Tanzania Tidbits-BRRR and how to install a box in a wall Tanzania Steve style
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?
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 September or it being this cold. My hygrometer broke a long time ago so the exact temperature I cannot tell you. But consider this the sand does not retain heat very well so every night it loses a lot of the heat built up over the day of sunlight. Two full days with no sun visible meant no heat stored and then a lot of wind and the light rains it was cold.
How cold? I was wearing three pairs of socks, two pairs of pants and my sleep pants, and three long sleeve shirts including one that was fleece lined and my blanket sheet and I was still too cold to sleep most of the night. Wished I had room in my backpack this week to carry my blanket at the hotel or at least my jacket.
Solar Power update on Medical Clinic
One good thing about a couple days without power is it provided our first real test of the medical clinic solar power system. The system is designed to maintain power with three days without sun. After two full days where we used everything normally including the cell phone charger there was no issue with the system handling the load during this time.
Solar Power and lights in Ward Building
I think I mentioned in a previous blog that I was testing the old solar power system installed on the medical clinic to determine what parts were bad. What I found was that the panel was operating normally but the battery was losing it charge rather quickly. This is one of those deep cell no maintenance batteries so nothing I can really do to increase it's ability to hold a charge.
I wanted to wire up the other main medical building with a DC only system for lights. So I had the solar panel moved and took the battery over myself and connected everything up. After getting a full charge on the battery I started testing lights and found we had enough power to get them on. So I used money saved on the medical clinic solar power system to wire up and get lights and switches for the ward building. After doing both buildings I was over the budget for just the one building by 165,000 TSH (roughly $100 USD).
The system does work however if they leave the exterior light on all night the lights are barely noticeable in the morning. So we have restricted lights to only when they need to be used for patients. This will get us by for a while and then we will have buy a new battery. I am hoping it will last until 2015.
How to install a switch box or light bulb on a concrete wall Tanzania Steve style (without all the tools you normally use)
One of the interesting things about the ward building was that it had no previous installation before so where the clinic did have switch boxes installed on the walls in most locations the ward building does not.
No big deal right. Wrong. Try installing a plastic switch box on the surface of a cement brick wall with cement plaster covering it and not having an electric drill, cement or masonry bit and a very limited number of plastic anchor bolts (limited enough I did not use them at all).
The solution: Hammer a nail into the wall of such diameter that the screw will still grip some of the cement. Then withdraw or pull the nail out. Squirt wood glue inside the hole and let it set up then you can screw the wood screw into the glue. Do the same thing for a light bulb socket into the concrete.
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?
- 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 September or it being this cold. My hygrometer broke a long time ago so the exact temperature I cannot tell you. But consider this the sand does not retain heat very well so every night it loses a lot of the heat built up over the day of sunlight. Two full days with no sun visible meant no heat stored and then a lot of wind and the light rains it was cold.
How cold? I was wearing three pairs of socks, two pairs of pants and my sleep pants, and three long sleeve shirts including one that was fleece lined and my blanket sheet and I was still too cold to sleep most of the night. Wished I had room in my backpack this week to carry my blanket at the hotel or at least my jacket.
Solar Power update on Medical Clinic
One good thing about a couple days without power is it provided our first real test of the medical clinic solar power system. The system is designed to maintain power with three days without sun. After two full days where we used everything normally including the cell phone charger there was no issue with the system handling the load during this time.
Solar Power and lights in Ward Building
I think I mentioned in a previous blog that I was testing the old solar power system installed on the medical clinic to determine what parts were bad. What I found was that the panel was operating normally but the battery was losing it charge rather quickly. This is one of those deep cell no maintenance batteries so nothing I can really do to increase it's ability to hold a charge.
I wanted to wire up the other main medical building with a DC only system for lights. So I had the solar panel moved and took the battery over myself and connected everything up. After getting a full charge on the battery I started testing lights and found we had enough power to get them on. So I used money saved on the medical clinic solar power system to wire up and get lights and switches for the ward building. After doing both buildings I was over the budget for just the one building by 165,000 TSH (roughly $100 USD).
The system does work however if they leave the exterior light on all night the lights are barely noticeable in the morning. So we have restricted lights to only when they need to be used for patients. This will get us by for a while and then we will have buy a new battery. I am hoping it will last until 2015.
How to install a switch box or light bulb on a concrete wall Tanzania Steve style (without all the tools you normally use)
One of the interesting things about the ward building was that it had no previous installation before so where the clinic did have switch boxes installed on the walls in most locations the ward building does not.
No big deal right. Wrong. Try installing a plastic switch box on the surface of a cement brick wall with cement plaster covering it and not having an electric drill, cement or masonry bit and a very limited number of plastic anchor bolts (limited enough I did not use them at all).
The solution: Hammer a nail into the wall of such diameter that the screw will still grip some of the cement. Then withdraw or pull the nail out. Squirt wood glue inside the hole and let it set up then you can screw the wood screw into the glue. Do the same thing for a light bulb socket into the concrete.
Installing Door lock sets in Tanzania
I also found out installing a door lock set here is much more difficult than it is in the states. The lock set on one of ladies rooms had a damaged push latch and had to be replaced. I was not sure there lock set would be reversible so I made sure I had all the information for the door swing if I needed to buy a left or right hand set. Turns out they do sell reversible units. So I buy one and take it back to the site.
As you can guess I have to reverse it. In the states the lock or deadbolt part is normally separate of the standard door latch (the one at an angle that has to be facing the correct way). So when you need to reverse one you normally just turn it around before you put it into the door. Not here. You have to disassemble the unit and all the internal springs while making sure you don't miss up the lower lock set springs and lock latches. I had to take pictures of every step along the way just so I could reference them if I had anything wrong when I put it all back together.
Fortunately years of taking things apart that I was not supposed to allowed me much success in this endeavor.
As you can guess I have to reverse it. In the states the lock or deadbolt part is normally separate of the standard door latch (the one at an angle that has to be facing the correct way). So when you need to reverse one you normally just turn it around before you put it into the door. Not here. You have to disassemble the unit and all the internal springs while making sure you don't miss up the lower lock set springs and lock latches. I had to take pictures of every step along the way just so I could reference them if I had anything wrong when I put it all back together.
Fortunately years of taking things apart that I was not supposed to allowed me much success in this endeavor.
Pre-school updates
I am not sure if everyone who gets my blog would have gotten the news and prayer requests that our teacher Sarah was a victim of domestic abuse by her husband. She had both feet broken and is currently staying with family members during her recovery. The unfortunate situation was that she had to ride a piki piki to the bus and then ride on the overcrowded buses where everyone climbs all over you on her way to Singida to the hospital with an x-ray. They set both feet in casts and she is supposed to return on October 4th to have the casts removed and get a verdict on further treatment. A side note is that Tanzania has an automatic reporting on abuse when medical treatment is involved so her husband is now a wanted man by the polisi. Please pray for her to have a good recovery.
While she is away we have two new teachers on the site, Stephen and Margaret. Stephen is local and wants to teach full time. Margaret is actually a nurse that was looking for a job when we had the need to replace Enos who was called to do his military training. She has taught pre-school at her church and a deal was reached that she will teach until Sarah's return and we will allow her to work afternoons at the medical clinic to gain experience and for addition to her resume.
While she is away we have two new teachers on the site, Stephen and Margaret. Stephen is local and wants to teach full time. Margaret is actually a nurse that was looking for a job when we had the need to replace Enos who was called to do his military training. She has taught pre-school at her church and a deal was reached that she will teach until Sarah's return and we will allow her to work afternoons at the medical clinic to gain experience and for addition to her resume.
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| Margaret and Stephen |
Crochet and Barnabas Friends
I got the chance to teach a crochet class in Nduguti which was a lot of fun though some long travel routes there over roads that reminded me of the 2001 trip. Even better Barnabas made some friends along the way.
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