Moving forward at the speed of light

It’s all happened so fast. From half-joking idea to grant proposal to plane tickets; earth to bricks to building; ideas to lessons to business: this project has moved at an incredible pace. Despite setbacks and reroutes, months of thinking and planning and working are about to crystallize into something very real and very exciting. Today we look forward to opening night, the first opportunity for members of Nomdu One to visit the new solar center in the middle of their community. But before we celebrate too much, we have a bit of catching up to do.

Completed distribution and explanation of lanterns to all 57 compounds of Nomdu

In the past few days we have trained Fati and Sowda on operating the solar equipment and running the charging business, presented our project to all of Nomdu One at a community meeting, and distributed solar lanterns to each of the fifty-seven households in our community.  At the end of these long days, we’ve found ourselves much more interested in sleep than in attempting to coherently share what we’ve been up to. So let’s pick back up where we left off.

We arrived at Nomdu shortly after sunrise to greet the Chief and a handful of elders lounging beneath the emblematic big tree. This is the scene we’ve found most days upon our early arrival to the village. Slowly rising from a regal throne, a chair whose back was nearly horizontal, the chief told us to wait for the community to arrive and fill in the circle. Slowly, squirmy children, cackling older women, and even the ostracized Fulani brought life to the otherwise tranquil village center. The Chief made a nearly imperceptible hand gesture, which Khadijah immediately picked up on, and told us to begin.

It was not until I stood at the center of the impromptu amphitheater before me that I could fully conceptualize what fifty-seven households looks like. Over a hundred people gathered, representing the much greater population of Nomdu, to hear our presentation. Although we have gotten to know a handful of the community during construction, a sea of unfamiliar faces watched and waited to hear what a couple of Salamingas had to say for themselves. With the boost of confidence from our freshly tailored Ghanaian clothes, we began with hopes of winning over the community’s support.

Tragedy struck when Robert’s demonstration of lantern durability backfired. The batteries popped out the back of the “drop-proof” lantern as he skidded it across the stage. Oops…it must have not been closed all the way? We silently wondered. However, he quickly regained the community’s confidence by tossing an illuminated lantern into a murky bucket of dugout water, where it bobbed and remained afloat for the rest of our presentation. With the Chief and elders already on our side, convincing the rest of Nomdu was not the challenge we had anticipated. And when the group dispersed as quickly as it had coalesced, enthusiastic community members repeatedly prodded as to why they had to wait for the solar center’s opening. Whether due to the newly installed solar panels or the community’s widespread enthusiasm, there was an electricity in the air of Nomdu One.

Fati and Sowda stripping copper wire to ground the panels

The next few days were a whirlwind of panel installation, training, and lantern distribution. Fati and Sowda easily learned to wire the panels and gen set (admittedly quicker than I had a week before), displaying great confidence when they told village men to let them do their job. They are absolutely killing it, and I could not be more impressed. We can’t wait for them to shine at Opening Night!

Fati inside the Solar Center