KALIYA Solar Roof Diary - Day 6

---

Day Six

Today I fired Mr Banda the electrician. I've never fired anyone in my life. I once threatened a sub-contractor when I was 6 months out of university and he laughed in my face. This time, with over 14 years of project experience under my belt, I was a little more assertive.

On Saturday morning, at 11am, I had asked one of the KALIYA group to check that Mr Banda had managed to get the keys and that he was happily working. He was nowhere to be seen. With no way of contacting him, the runners were sent out again. He was found at home, blind drunk, having been out on a bender with the money I had given him on Thursday. This all sounds really tragic and sad - it is. It's depressing to think that Mr Banda can't fight the urge to spend his customers' money and that he can't see what will happen to his business if he continues in that way. There were mixed messages that he had all of the materials, that he had left materials at Mr Chiumia's house and that he would complete the work on Sunday - but he didn't show up at the building all weekend. He was spotted around town watching football and generally avoiding anyone linked to KALIYA.

I arrived at the building this morning to find that nothing had been done on the electrical work. I shut myself in the solar plant room and shouted loudly. There was a tap on the door and Rev Mwase peered cautiously into the room, following up his words of bibllical encouragement with "this man is a drunkard and a liar". With still no sign of Mr Banda the runners were sent out again with instructions to physically carry him to the building if required.

The solo figure of Mr Banda, carrying a small plastic bag and his favourite pliers, wandering up the road at 10am this morning, interupted my conversation with Taimon about completing the job today.

He had very little to say for himself and the story about cables was quickly exposed as a complete fabrication soon as I called his bluff and offered to go and collect them with him - he had never bought the wires. In fact, he had failed to buy about 9,000 Kwacha's worth of materials we had given him the money for and had spent the money on other things. 9,000 Kwacha is only about $60 but, in a country where the majority of the population suffer extreme poverty and where households survive on less than $1 a day, that's a huge amount to take. As soon as his stories crumbled my patience with Mr Banda collapsed. I fired him and gave him until Thursday morning to return the money he had stolen. I don't expect him to turn up and am thinking about the next steps open to us.

So the morning was spent finding a replacement and "Peter" has stepped up to the mark. He has already bought all of the missing materials and is due to start work on the installation at 6am on Tuesday.

Taimon and Nelson pulled out all of the stops today, put their new working method into practice and we now have a complete solar array on the roof. The batteries have been connected using temporary cables and we are already harvesting the intense solar energy between the rainclouds. Even under the periodic cloudy skies of Malawi's rainy season, the batteries are quietly charging, ready to provide the people of Bwelero with communal light and power.

---

Photos

Getting There
As more modules are put into position, the array takes shape and swicth-on seems closer.