Update May4, 2012 from the travel team

Hi all, Here is the update of May 4, 2012 from the travel team. "2nd driver finally arrived (late afternoon) Good by to Mattru : ( Stopped to see Francis Mustafa. Back on Road again, In Freetown about 9 PM. Drive from Mattru to Bo was very bad. We took mining road. At Jay's very late, sent Sullay home to his family, granola bars for dinner." Regards, Jamee

May 2-3, 2012 travel team report

Hi All, Here is the May 2-3 report from the travel team. "Paramount chief had given us our mende names. Herb is Joe Jange, Bill is Momotu Jange, and Jim is Tommy Jange!" "Got 3 bags of cement delivered 330 pounds total, it came on the back of a motorcycle!" "Hard Rain last few nights, the rainy season has begun!" "When someone dies, a memorial service is held at 40 days, 1 yr, 5 yr, 10 yr and 20 yr." "Pump installed and tested. Hand pump 3-6 gpm. Water samples taken. Leaving Mattru in about 2 hours." That is all for now. Regards, Jamee Pembert

Hi all, Here is the latest news May, 2 2012 Well Casing is all in. Pad poured. All is going great! :-) Finished 10 carboys. Solar software on Sheiks laptop. Chlorination training for teachers. All done today. Pump testing, 2nd highest producing well ever for Edal. A conference call was held with the team last night. Here are the meeting minutes taken by John Cirucci: Teleconference with EWB travel team 5/1/12 SL: Bill, Herb, Jim, Lauretta, Moses (?), Ahmed(?) US: Diana, John, Tom Well casing is installed Pump test completed – capacity is fantastic – on order of 100s gpm Pump test could only handle 15 lpm so drawdown was minimal 47 m deep, 11m water table Water conditions: pH = 7, k = 240 microsiemens/cm Don’t yet know quality – Diana emphasizes that people shouldn’t be falsely secure; to be mentioned in CIIB meeting tomorrow. Samples for Joe Ben Davies, water ministry and return to US Hand pump is there but not installed yet due to rain. Concrete will be laid for apron tonight or tomorrow morning (Same guy who is pouring apron also works on tanks) Tank is about ½ full. Water ministry was there. CTA (Communities and Teachers Association) Meeting today Every major representative there – paramount chief, town chief, ed dept, etc -- ~80 people A lot of work spent to bring people in. Lauretta had done 3 hr meeting Agreed to fees of Le 10,000 / student / semester No govt obstacles Recorded and documented unanimous vote Equivalent to ~$10k/year for infrastructure This goes beyond EWB projects. Every stakeholder emphasized most important project is a FENCE – want to secure campus. ALL AGREE ON THIS. Required to protect other improvements Will investigate tomorrow and will talk with CeOSA on Saturday. Can get community labor sweat equity Paramount chief emphasized that with well, people will build near and encroach. Hence need fence. For now, will put lock on hand pump for security when not in use Herb Klotz photographed the bank book. Le 265000 balance (2 x 150000/mo less one 35000 withdraw) Tomorrow at CIIB will change so that the Admin is NOT the signatories on the account Jim: repeated – 2 sites identified. Ground based system. Trying to find out who put in Govt system Trying to find Supreme Ventures (will install 23 solar powered wells NE of Freetown for Ministry). Even with perimeter campus fence, will need additional dedicated fence around panels for safety and security. All lights changed to 8W. Software loaded on Sheks computer and taught him and Chris how to download the data. Will be very interested to see how it works when rain starts There will be a Peace Corp worker replacing Chris in July. About 1 month overlap. Person not yet identified. Water disinfection training – Sheik and Chris, others identified. ENCISS is ok working with teachers. 10-3 time is not convenient for teachers but would have about 1 hr On Monday asked Ahmed to put together a series of detailed estimates for 1) Refurbishing 4 buildings – new roof/ceilings/doors for Chem/Physics lab; Ea building ~$15k 2) Boys and girls toilets - ~$1k ea 3) Piping of water system The team travels to Freetown on Thursday. Regards, Jamee