rain.
The rain finally stopped at about 9 and, after giving the stream bed half an hour to dry out, I headed up to Bwelero to see if the day was a wash out. Taimon and Nelson had finished assembling the final block of panels and were stood looking at the vanishing clouds. Mr Banda was nowhere to
One Giant Solar Cooker
Nelson and his assistant try to keep cool after installing the first block of solar modules on the KALIYA Vocational Training Centre. The sparkling new roof turns into a giant reflector and cooks the hardiest of installers in no time at all. be seen and there were still no strings in my cable conduits. He finally rocked up at about 11, still with no way of pulling cables. His assistant, Peter, arrived shortly afterwards with the tools he needed and I discovered that Mr Banda only owns the green screwdriver and a pair of pliers and simply borrows other tools. He is not on my list of preferred partners for future projects. With witnesses and translators in place and after more hollow apologies, Mr Banda confirmed that he would go to Mzuzu on Friday to buy the remaining materials (he provided an elaborate story involving missing shopkeepers and locked doors to explain why he had arrived on site with a cable puller but no cables) and that he would be there at 8.30am on Saturday to complete his work - "it will all be finished on Saturday". We made arrangements for him to collect the keys and agreed that he would send a message to Njaya if there was any reason he would not be there. Off he trudged, my confidence in his ability to fiinish the job at a new low.
Inventive use of cable conduits and after a shower
Waterproof Roof
Taimon applies sealing strips over the holes made in the roof before the modules are finally clamped into position. of plaster and dust we had our waterproof cable route up to the roof ready. Pulling the solar cables through domestic conduit was tough but, by lunch, all the cables were measured and pulled up to the roof.
The sky cleared completely and soon the roof was one giant solar cooker - time to go up and mark out accurately where the modules were going. I entertained the local kids by plastering myself in factor 50+, my now golden legs quickly transformed into light grey sticks. Setting out was quick and soon it was time to haul up the first monster block of panels - 27kg of solar modules bolted to about 30kg of hardwood. No crane, no ropes, no forklifts - just an eager looking bunch of guys, a step ladder and what looked like two wooden climbing frames. The scene reminded me of a group of ants carrying a giant dead cockroach back to their hill - the modules and their support frame were on the roof before I could get the camera out (I was too busy making sure no one tried to lift it by the module edges) and there they were - SolarAid's first
Cables Coming Through
After a long delay, the cable entry - a few lengths of conduit fed up through the tin sheet overlaps - is in place and the string cables are pulled. solar modules on a roof in Malawi. I felt an immense amount of relief as well as pride in what we'd managed to do as a bunch of volunteers with no experience of doing a project like this in Malawi before.
Hardwood and poor tools - not a winning combination. Hardwood and power tools would have been a different matter - so many times I've thought how much easier this would all be with a Bosch cordless drill - but then I wouldn't get to see a pair of skilled carpenters with their chisels, countersinking about 50 holes in the heaviest and hardest wood I've ever seen.
As 6 o'clock loomed and the sky darkened, Taimon pushed home the last fixing screws (coach bolts are nowhere to be found in this region) and our first panels were securely attached to the roof. I walked back down the slippery path in the darkness with just my head torch, avoiding frogs and being slapped in the face by giant moths.
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