Not so hot today

If this were Oregon today would have been hot, but in Kapoeta not so much. I think if I get to do another one of these trips, I will bring a thermometer.  I divided my time today between working with Steven Okeny on getting people ready for power, and working with  the crew running some secondaries. For those who care, they use the duplex that they run for secondaries here as the primary  neutral. To give you an idea of some of the challenges these guys face, I went and bought 40 liters of gas today, not sure of my metric conversion but they fit in two 5 gallon jerry cans.  It cost 240 pounds, at 3.2 pounds to the dollar--so around 75 dollars. The first picture is of one of the pumps they have around town,  I think I have seen 3 of them, but there may be more. It is where people go to get water for their home use. The second one shows you what it is like when we are working around town,  people come and watch--mainly kids, but some adults too.  The last is of two women carrying bundles of wood. You see them all over town carrying these bundles.

Hot in Kapoeta

Today was one of the hotter day since I got here. Not sure how hot, as I have no access to a thermometer. But judging by how much water I drank, it was very hot. We were working on the tap that we set the poles on. We are somewhat limited, since we cannot work any pole which has hot wires on it. But we got the phase strung today. We had to rework the take-off pole so we could get the new tap in place.  The first two pictures are how you load a wire trailer when you have no equipment to pick it up with. The second and last are of me working a pole with Daniel. This was the take-off pole for the new tap and we had to move some stuff around. The other picture is an example of the body scarring you see around here. I would guess this guy's age as between ten and twelve.

I hate gear oil

I spent the whole day working in the compound, most of it helping Francis.  The first thing I did was meet with Morris, one of the lineman, to see if I could help him with his climbing. He is one of the newer guys and has not been climbing too long. It went well and I think some of the things I showed him gave him  more confidence in his hooks.  Like all new guys, the first thing he wanted to do was sharpen his hooks. They really didn't need it, but I touched them up a little and he was sure they were much sharper. Equipment being hard to come by, I tried to emphasize that the hooks would wear out from sharpening too much, not from use. That sometimes is a tough sell with new climbers.  After that Francis and I did some wiring in the small generator house. Then I helped Francis tear apart the front axle  on the pickup and rebuild it. Although work on vehicles is definitely not my strong suit, I think I was of some small help to him. As I have said if I never see or smell gear oil again, it will be too soon. I pretty much took a bath in it trying to get it in the housing.  Whenever I stop the truck and get out, there are always a lot of kids who come running up to look and often to touch my forearm. I always figured they touched my arm because I was white. Something I learned the other day is it is because of the hair on my arm. I guess they don't see it very often. The first picture was taken the day after Manchester United played the  Seattle Sounders. It seems everyone I talked to about soccer, and it is very popular here, is a fan of Manchester.  They  enjoyed the score. The guy on the right is John Kennedy, on the left is Phillip Gai. They are both lineman I do not know the guy in the middle. I know John plays on the local soccer team. I don't know If Phillip plays on a team or not, but he talks about soccer all the time. I don't remember if I have sent a picture of the place that I'm staying, so this is it. The peaked part in the middle is where the living room and kitchen are, on the left is the living quarters of Francis and Sarah, on the right are two bedrooms and a bath. I stay in one of them. The last is of the work shop.  On the sides are shipping containers the one on the right has tools and a work bench in it. The left  side is storage. The roof can be taken apart and is built in such a way that the parts can be shipped in the containers to the next project.

corrections

Two things to get straight--first, the primary voltage here 11kv.  Second, the tree crew foreman's name John Owiti not Owati. There has been some problem with substandard breakers and breaker panels showing up around town, so Francis had an engineering and operations meeting this morning to show the guys the difference between the fake and the standard stuff.  By then it had started to rain, so we did some schooling on how to read work orders. The rain let up and we went to work. I was going to take the tree crew across the river to finish up the right of way they were trimming, but too much water in the river, so that didn't work. The crew found work in the compound and I helped Framcis do some wiring on the compound.  The first picture is of John Kennedy on my right and Phillip on my left. The next is of some people crossing the rive-- the same one that was a dry riverbed last week. The last is of the E & O meeting this morning.

water in the river

No rain in Kapoeta, but it must have rained somewhere today because there was water in the river. Not a lot of water, but it sure was not a dry river bed either. I worked on service connects most of today.  With the water in the river, it was a little more of a hassle to get the brushing crew to the right-of-way. When I first showed up at the river, there were two places where it was knee deep. I could tell because people were wading across. The crew foreman, John Owatie, was not too keen on fording the river. He kept telling me about all the cars that the river had washed away.While there was some current it certainly was not going to wash us away. I was mainly worried about getting water in the motor and drowning it out.  All went well on the crossing, but when I went to pick them up for lunch, the current on the far bank must have washed it out because it was about a 30 inch wall. So I had to back across the river and find another crossing. At that one all went well and we got them back for lunch. However after lunch the sky was very dark and John was sure it was going to rain and they would be stranded over there, so we found some work for them on this side. After work I took James Lotiman out for a driving lesson. He has his license and is learning to drive the pickup. Francis has been working with him and he is doing well. I'm sure Shawn, Shannon,  and Josh all feel bad for him with me as his teacher. The first two pictures are of me trying to ford the river to pick up the crew. The next picture is of the tree crew and this old man who just appeared out of the woods as I was dropping them off. I'm not sure of his story but I thought he was a real interesting looking guy.

busy day today

We had a very busy day today. Jacob and I split the linemen and we each got 2 connects before the power came back on. Here, no one climbs a pole that has any hot wires on it.  So to get the services ready, we have to get them done while the power is off from 9 to 1. The crew I was with just made it. The tree trimmers are working on the other side of the river now, so a little more travel time for them now.  I would say it is between 2 and 2 1/2 miles to where they are working. I hardly took any pictures today--not sure why.  Maybe I am becomeing jaded to all the stuff I see here, hope not. Will try to do better tomorrow.  Over the years people have asked me where the support comes from for the work being done here, and I thought this plaque kind of summed it up. As I understand it, NRECA acts as a contractor to do the work for U.S. Aid. The second picture is of the power house where the generator is and the substation. For the Lane Electric crews, power comes out of the generator 240/416 is backfed through the pots and out on the line.  I'm not sure of the primary voltage--I think it is around 13 kv.

Finished setting pole and anchors

We got the last of the poles and anchors set for the new tap today. We also pulled a couple of poles. It kept us busy getting all that done.  What with working on the new line, we have gotten a backlog of connects to do. We hope to split up, with Jacob taking one group and me taking the other, and gang up on them tomorrow. We've had these kind of hopes before and not been able to get it done. I took the first picture on my way up to to the generator this morning.  I ran into this guard with his ears covered up. I have seen him like this before, but only on the cold mornings when it gets down to, I would guess, around 75 to 80 degrees.  The next two are of some people who were watching us set the poles today. The first is of a woman and her baby with one of the shell looking things that they shade the baby with. The next is a few more people watching us. The last is of the  Singiata River. It has been dry most of the time I've been here except for today I would guess there was about 6 inches in part of it. It has been very dry here, but they tell me the river water is dependent on rain in the hills around  here. Quite often people will go on the edge of the river and dig a hole to water their cattle. It looks to me that they only have to go about 2 feet or less to get all they need. I have also been told that there are times that it runs bank full.