pictures

I am becoming quite fond of the the guy in the top photo and was wondering if you would be interested in a new pet Pat. The The last one is of Victor and one of the line crews as they were going out for the day.

still working on thesub

Victor  and I worked on the sub again today.  Everyone says that we are making good progress but I would say that we have a couple of days left to go. Cody and Arron invited Victor to go out to a bar with them tonight, we agreed to go when John said he would go and we knew we would have a ride back at a decent hour. We met some of the guys from the coop there and it was kind of interesting to sit and talk to them. That is about it for tonight.

pictures

A few pictures from our road trip.

got out today

Worked on the substation till one o'clock today. We eat lunch at one and after lunch John,Victor, and I went to a small town 20 miles from here to buy diesel fuel.  I think John bought about 1000 liters. We went there because in Maridi you can only buy diesel in five gallon cans and the fuel gets very dirty.  While there John mentioned that there were some interesting signs to take a picture of so I went over to get them.  I have been told many times not to take pictures of people without asking them and I never do.  There were no people where I was taking the photos so I thought that I would be all right but as I turned to leave a guy and an armed soldier came and demanded to know what I was taking pictures of and what I was going to do with them.  They also wanted to know who I was working for. It was difficult to understand him and that seemed to make him even madder.  Everything was fine as soon as I told him I was working for NRECA. Other than that everything is going well.

new pictures

I had to load today's pictures, that is why two blogs.  The first one is of our kitchen, the second is where Victor and I sleep.  My bed is the last one in the row. The last one is of me --wish I had brought a battery powered bolt cutter.

west 11th Maridi substation

Not a lot new to report.  We are still working on the new substation. It is an all wood structure, so a lot of climbing.  I would guess that the Lane Electric guys would be interested to know that I have a couple of strawberries--the first I have had in more than 20 years.  I renamed the new sub west 11th because it reminds me so much of Lane's old west 11th sub, though I suppose only Rick and Tom Gartin will remember it. Was very hot and humid today, not sure how hot but aleast 100 and 100% humidity. At least I remembered to get lots of water and did not have any problems getting light headed again.  I'm eager to get the sub done and see some more of the country I will send pictures as soon as we get it done. all the people here have been great to work with.  I am enjoying it very much  Will try to put some pictures on now hope it goes better than last night.

pictures

it took till almost midnight

substation

Victor, John,and I worked all day on the substation today. It was quite hot and humid and I forgot to bring any water and I got a little light headed but I came off the pole and got some water and all was well.  There was problem with blueprint of the sub- it had been changed some and it thru for awhile but I think all is well now.  We plan to be back at it tomorrow. Tried to load pictures from small camara and had no luck not sure why.

Finally made it

Got to Maridi about noon, it is a lot like Yei just much smaller.  Right now there is only one customer and a street light circuit hot.  They are waiting for the big cat generators  to get here, they are the ones in Kampala that are being tested right now.  The street lights and the one customer plus the compound where we are is energized by a 35 kw generator.  They have hung a 25 kva pot and are back feeding thru it to pickup the load. The whole system is only about a kilometer long. They have built about 4 kilometers getting ready for the generators.  The system will be about 11 kilometers when totally built.
The crew here is 3 lineman and Bob Dalton.  The lineman are John Padilla from New Mexico, Cody Coulter, Idaho, and Arron Sutherland from Washington. In the picture the guy on the left is Simon an intern from South Africa, in the middle is Victor, and Bob Dalton is on the right. The pictures were taken at the Skepe Hotel in Kampala, a street in Kampala and one of the generators for Maridi 
Jerry

 

Victor Muhammad the guy who came here with is from South Carolina. The crew has already set 10 poles for the substation structure Victor and I are to start running the bus work and hanging the disconnects tomorrow. The compound is very different here than in Yei in that  the sub, the housing and the office are all right here. I am in the house right know but the bugs under light are driving me nuts so will stop know but I will give some pictures a try again.

Leaving Uganda

We leave Uganda tomorrow for Maridi need to be up about 6:oo am to get flight out.  Bob will be staying here because there is a problem with the tests for the new generators.  He will be here until next Tuesday. He wants us to work on the new Substation. still having trouble with the pictures will keep trying.

Jerry

Made it

We made it to Uganda on time everything went very well for me. Victor had a little trouble getting out of Atlanta on time so was a little late getting to Amsterdam. The air port sent a bus to get him while the plane was still on the runway. Getting late here so I'm going to end know and get some sleep.

Jerry