By Woody Collins, Congo Helping Hands
Six planets will be aligning and be visible in the sky on February 28. I thought this week was going to be just as significant with our proposed project. First, our head leader of the project, Dr Larry Sthreshley, arrived in Kananga last Thursday for a one-week visit. He came to bring three other Friends of IMCK (the medical programs at Tshikaji) board members for a reorientation.
Larry had time in his schedule to meet with the Provincial Governor. We pushed for a meeting to get a decision, and we thought his presence would get things moving towards a “let it be done.” It’s Wednesday evening, the day before he flies back to Kinshasa. Unless a meeting happens tomorrow morning before his afternoon flight, we will fall back and wait for Christmas.
We are continuing to plan to convert a health center with a diesel-powered water system to a Solar Powered Water System with SmartTaps. The welder and fabricator for our solar panel rack to hold the six panels had a clear lack of understanding regarding solar energy production. His finished product had a bar across the solar panels to keep them in place. That’s a major error because blocking or shading just one cell in the solar panel drastically reduces the energy or electricity by 50-90 percent. OOPS, he had to take them back to the shop and make several corrections. We should have used persons who are familiar with making solar panel racks for the roof. As a result, we will not start until next week. It was a disappointing week.
Last Sunday, I had the opportunity to visit the Presbyterian University of Congo’s campus at Ndesha Mission with the IMCK board members. It’s located on the other side of downtown Kananga. It started as seminary but transitioned to a multi-discipline learning center. Some of the subjects taught are Christian education for pastors and leaders, general education, and public health.
For me, it was an emotional visit. After our first trip to Bulape in August 1998, we went there for dinner with Rev. Dr. Mulumba and his family. We had a simple meal of spaghetti with meat sauce. Mike Meltzer graciously announced it was his best meal of the trip. On the opposite side of that memory, I visited the grave of Rev. Dr. Mulumba on the campus. He was the General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church of Congo and a member of the faculty of the university for many years. Rev. Dr. Mulumba did one of his sabbaticals at the Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. During that time, he preached at Faith Presbyterian Church and at other congregations and Presbytery meetings. He was a great visionary and man of God. I miss him dearly.
In the meantime, between waiting for solar panel racks, we are doing some neglected administrative work like inventorying our repair parts warehouse. Also, I found that one of our SmartTaps was counting the liters of water dispensed to customers. It had been happening for about 3 weeks. I am just glad I was here to find the error even though I was not looking for it. I had noticed the problem when I ran the monthly reports.
And yes, my sleep score took a hit this week!
