A day at the beach

Last Sunday we were just hanging out at home. Not much going on so I decided to lay down and take a nap. 5 minutes later there is frantic banging on the bedroom window with my boys yelling "WE FOUND THE BOMB, WE FOUND THE BOMB!!!" The "Bomb" is an unexploded ordnance that was spotted under water by former ELWA missionaries while swimming in the early 1990's. At the time the West African peace keeping forces were notified but nothing was ever done. Soon the shifting sands buried it and there it remained for over 15 years. The boys were alerted to it by a couple Liberian boys who had started to pull pieces of the tail fins off before realizing what it was. After a couple quick calls we borrowed Joni Byker's underwater camera and snapped a few pictures.

The UN was notified and we waited... After a week it appeared that nothing was going to happen with the shell while it was underwater. It was pulled out and then disposed of in the field next to our house. Here's a picture right after it was pulled out of the water...

So today the PAKBATT (UN battalion from Pakistan) came to dispose of the bomb. They arrived and cleared everyone out of the area around the bomb, including our house. I tried to talk with one of the PAKBATT guys about how they'd dispose of it and what it was exactly, only to get a "no English" response. A little later a youngish guy who looked like he was in charge walked by. He spoke very good English and said he had not seen anything like it in Liberia before, but believed it was an anti-tank round and they would bury it and detonate it with plastic explosives. I also had a conversation with him about cleft lips, as he noticed Blessing had surgery for one. He has been through three surgeries for a double cleft lip that he was born with. So after about 20 minutes of set up, they blew it up.

The boys were at the crater within a few short minutes and collected the still warm shrapnel. Here's a picture of their finds on our kitchen counter. If you ask them, they'll tell you who's pieces are who's.

Here's a video compilation of the weeks events.

Power

Over the past three weeks ELWA has been hosting a group of people from the US that have been helping to make upgrades to the power system. The team consists of former missionaries, former missionary kids from ELWA, electricians, contractors and even a Liberian who used to work at ELWA but now lives in Philadelphia. In total 9 people traveled out from the US to work with ELWA's 5 electricians and an extra 8-10 ELWA services staff that helped out.

The project consisted of replacing all the transformers on campus so the voltage could be dropped from 7,200 volts to 2,400 on the primary transmission lines. The change was recommended a couple years ago after an electrical engineer analyzed ELWA's system and recommended the voltage be dropped to reduce the high voltage leaking to ground and jumping around insulators. We also installed some new transmission lines and changed our output voltage that the generators produce. The old transformers were very old in some cases and the combination of old transformers and poor power lines led to chronically low voltage at the hospital and other locations. Over the past couple years this has shortened the life of a number of pieces of donated equipment that the hospital couldn't afford to lose.

The big switch was made last Tuesday and everything went very smoothly. The rest of the week the crew continued to work on the transmission lines, generator programming and troubleshooting other problems that have plagued the system. Over the course of the last 3 weeks a number of issues were identified that needed correction. These issues necessitated purchasing a wide range of electrical materials. A wide range of electrical materials that cost a little over $3,000. These purchases were paid for by myself and other members of the team to keep the project rolling.

So now we are trying to raise some funds to help pay for these needed upgrades. If anyone would like to help out please go to the new organization, EMA USA, and donate. All donations are tax deductible. Please indicate that the money is for the ELWA Power project (but not on your check memo line as the website explains is not permitted under IRS rules).

Now onto some pictures...

Paul Ruark was our only Lineman and was therefore very busy with all of the new transmission line work. Here he is in the basket of a forklift that we were able to use for the week.

Setting a new power pole.

Alan Shea (on the left and a MK who grew up at ELWA) and Jeff Kennell did most of the electrical change over work that needed to be done in the powerhouse. They also completed some of the finer features of the Intelligen control system that our generators are controlled through.

The forklift was loaned to us to use for the week through a connection of Kevin Kejr. Without it we would not have been able to complete the project nearly as quickly.

One of the new transformers almost finished, still waiting for the wire on the high voltage side.

One of the old transformers. It is a minor miracle that some of them were even working.

Cleaning up some of the pole hardware while the power was off. Everyone got into the action, this is actually one of our staff plumbers helping out.

Making connections at the step up transformers. From L-R Alan Shea, Justin (on loan from Samaritan's Purse), Kevin Kejr and Paul Ruark

Alfred, one of ELWA's electricians.

Eric Lewis and Steve Kejr setting the new transformers at the hospital

Mel Kejr moving a transformer into place at the hospital.

The new step up transformers ready for action.

David Frazee came and stayed at the house he grew up in from 1960-1976. He is now an electrician in TN.

David Tyler and ELWA electrician Henry.

The team photo.
Praise God that the work went so smoothly, we had all the technical know how to get the project finished and nobody got hurt. And a big thank you to everyone who came out to help.