I finally got my mosquito net up. Biker Chicks
These guys have 6 boxes of chicks they are delivering somewhere. They ran out of gas and stopped to buy a liter from the Black Market seller across from the Jimeta Cathedral.
Saturday I went to the market but because of the rain the usual group of women cooking were not there. This is the only one. She was up against a building under a roof. The other women had cooked at home and brought only the products.
Epiphany
As I continued to work on the Pump Training Program, I recalled the 4 questions to ask before you repair a pump from the pump school I took in Texas. While I had realized that the cart was before the horse. Now I think we may not have bought a horse to push the cart with.
Do you have permission to repair the pump? (We have been assuming that the Local Governments would welcome our help. ASS-U-ME Maybe we should ask a few of them.)
Do you have the right parts and tools to work on the pump? (Simple answer is NO. Do you have a cost estimate to buy the parts and tools? NO Is there a plan to get the financing necessary to buy the parts and tools? NO Is there a plan for storage and distribution of the parts? NO)
Is there water in the borehole? (We better make a plan to find this out before we send out crews to fix pumps that cannot pump water.)
Do you have the knowledge to repair the pump? (We will after we have the class but without the tool, repair parts and permission we may not be able to do the on-the-job training necessary to actually learn how to do the job for many months after the school. UNICEF trained people on pump repair a few years ago. They had no plans to get them tools so most of the people never fixed any pumps. “Teach a man to fish.” But if you do not help him to buy a fishing rod or help him get access to the river to catch any fish, he will be a hungry fisherman.)
I had been working on outlines and details of a pump training program and at the same time working on an overall program and switched to designing a Pump Repair Program for the 6 diocese that will have the tools, parts, transportation, and financing in place before we start turning out repair teams who cannot develop experience because the trained them before we had the program together. The initial emphasis on the pump class came from an email that said the class was scheduled for May 23rd and 24th. As it turns out this was more of a wish than a schedule. So now we are going to concentrate on designing a WASH (Water and Sanitation/Hygiene) Program that is phased in with overlapping tasks.) One of the first tasks is to get an grasp on the cost of tools and repair parts. Tonight I will buy three hours on the internet and email several pump manufacturers to see if I can get some cost estimates.
“Is there water in the borehole.” Is a more complicated question than it looks. “Which communities have boreholes, hand dug wells, traditional water sources or no water source at all?” is a question no one has a grasp on. So we are designing a simple questionnaire that will give the dioceses some clues and a place to start. Last year I visited less than 10% of the communities where the LCCN has a presence. The sampling was not by any means random some sites were selected because they had water problems. Other sites were selected for other reasons.
UNICEF is supposed to have a program where they supply pump repair parts and the Adamawa Water, Environmental, Sanitation and T??? group is suppose to find vendors who will sell the parts for a small markup. Think this may be a “Wish” program rather than a real program. The LCCN is actually well positioned to operate the program as the 6 dioceses are dispersed throughout the State.
I better quit this blog, turn off the generator and walk out to do some shopping. I am out of tea down to my last can of fruit salad and the tomato paste is getting fuzzy. Time to feed it to the goats. I also need some tape to start taping things to the walls in the office so I can see my progress.
The generator was almost out of gas. Off to the black market gas sellers. A gallon of gas is about $3.82 at the price I paid to buy naira. That will run the generator for about 4 hours. Almost a $1 per hour for electricity.
As I continued to work on the Pump Training Program, I recalled the 4 questions to ask before you repair a pump from the pump school I took in Texas. While I had realized that the cart was before the horse. Now I think we may not have bought a horse to push the cart with.
Do you have permission to repair the pump? (We have been assuming that the Local Governments would welcome our help. ASS-U-ME Maybe we should ask a few of them.)
Do you have the right parts and tools to work on the pump? (Simple answer is NO. Do you have a cost estimate to buy the parts and tools? NO Is there a plan to get the financing necessary to buy the parts and tools? NO Is there a plan for storage and distribution of the parts? NO)
Is there water in the borehole? (We better make a plan to find this out before we send out crews to fix pumps that cannot pump water.)
Do you have the knowledge to repair the pump? (We will after we have the class but without the tool, repair parts and permission we may not be able to do the on-the-job training necessary to actually learn how to do the job for many months after the school. UNICEF trained people on pump repair a few years ago. They had no plans to get them tools so most of the people never fixed any pumps. “Teach a man to fish.” But if you do not help him to buy a fishing rod or help him get access to the river to catch any fish, he will be a hungry fisherman.)
I had been working on outlines and details of a pump training program and at the same time working on an overall program and switched to designing a Pump Repair Program for the 6 diocese that will have the tools, parts, transportation, and financing in place before we start turning out repair teams who cannot develop experience because the trained them before we had the program together. The initial emphasis on the pump class came from an email that said the class was scheduled for May 23rd and 24th. As it turns out this was more of a wish than a schedule. So now we are going to concentrate on designing a WASH (Water and Sanitation/Hygiene) Program that is phased in with overlapping tasks.) One of the first tasks is to get an grasp on the cost of tools and repair parts. Tonight I will buy three hours on the internet and email several pump manufacturers to see if I can get some cost estimates.
“Is there water in the borehole.” Is a more complicated question than it looks. “Which communities have boreholes, hand dug wells, traditional water sources or no water source at all?” is a question no one has a grasp on. So we are designing a simple questionnaire that will give the dioceses some clues and a place to start. Last year I visited less than 10% of the communities where the LCCN has a presence. The sampling was not by any means random some sites were selected because they had water problems. Other sites were selected for other reasons.
UNICEF is supposed to have a program where they supply pump repair parts and the Adamawa Water, Environmental, Sanitation and T??? group is suppose to find vendors who will sell the parts for a small markup. Think this may be a “Wish” program rather than a real program. The LCCN is actually well positioned to operate the program as the 6 dioceses are dispersed throughout the State.
I better quit this blog, turn off the generator and walk out to do some shopping. I am out of tea down to my last can of fruit salad and the tomato paste is getting fuzzy. Time to feed it to the goats. I also need some tape to start taping things to the walls in the office so I can see my progress.
The generator was almost out of gas. Off to the black market gas sellers. A gallon of gas is about $3.82 at the price I paid to buy naira. That will run the generator for about 4 hours. Almost a $1 per hour for electricity.
No comments:
Post a Comment