From the field in Mali, Dec 21

Final update here from Mali; the team is back in Timbuktu (TB2) now doing final debriefs; project has gone very well, just a few problems to sort out; villages and school directors are very happy and look forward to working with us all again next year.

One quote we received "most NGO's just send money and leave us to solve all the problems with their projects, NomadHope, Adjmor, & Rotary came with an 'army' to help us!"

Farach had a small party for us yesterday, to celebrate our success there. the pipeline and tapstand are done and the children began using it yesterday. The soak pit is almost finished, should be done tomorrow. The lights are all working in every classroom and the school Director's office too. And finally the Cyber Copy Center is all up and running, just waiting on the internet key to arrive from Bamako and the Director will get some more training onsite in a week or two. The application everyone seems to be excited about there is the photo ID cards everyone must have, which before the Farach copy center required all to pay for transport to Goundam or TB2 to have ID's made, until now!

The school fencing is still being planned, and very important; Adjmor and I are getting bids today.
Zouera classroom lights are all working too, but the tapstand is not producing water yet, it arrives just to the tapstand and stops; we have some engineers discussing options with us here and will push to solve this soon. Could be the pressure at the source or a stoppage in the pipeline. This is very dissappointing to everyone, but we committed to find a solution soon.

The Millet grinding machine is a big hit in Zouera and the first women arrived yesterday to pay for using it ! Some are paying in millet and sorghum if they have no money, which the school will sell at market for cash, but many are able to pay cash. The only problem there is the lack of confidence the operator has in being left alone with the machine, which we believe he will overcome with time working alone. We agreed to have Adjmor go back in a month to check on him and see if more training is needed.

We leave tomorrow for a short break before going home, I am very sad to leave, as always.

From the field in Mali, Dec 14th

Still waiting for the solar equipment to arrive, been 5 days since they left Bamako and think they crossed the river today; have our fingers crossed for an arrival tonight.

Tony, Alan & I took a day off and were tourists in Timbuktu today; lovely city with lots of history and beautiful architecture, libraries, and museums. Lots of Obama Tshirts in town, very funny.

Tonight we may be loading equipment on trucks!

Good news is that the pipeline test today was a success in Farach, so they just wait for us to finish the cement on the tapstand; Zouera is moving the tapstand to the location I proporsed a week ago, LOL.

Tony met with AfriquePower yesterday and observed the training of the village guardians who will maintain the systems; he felt the training was very thorough and is collaborating with the vendor on a photo maintenance manual.

Alan is missing his friends in Mopti, but has been practicing his Bombara in TB2 with Hamadi's family and anyone we come across; all are very impressed with his fluency.

Tony and Alan are fitting right in, drinking tea daily with the Tuaregs, and looking forward to visiting the schools tomorrow, Insh'allah.

Sorry no photos, too slow.

From the field in Mali, Dec 13

Hello again from Mali! A quick update from Timbuktu on our progress. The copy center in Farach is done, we are trying to find an internet connection solution for it and organize some PC training for the school Director, and someone to run it a few hours a day; the millet machine in Zouera required us to move the machine a bit; (which of course had been cemented into the ground), which has been done and the first technician let go and a more competant one hired to complete the install and training; it should be up and running when we get back there in a few days; the village women are excited and waiting to use it! the pipelines are done in both Farach and Zouera, quite an amazing thing to watch being done; a few cell phone calls from the President of the Zouera PTA and 21 men showed up with pick axes to dig the 250 meter trench; the tap stands are being done now next to each school, lots of confusion about the design and how it should be done, but with Hamadi's help I think we straightened it out; we hope to see them working when we return; The 2 Engineers without Borders volunteers, Alan & Tony arrived yesterday and are getting used to everyone and everything; The solar trining started yesterday and really got going today, with 3 trainees from Zouera and 3 from Farach in town for this; Our solar partner told me today that the team is very intelligent and picking it up quickly; As soon as the truck with all the solar equipment arrives, we move everyone to Farach to being the install there first, no easy task as this entails loving 2 truck loads of equipment and about 15 people via 4x4 to the schools, where there are no roads; more next time, internet connections have been tough.