Today we split up into three teams- an electronics team, an NGO team, and a customs team. We started out together and changed money, but then split up when we got to Kampala. Bryan, Shavi, and Emmanuel (the Makerere student) went to look at batteries, charge controllers, and inverters. Marisa and Angela went to meet with the NGO called Community Integrated Development Initiatives, to get advice on the water project. Tess and John went to Entebbe (the airport) to look into what is happening with the crates.
Let's start with the bad news. The trip to the customs office, while very informative, gave some pretty disappointing information. Apparently, it is impossible for the crates to be let out of customs until we have a Tax Identification Number (TIN), which the clinic currently doesn't have. We can't use a personal TIN except for Angela's because she's the only person mentioned on the forms, but she doesn't have a TIN either. This means that we have to wait for the clinic to get a TIN (which they are currently working on) before we can start the process (which will take at least a few days in itself) of getting it through customs and having the solar panels tested and registered. So we will need to find ways of working around not having our solar panels or tools for possibly a few weeks. This is clearly very disappointing, but we are staying optimistic that the crates will be cleared sometime between one and two weeks from now. If they get through within 2 or even 3 weeks, we think that we can still do the installation ourselves.
The other teams were much more successful. The electronics team found everything they needed at Ssebegala and Sons, bought the units, and arranged for them to be driven to the clinic by Ssebegala and Sons' van, all for under budget! And the NGO team had a good meeting with CIDI, and got some good contacts that we will look into during our trip.
Tonight we had a lovely dinner at Angela's house (it's so nice having so many people around!) and then worked on figuring out exactly how much wire we need. Tomorrow we will buy wire, junction boxes, and combiner boxes, so that we can put together the system without the solar panels when we get to the clinic.
On Sunday we'll travel to the clinic to finally get to work!
No comments:
Post a Comment