Steve and Barnabas in Tanzania

Got a rare treat last night and not just talking about the roasted cow meat without all the bones in it.  Several of the Peace Corp Volunteers were in town before heading out to paint a room in the house of one of the volunteers who teaches physics.  They were looking to spend some time with a prior Peace Corp volunteer who now works for a company as their local liaison for one of their big projects.   We ate dinner with him and two of his consultants who were engineers.   (They even treated)  I forgot how much I enjoyed talking to engineers and discussing challenging projects that are very large scale.  It was not all about engineering and projects but still the engineering mindset is one I have missed since being here for discussions of any type. Their project is fascinating and one of those I would relish in my days of engineering work.  They plan to build a wind farm just outside of Singida and sell the power to Tanesco the local power company....

Due to the loss of the computer and the limited amount of work I seem to be able to get done on the cafe computers I am very late with some blog material.  So I am going to combine a couple of topics again this time.  They include: BRRR it's cold aka where is the sun? aka rain in September? Solar Power update on Medical Clinic Solar Power and lights in Ward Building How to install a switch box or light bulb on a concrete wall Tanzania Steve style (without all the tools you normally use) Installing Door lock sets in Tanzania Pre-school updates Crochet and Barnabas Friends BRRR it's cold aka where is the sun? aka rain in September? Ok I have been here in September multiple times and I have been on site sleeping before in September but I don't ever remember it getting as cold as it early in the month.  We had two days with no Sun and actual rain which I understand is beyond abnormal at this time of year.  William could not remember a time of rain in Septe...

I think most everyone knows now that my laptop was stolen from my hotel room during my recent trip to the village and to Nduguti for a crochet class.  To get the full effect of how that day went check out The Yarn's Over blog  to hear about the exciting travel from that trip and extremely long day prior to arriving at my hotel after dark on Saturday.  I come in with all the normal we missed you from the hotel manager and walk into my room and I go "And now I am missing my computer very much." The computer, the USB modem, the USB receiver for my mouse, the USB flash drive with my most recent back up, the charging cable and the special solar panel with 19 volt battery to recharge the laptop with were all gone.  They had unplugged everything on the plug strip to look for other electronics as well.   Why did I leave my computer in the room while I was gone to the village?  Well with our current travel method of mini vans, piki piki and hiking all ...