Construction on the Fistula Hospital is roaring along. Not only is the hospital construction in process, but also a guesthouse facility is being built there as well to house the teams of doctors and nurses who perform the surgeries. We continue to fly there regularly, taking Chad to supervise each stage of the construction. This is a picture of the roof being put on one section of the guesthouse.
Right before Christmas, we flew a plane load to spend a day and a half wiring the guesthouse facility. There were 6 of us: myself, Ed (one of our pilots), Chad, Craig (Chad's brother) and their two sons. Our trip began with a little setback. As we taxied onto the runway to takeoff on the flight, our right main tire went flat. We had to shut the plane down on the runway and I called the tower to have the firemen come help us. With their help, we were able to push the plane off the runway a few feet at a time. They pushed up on the wing to take the weight off the flat tire and we pushed the plane 10 feet. We then set it down to rest and went again. We had to move the plane about 60 meters to get it clear of the runway. Once it was clear, we got a ride to the hangar with the firemen and brought tools back to change the tire. We were on our way again about an hour later than planned. That made our ambitious schedule even tighter. Chad planned for us to wire up the three guesthouse buildings that day and the next morning before flying back home. Here's a picture of the building that will be the common area, kitchen, and laundry facility. You can see the wood framework in place for the ceiling.
We worked hard pulling wires for lights, fans, outlets, switches, etc... Here's Ed wiring up one of the junction boxes.
The boys worked hard as well. They were invaluable walking across the ceiling framework for us pulling wires to where we needed them to go.
Meanwhile, we were busy labeling wires and hooking them up.
Chad kept us efficiently on track with the master plan. He had the fun of making the maze all come together correctly in the circuit box. The last junction box was closed up 15 minutes before we had to leave for the airport to make it back home in time before dark.
At the beginning of January, an electrical team from New York came out to do the much bigger job of wiring the entire Fistula hospital buildings. They spent 3 weeks there along with Chad. We flew out three other families for a week each to help them and cook for the team. On one of those flights, I had the left tire go flat as I landed on the runway. Deja vu. I managed to get the plane stopped on the runway. We were turned sideways on the runway by the time it finally came to a stop. This time, though, we were at a runway that is not nearly as busy. The tower said there were no other planes coming that day, so we could leave the plane on the runway to fix the tire. We used the jack from a vehicle and a cement block to jack the left landing gear. Once we got the tire off, we took it to the house of one of our co-workers in that town who had patches for inner tubes. We were able to patch the tube and get the tire back on the plane in a couple of hours. Then, I flew back and put a new tube in the tire once we were back at our hangar. Nothing like a little improvisation in the bush.
Sahel Academy also sent a team of students for a week to lend a hand. It was a huge success with all the wiring being completed. This is a picture of the administrative building.
Here's the operating room building. Now that the wiring is completed, the tile is being installed on the floors of all the buildings.
Here's the ward. Notice the bottom side of the roof. It has reflexive insulation installed just underneath the metal roof. I can personally attest that the insulation works great. After spending a day and a half crawling around in the ceiling of the guesthouse facility underneath that insulation, I was very thankful for it. I've spent many hours above the ceiling in our house which doesn't have insulation under the metal roof. The metal roof is too hot to touch, but with the insulation you can touch the insulation and not feel any heat coming through.
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