Ruud's Corner

YWAM Jamaica has a second base at Ruud's Corner. It is a 2-1/2 hour drive from here under normal conditions. We drove up before dawn this morning, stopping in Mandeville for some Jamaican breakfast before heading out to the base. This base is located on the north side of the island in the mountains and it is windy quite a bit there. They have a Skystream wind power generator on a 33' pole that is producing electricity for them to help offset their monthly bills. It works very well, but when the installers came down from the States to install the system it initially failed. Then a replacement unit was brought in and installed later and it is the one in service now, working like a champ. Michael spent some extensive time on the phone talking to the manufacturer in Arizona, and we spent time doing some bench tests on the defective unit in the base shop. We are not sure at this point if the unit is usable or not, but if it can be determined that any defective parts could be replaced and the unit made usable, then YWAM would purchase another set of blades and another pole and would then initiate a team perhaps from ITEC to put this second unit into service. We plan to do more testing tomorrow on it to see if it might be repairable. The base up north is located on an old slave plantation, and the main plantation house dates to the 1700's. The location is very quiet except for the constant wind. This base has a secondary school on it which is not in operation over the summer. The drive home took longer due to a very heavy thunderstorm and being behind some large trucks. There is probably not more than 500' of straight road anywhere in Jamaica, if this road is typical That and the constant potholes make for some potential car-sickness, but we did just fine. We stopped off on the way home and sampled some Jamaican jerk pork, chicken and sausage. It was very good and remained in all of our stomachs during all the bouncing around on the rest of the way home. Tomorrow will be our last day here and the youth group from southern Lancaster County is going out to the beach at Negril for the day. Michael and I will stay back and catch up on all we have come here to do so that we are ready to head out on Sunday feeling like we have achieved our purpose. Thanks for your prayers and concerns. God has been with us all the way on this quest here and we are looking forward to providing YWAM with a proposal for the solar here at Montego Bay, once we are home and able to get current pricing. If they raise the necessary funds for the project, then it is very likely we will assemble a team of volunteers to come here and install the system. Today's pictures are from the base above Mandeville. As always you can click on a picture to see it full size. I also am including a map of Jamaica so that you can get a feel for where we have ben while here. Montego Bay is at the top left of the island and Mandeville is below it toward the southern coast. The island is 60 miles wide. Why should it take 2-1/2 to 4 hours to drive across it???

Again, the jerk food was very good.

Rain!

Today it rained again. It REALLY rained. Accompanying it was some more lightning and thunder. The storms seem to all move west to East through the Caribbean. It is about 8 PM here and it is completely dark, except for all the city lights on the other side of the bay. The peepers are noisy. Today we refined some of our sketches and took some final measurements on the roof of the Merrick Go Centre. We now have almost enough information to submit a proposal once we get pricing back from suppliers.

I did some measuring to replace some overhead electrical cables and will send out a list to my supplier for pricing on that. We are planning on getting up very early for our 2-1/2 hour trip to the other YWAM base tomorrow to look at their wind power generator setup and to determine how and where to install a second wind generator tower. We will be away from here all of the day. I hope to post a few pictures of it tomorrow night when we get back. Thanks fopr your prayers and concerns. YWAM is a really good ministry and is very worthy of our involvement and support. If the project turns around as projected, there will be opportunity for additional volunteers to come back here for the installation. Anyway, it is a beautiful place with many almond and palm trees and even some breadfruit trees. The vegetation is very lush here compared to Haiti where much of theirs has been stripped away for charcoal to survive. John has filled us in on much of the history of YWAM and there are many lives that have been changed through this ministry. It would be a great opportunity for our church youth group to come here at some point to be involved with a VBS or to help build a house for some poor Jamaicans, or to even help in building maintenance here on this base.

Now it is time to head to bed for that early trip out in the morning.

What we do

Today was a fairly productive work day. Michael and I did some serious measurements on the roof of the Merrick-Go Center here at the compound where a solar project is projected to be installed to help offset some of the electrical costs for YWAM. I am posting some preliminary notes that turned into some more accurate AutoCAD sketches. Michael's solar programming software will be used extensively to give a "best design" for the center. Tomorrow I will be doing some measurements for possibly eliminating the overhead electrical lines that run from the M-G Center to the Great House and some other buildings. This evening we enjoyed a worship service in the M-G Center. Some of the team of young people from Stumptown Mennonite Church in southern Lancaster County, PA, led in some really good Worship and Praise music. They also put on a very good skit. John's wife Danielle led most of the service and played her guitar during a group session. YWAM has a real heart for the ministry of the Gospel to Jamaica. By now you have heard that "Lightning" Bolt was very successful for Jamaica in the Summer Olympics. As I write this there are some significant lightning bots in the distant Caribbean sky. It was sunny most of the day but a major thunderstorm rolled by in the afternoon that left a few of our tools to get wet on the roof of the building. But things dry out don't they?

Night time in Jamaica

Michael and I arrived safe and sound in Montego Bay right on schedule. ?We had no issues with Immigration or Customs and John H. picked us up out front and brought us to the YWAM base here in Montego Bay. It is a beautiful 13-acre compound overlooking the bay and open ocean out beyond. Fortunately Tropical Storm Ernesto has not had much effect here and it did not rain all day, although most of the day was completely clouded over. John said it has been this way for several days. A funny thing happened at Customs at the airport. I was waiting in line to go through Customs and the couple in front of me already at the counter were Fred and Sue B. from Word of Life Chapel. They had arrived through a different route and are here to visit some friends. Interestingly I may be on the same flight to Miami on Sunday. We will see. It is a small world, isn't it? Sue had to snap some photos of the three of us men, but I did not get one to post from her. Sorry. Michael and I walked around today and got the lay of the land, so to speak. We also got John to give us some more electric bills to add to the spreadsheet we have to come up with some kind of pay-back time frame for a solar project. You must remember that foreign countries often charge high rates for electricity. The rate here averages around $0.43 per KWH. Check your bill at home and compare that figure to your $0.15+/- per KWH. I think you might agree that the cost for a solar grid-tie system on a system like this one will pay back quite early. Bills here are averaging above $5000.00 per month. Anyway, we will be taking current and voltage measurements around the compound tomorrow. Hopefully we will be able to investigate where it might be possible to purchase solar panels in Jamaica on another day and see how the cost would com0are to sending them here from the States. As I type this on my little Netbook using my reading glasses in total darkness using the screen light to see the keyboard, I may have some typo's. Keep tuned. On Sunday, Michael and I will leave the island at different times and he will head back to Pennsylvania, while I will meet up with Gene F. from ITEC in Miami. From there we will head to Santa Cruz, Bolivia to do an additional electrical survey. My scheduled time to arrive back in Pennsylvania is August 18. I will try to update this blog as often as I can. A church group from Pennsylvania is also here a this time, and I can hear their youth group leaders leading in their evening devotional in an adjacent building. I am very impressed with the leadership of YWAM.

Starting out

Michael Fisher and Gary Smedley are sitting in the Harrisburg Airport awaiting our first leg from here to Philadelphia and then onto Montego Bay, Jamaica. We will be doing an electrical survey for Youth With A Mission (YWAM) at two of their sites in Jamaica. This is a short stay until Saturday only. The tropical storm in the Jamaica area appears to be a non-issue at least for now. We are expecting rain every day we are there, though. We would appreciate your thoughts and prayers that we will be able to keep focused on the project at hand and will be able to present this mission with a proposal in a timely fashion. I will keep you updated as Internet is available. Gary