2008-12-01&02
Spent most of the day at the ProNet internet place doing research on various ways to connect to the intent and some other things.
2008-12-03
After getting some stuff at the market I went to talk again to an electrician who I have inquired about making a pedal powered bike generator and who had suggested my looking into a “dynamo” type generator (I was a little unsure what it looked like but he had said that it was a generator used to electrify bicycles). I basically went to all the bicycle stores in Chipata in the last few days, and although the thing seemed familiar to some of them, no one had it. After doing some internet research, I found that dynamo generators also referred to DC generators old used in old vehicles like VW bugs. I got a circuit diagram for use in regulating voltage in this type of generator as well as a diagram which required far fewer parts for use in regulating voltage of a more modern AC car alternator with the built in circuitry to convert it to DC so that all you really needed was the proper resister and a few fuses. I got a recommendation of where to find an alternator for the later of the two designs and this store did have one although the price was fairly steep.
-went to the internet place briefly after calling a taxi because I didn’t really feel like trying to deal with the hassle of trying to hitch and I would almost certainly need to find a taxi to go the last 10km from the BOMA to Dovu village.
-at about 1430-1500 the taxi came and after waiting a while for another passenger at Shopright, finally left and we headed back
2008-12-04
-Spent the morning planting things and the afternoon reading
2008-12-05
-went to the BOMA and charged my devices and got some things
-came back and planted some more things
2008-12-06
-spent most of the day cleaning my hut and putting black plastic under my ceiling to prevent the sawdust from the termites and other burrowing insects that are slowly eating my rafters from falling down on everything. Also directed a villager in putting up another tarp and some black plastic.
2008-12-07
-planted more things then cooked some tomato sauce/salsa. Read some and went to bed early so I could get up early.
2008-12-08
-met with the DFO regarding signing a leave form for some days I plan on going to Lusaka at the end of December.
-went to the market and got some mangoes and other things, including a Zambian native squash type thing that my banja had given me earlier and tasted pretty good
-charged my devices and finished a memo I was working on to the Chadiza environmental committee about the health and environmental risks the open-air burning of brush and trash (lupya is the Chichewa term for it) that has been rampant in the BOMA and elsewhere (at least until the rainy season has come.)
-tried to fax the leave form but the first place I tried didn’t have a fax, they sent me to the district commissioner where it was out of order so I finally went to the Zamtel (government run company that handles land lines) office where there was a fax but the boss wasn’t in so I will need to try again Wednesday
-planted some more things then had dinner at dusk
2008-12-09
-late start (woke up at 6:30!)
-at about 10:00 I started working on clearing an area that I want to have fence put up around to have as a garden closer to my site. My wrist got a bit tired of all that slashing so I turned to raking what I had slashed into a compost pile until it started raining at 1430
-studied some Chichewa and cooked my squashy vegetable
2008-12-10
-went to the BOMA and successfully faxed my leave form
-got bananas and mangos from a rode side mini marketplace that has more then one salesperson on Wednesdays I guess because that is went most people get paid and so that is when there are more people selling things.
-went to the District Resource Center as dark clouds looked over head and called PC Lusaka to try to set up a home stay for the few days I’m in Lusaka around the new year.
-the rain that came never completely abated until I needed to leave so I put on all my gear a headed out. Of course, as soon as I got on the road the rain went away so by the end I was more wet from sweat then I would have been from rain had I not put on my gear.