I apologize for not keeping up on this blog. Hopefully this extra candy-filled & picture heavy entry will make up for that. Life has been good but busy in Bluefields, Nicaragua. I'll try to catch you up as best as I can:
On the project level, there have been a lot of improvements. We are currently preparing for a major installation of solar panels (1kw), a charge-control station for home-battery charging, 10 12-volt batteries for 10 families, LED lights (90 high-efficiency lamps), and biosand water filters (10) in the community of Monkey Point which has no access to piping or an electric grid.
Here is some of the work that's been going on to prepare:
These are the bio-sand filters that beneficiaries can use for improved water quality.
Felix, one of the local workers, with new solar panels.
Two French engineers working on Research & Development of the next 14' wind-turbine model.
This is the control panel at our workshop, which operates 3 wind-turbines and several solar panels.
In our administrative office we can now switch between renewable "blueEnergy" and the national grid.
I have been mostly working on monitoring & evaluation for our social impact measurements-- graphs, excel sheets, and analysis of our survey data-- hey, someone has to do it.
Now for the fun stuff-- the rainy season is just starting now-- (there are only two seasons in Nicaragua, dry season and wet season.) So everything is wet & green-- here is a picture of our house, and another of the countryside outside of our administrative office.
Here's a picture of Bluefields with the sea in the background-- and then one of the fruit market on the sea.
Here's a typical meal in Nicaragua in case you were wondering. Rice, tomatoes, fried plantains & potatoes... pretty standard.That's it for the pictures! I'll be here in Nicaragua until the end of June-- and will try to update once or twice more with pictures from the installation, so you can see the actual benefits being created by this project. I worked in this particular community last year-- so it's really exciting & rewarding to see may of our promises actually coming to fruition in the next few weeks.
Otherwise I hope all is well with you all-- thanks again for your support, and keep in touch!
Best,
Ben
