We are getting pumped up this week to head out to El Carmen and La Mora in Nicaragua, where we get to install solar electrical systems in 5 more schools and 12 more homes. This will be especially exciting because we will visit some old friends and even do a movie night at one of the schools using all-solar electricity. We've got some really great projects and some new data to take. As you can see from Harvey that he gets very excited about solar and has been building the controller boxes in Nicaragua. That's right!!! He is doing the assembly for all of the home systems that we will install.
As you can see, Pastor Domingo is very motivated from his picture. He has scouted out all of the sites and has spoken with all of the people that we will be visiting. He is also getting his home ready for all of us to stay and work. They will be preparing food and cleaning and getting ready. Unfortunately, Jhonny can't come on this trip and he will be missed by everyone. Pastor is even organizing the first movie night using the school solar electrical system, so we need to figure out how to make popcorn for all the kids!
Our senior researcher, Dr. Allison Huffman, will be coming to take plenty of data and doing some health assessment on effects of electricity on people's lives. She will also be doing some basic data taking on respiration issues that go along with solid wood burning ovens inside the house. With this data, we can plan on another project to see if we can integrate some ventilation and measure the effects of this. She is also very strong, so we will make her carry everything.
As the best singer in the group, Pastor Roberto will be getting his guitar and voice ready to sing to all of the kids. I think that he sounds better than Julio Iglesias if you can believe that.
We'll even have Alexi there to make sure all of the wires are connected and the lights stay on even after we leave.
I will be checking in on an artist that I met when we installed electricity in her house. In the evening, she spends her time doing sketches. We will check in on her to see how much she enjoys drawing with in the evening with lights!
We are leaving on Thursday and will spend a week and a half installing systems, checking with our old friends and meeting plenty of new friends. I will tell you about it later, but we at Beyond the Light Project are super excited and ready to go!
Jim