Solar Street Lamps

So the main project that we are focusing on right now is solar street lamps for the city of Makeni. In looking at the three projects that I came back from Sierra Leone with this one seems to be the most attainable at this point.  Granted there is an awful lot to do between now and instalation, including sorting through Sierra Leone's entire governmental apparatus.  But as it is, right now it really looks to be the most feasible.  The brick project requires a lot in terms of expertise, local business infrastructure, and time in country.  It is also a commitment for a longer term production process.  The solar street lamp project on the other hand is a one-off endeavor with a definite start, end, and result.  This I think is best for setting up this business endeavor in Sierra Leone.  Lessons will of course be learned during the process that could easily be used to set up a better production scenario in our other endeavors.  It also can be a solid revenue generator in a shorter fixed term.  Source the lamps, ship them, install them, done.  It's obviously much more complicated, but not like the brick project's open-ended scenario including local production facilities, local sales teams, local distribution networks, local management, and permanent staff.  It is a huge commitment that needs time and planning.  By focusing on the lamps, we can work through the planning of the bricks at the same time without as much risk.

The Lamps are an intricate process as well though.  We have to source the lamps and the poles and ship them to Sierra Leone, where they will have to pass through customs and the entire African shipping process.  From there we have to arrange transport to Makeni and storage for them.  Local labor and materials will be needed for the installation and setup.  The lights themselves are easy to assemble and put up, but the poles would be more difficult as getting them set permanently in the ground brings challenges in a city that still shows some of the effects of war. 

All this is coupled with the governmental aspect of the project.  This would be an open bid through the governments procurement process.  Which I would imagine is a road that will have its share of winding turns...  Also financing the project will be quite delicate.  There would be some advanced governmental payment for the contract.  This would then need to be balanced with the down payments and extensions of credit negotiated with suppliers.  We may need to stagger the delivery and installation of the lamps in order to be able to balance the whole project.  This of course is not the way we'd want to do it as it would cost more on the whole in both money and time, but if this is what allows us to get the contract done, then it would be worth it to establish the company and its credit.  If we do a good job, there will be more cities looking for lights.  Have to start somewhere.  We will see...

But on the whole it seems like a good place to start.  Straight forward, one-off, deliverable project, with a good revenue upside.  With this one done, we could fund the brick making project, an internet/office facility in Sierra Leone, and set up Newburgh so we could run the diaspora funding network from there and then some local programs as well.  Giddie up!!    

Analysis

(written December 6th after first returning from the hospital)

So, it seems that it is about that time.  The trip is now over.  I have been home for over two weeks, and though most of that was spent sick and in the hospital, it is now time to start assessing the trip itself and what came from it. 

So my initial goal was to spend three months walking through Sierra Leone in an effort to learn a great deal more about the country, the diversity of its people, about poverty, about development, and to try to identify prospective humanitarian ventures to undertake in the future.  Ultimately my personal goals where to make myself a better, more knowledgeable person (instead of sitting around unemployed), to fill what I felt was a hole in my resume, and to perhaps either come away with a job, my own non-profit, or a good story to write.

As the trip went, I never once did any hiking.  The most I did was walk all around the city of Makeni and its outlaying areas.  In this respect my "walking" trip never even happened, let alone could it be considered a success.  But realistically, only in this respect could the trip be considered a failure.  On every other account on my agenda the trip was a resounding success.  Granted, it was absolutely NOTHING as I anticipated or planned for it to be.  I ended up spending a more specific amount of time with a specific family and in a specific neighborhood and didn't get much diversity in.  I was inundated the society and culture there in a way that I never could have if I was hiking from village to village as planned.


I ate nothing but local food and drank the local water, everything in fact was local.  I started to establish relationships with people and people in town started to recognize me and call my name as I passed.  It was a very good feeling.  I worked at being able to speak to them in Krio and at least address them in Temne.  As with anywhere you go, I feel a subtle show of respect like this goes a long way.

The heart of the trip very quickly turned from exploration to more concrete discussions on specific developmental initiatives.  So much so that I have a list of projects that I've come back with and two signed Memorandum's of Understanding that I have with the local Development Council for future work.  The whole initial reason to come back early was to get started with setting these projects in motion.  The trip jumped straight into development work, no fun and games allowed!  This specifically is why it would be utterly impossible to call the trip a failure, or even not a resounding success. 

The issue now is going to be following through with them.  I came back and have gotten very sick, and to the point where I have been recommended by my doctors here not to return to Sierra Leone.  This may prove to be nothing, but it certainly changes the game a little bit.  No matter though, I now have to sit down and assess where I am both personally and professionally with the trip and possible projects.  Is the team that I established while there ready to make things happen, and what needs to be done to do this.  The work is only just beginning!!

Home

So the flight went well. I didn't feel the full on relief I thought I would once we took off. Just seemed to revert to the old flight mode. But getting in to Brussels felt good. I went to the spiritual center and did some chi gung, was nice. I grabbed some cheese and such and took a little nap.

Getting on the flight to New York was more of the same. But I specifically picked Jet Airways because I, A, love Indian food, and B, because they have a great entertainment set up. I knew I'd be drained after the time and really wanted to just have some good food and relax. :p I love it when a plan comes together!! When they delivered my food and took my first bight was when I finally said, ok, now I feel good.

The plane was only half full and I got to lay across the four middle seats and watch 3 1/2 movies. The attendants were great, they gave me extra food and water and just generally were were too nice. So much so that as we were getting ready to arrive they brought me to the back and gave me a bottle of wine and a couple beers!! Funny that I always make friends like that. And you all poke fun at me because I'm too friendly and talk too much!! Lol!! That's the way the world should be!!

The evening was not quite so nice though. The second meal I ate on the plane didn't sit well with me. And once I got home, it all came right back up. I spent the evening vomiting. Not fun. I still feel pretty much like rubbish here at 3am, but a bit better. Worst little bout of that I've had in a long time. My mother thinks its nerves and my body finally letting go of all its been through. My bro was saying the change of food. Three continents worth of airline food!! Who knows, whatever it was, I'd rather not go through it again!! Lol.

But I'm home, never really hit me much, but I also didn't have the chance to take it all in (as it was all trying to get out!!) but we'll see today. Gonna go watch the Giants game from Sunday...

The thought of leaving early

I think that the key to this whole situation is that I am staying with a family and trying to do business, and it is not working for me right now. I came here to learn, and while I am learning, I am not learning a diverse amount about the whole country. It is all about a few people in one place. Before I make any decisions about when to leave I need to get out into the original plan at least for a day or two and see if two months of walking is worth more than getting back to the States and getting to work there. I would have to leave here December 6th for it to be cost effective. That would give me 3 more weeks to walk.

Please, advice from anyone on this scenario regarding the last few posts would be greatly appreciated. One more month would be ideal, but that is not the case... I just hate the idea of leaving early, a part of me feels like It would be giving up...

Culture Clash

So picture this.. Me.. Eating canned celery salad with pasta and drinking orange soda!! So this is part of what I had for dinner tonight. Not everyone, just myself and the other opotu (whitey). You see in Sierra Leone, eating local foods cooked in local ways is not putting out your best. Where we put out our finest china and cook something nice, they break out the canned goods. After all, they are much more difficult to get than rice and cassava. They are imported, they cost more, and you must have more money or a higher status to have them. And of course it is rude not to eat and drink it. So here I am - allergy boy - trying to stave of malaria and other tropical beasts through eastern medicinal meditation, exercise, a healthy fresh diet, and strengthening my immune system eating away!! Fanta and canned food, because that's how we do!! Lol.

I just find it amusing how things go as they do. Rituals and customs make both sides do things they may not want to do, and without ever even asking about whether it is desired. Culture!! Oh, and they put on the generator as well.. In all seriousness, we humans are all they same. We all want to show ourselves in a good light and deep down inside we all want to be nice to people, to make them happy and feel welcome... Thanks, it worked tonight!!

Ok, one other tid bit... We spent three hours to drive 55 miles this afternoon. That is less distance than driving from suburbia Poughkeepsie to NYC. Imagine if that commute to work took 3 hours bouncing around in a 4x4. And this road is THE MAIN ROAD from Makeni north to Guinei. An international road!! 87 miles from Makeni to Guinei takes 6 hours. !?!? How does an economy flourish if people can't sell their goods 30 miles away and companies can't export with ease? Somehow... we've gotta get a real road built here... ;-/

Arrival...

So I made it safe, sound, and very happily.  Really pressed for time in internet cafe right now, so brief.  But I will say this, I could write an entire book about the first three hours I was here!!!  Amazing place.  People are so warm...  Learning so much, and talking to so many people.  The wheels are turning so fast already!!  Gonna need to call in some research questions of some advisers!!  I'll tell you what, no matter what happens, there are countless opportunities here and we're ready to make it happen, vermacomposting, solar panels, feces into gas?  eco-toilets?  Oh yeah, that's what we're talking about here.  Time to make it happen!!  more soon...

As ready as ready can be...

So I'm all but finished with the preparations.  I went out yesterday and today and got the last few little things.  Insect repellent, a bed mat, mug, some extra rope, a fuel canister, etc.  Little stuff that you need but that doesn't require so much time.  I'm gonna go through my pack tonight, get everything washed up and ready to go.  I'm at about 40 pounds of life in one bag for three months.  Life is good, imagine only having to worry about the clothes and the one bag on your back for three months?  No car or house note, no diapers to change, no mouths to feed, no places to be, just the one foot in front of you.  A simple, day-to-day existence.  It will be both interesting and enlightening.

The purpose of it all will of course give the trip something much more.  Three months walking through the third poorest country in the world, not eight years removed from a civil war and its rendition in the movie Blood Diamond.  It is no vacation, there is so much to be done, so much that people there may want or need, so much for me/us to learn.  Walking into a town, abject poverty, and knowing you can't do much for them yet, not this trip.  But that is the point of this trek, to learn, to lay the groundwork.  To see what true poverty is like, not South Bronx poverty, but dollar a day poverty.  To get closer to understanding real developing world cause and effect, their politics and economics, their cultural and societal makeup, why things are as they are.  What I/we can do (or not do) to allow for more people's happiness...    

The trip pretty much starts tomorrow.  I head down to the city and will take it like a bit of a technology trial with the blogging.  I will be down there for a conference by the same organization that is co-sponsoring the Gamechangers funding opportunity that I've been working on.  It will be a great learning experience in terms of building sustainably in the developing world.  Exactly what I'm looking to get invovled with.  So... on that note, let's get this thing started...  ;)   

An Itinerary (of sorts...)

I have been spending a bit of time over the last week looking over the map and thinking of an itinerary for this trip.  Yet, I am a bit more of a free spirit than the concrete planning type.   So might be that I've got more of an "agenda", actually maybe even more of a "list" of places or things worth aiming to see/get done.  I've found that the most is learned, when the least is done...

So my flight is going to drop me off across the bay from Freetown in the evening on October 18th.  I have been communicating with several non-profits in country and one that I have been working with (Child Help) has offered to meet me at the airport and help me get situated.  My itinerary is pretty flexible from there though.  I would like to spend the first couple days in one place so that I can acclimate to the time change/rest up a bit prior to getting down to hiking.  I'm trying to find the cheapest place to stay in all of Freetown, but there is also a decent chance that I'll head straight for Makeni to meet up with Kaps and take a look at the Gamechangers site.  I would be fine really wherever, but will need a good two nights sleep before starting the walk.  The issue with possibly heading to Makeni right away is that I really want see the whole country on foot - vehicles only in emergency!!  This goes along with my desire to do everything as cheaply as possible and as locals would.  Again, to learn without learning...

After the couple of days acclimating (probably in Freetown) I plan to start walking towards Makeni.  Which way is yet to be determined, again I am wholly flexible.  There are some things that I would like to do around Makeni.  From there I would like to head northeast towards Bumbuna and Kabala.  Then Along the road that loops around and goes back south through Falaba and Kamaron along the Guinea border.  I then plan to climb Mount Bintumani and Sankanbiaiwa on my way to Koidu.  A little time in the east, learning a bit about the mining industry... and then head south and back west. 

I have a list of cities and sites/projects worth seeing, but I would hardly call it a plan, more of an idea.  There are also some US Peace Crops volunteers that I will be stopping to see, but everything is subject to change.  I will go wherever the days/weeks take me.  This to me is the best way to come away with a slid and profound understanding of how it is that the country 'works' - economically, socially, culturally, politically, what have you...

 

GPS Tracking!!!

(Written Friday October 1st)

So one positive aspect of yesterday that came about was GPS Tracking. If you scroll all the way down to the bottom of this page you will see a map embedded in this site that shows where I am. Quite a nice little thing. It means that if at any one time you want to know where I am, check the map!!   I am currently mobile right now and hoping to experiment with the tracking to see how accurate it will be. But I'm sitting in the back of a minivan and it doesn't seem to be getting much of a signal.

The way the system works is you just go to this website (www.instamapper.com), and you download software to install into your phone. The phone then uses GPS satelite and GSM phone signals to locate you. The set up is tied to the phone number, so I'll have to set it up again for my Sierra Leone phone number once I get it.  But apparently it can locate you in Europe within 10 meters, the US 25 meters, and the rest of the world within 50 meters.

For this project's purposes though it'll locate me close enough for everyone to know basically where I am. I still have to figure out where best to put it on the page.  I was hoping to just put it on one side panel, but it takes up a huge amount of space.  We'll see. More will be known once we get back and can analyze the data on the website.

Which I now have done!!  Results are this:  I can control when the GPS location is transmitted which is very important for the cost of data usage.  I took a brief little trip the other day and while the whole trip showed up on my Instamapper account page, it didn't seem to show the whole path on my webpage, but simply where I was at that very moment.  I'd love to be able to have the path that I've taken mapped out for everyone to see.  I've gotten onto their site again and tried to change the settings so that it would show my last 50 locations, we'll see once I go out again.  But even so, it may just be only where I am at that last moment.  This still would be a great thing!!  To know at all times within a few meters of where I am on the other side of the world!!  Nice!! 

Running Around

(This post was written on Friday the 24^th).

So I've spent the last three days running around and trying to get a lot of stuff together. Culmination of it all was this morning when I received my visa. Was a bit of an ordeal of course, but that was not unexpected. I got there at about 11 in the morning on Thursday. Now I will have to say that the Sierra Leone embassy is a rather informal affair – and I don't say this in any kind of negative way as I think it has this kind of endearing characteristic to it.   It is after all the third poorest country in the world and full of very enterprising and friendly people.  So – as my Germany loving brother pointed out – its not the immaculate 16 story German monstrosity in modernity. It is in an old building and is not renovated. You walk in an people are milling around and there is no specific consular section to go to.   It almost feels like walking in to a non-profit office on a busy day of work.  You just kind of wait in the lobby while people go into the depths of the building to wonder what in the world I am trying to do and why I would want a visa for Sierra Leone. It is obvious that there are not a lot of people coming in and looking to travel to Sierra Leone...

So let me tell you...

The day was also not helped by the UN general assembly meeting or Obama being in town for it. It was mostly chaos. There seemed to be a party going on for all the local people affiliated with Sierra Leone there in the embassy. Almost like we came at exactly the wrong time!! 

But you see...

Anyway, first thing was trying to get across to people what exactly I was doing and that I wasn't affiliated with any organization. As my trip is atypical, the women asked if I could write a letter explaining why I was going for visa purposes, “we can't just let anyone into the country without knowing what they are going to be doing”. They also wanted a letter of invitation.  Both of these of course are not on their website. They claim you need only a passport photo, passport, yellow fever vaccine, and the completed visa appication form. I had those, just not the things they didn't list on their site – why would I?!?! lol.  But no worries, I went and had lunch with friends and wrote up the letter. The women I spoke to said she would be there till six and to come back whenever. 

...what had happened was...

I went back a little before three with my brother and friend Lara. It seemed to be a truly amusing affair for them both. Watching my try to explain what I was doing to the next group of curious onlookers, and at the same time what other people there had been saying of me and to me. If you remember my previous visit to the embassy, Mimi was there again and far less full of sunshine!! I was definitely an annoyance, full of smiles or not. She checked with her supervisors while I ran to get a money order.  Her response was pretty much completely unsympathetic: to come back tomorrow.  There was of course no explanation of why or what problem seemed to be – which there definitely seemed to be!! The whole room was filled with skepticism and apprehension of me and my trip.  I certainly think we looked a bit out of t. he ordinary...  At one point – when I was speaking of my project and that I wanted to identify projects and then come back to the US and try to find funding – Mimi said wait, you are going to be taking money out of Sierra Leone? Lol.  It all just didn't seem to be adding up!!  I am indeed a novel concept!!  I did however made a new friend from MultiTV.SL. He had quite a few questions as to what I was up to and why in the world I had an interest in Sierra Leone. But he warmed and gave me his contact info while saying I could contact him in Sierra Leone once I was there.  People always warm up to honesty, hope, and good intentions.

Yeah, that's what it was!!

Gist of it all though, was I had to spend the night down in the city and run the risk of a parking ticket at the train station - but it would be less than another return trip ticket!!  Not a big deal to stay anyway though as I got to see some good friends, almost family really.

First thing in the morning though it was a light breakfast and a nice long walk through Central Park to the embassy (though the new Vibrams are threatening blisters on my heals).  I had no idea what to expect upon getting to the embassy.  I didn't even get in the door though before the receptionist (who was outside) spotted me and new what I was there for. About three minutes later I had my visa, signed on the dotted line, and was out the door.

Its always an adventure, but as I said to my friend this morning, you don't get anything done by just doing the same old thing as everyone else. You gotta take risks and you've gotta go out there and make things happen. That's what this trip is about, making things happen, not resting upon them...

When to start reading this blog...

So the tickets have been bought!!  I will leave October 17th at 18:35 from Newark, arrive in Brussels at 7:50 in the morning their time on the 18th, then I will leave Brussels at 11:25 and get into Freetown at 18:05 local time after a stopover in Dakar, Senegal (19.5 hours).  Coming back its the same itinerary backwards but into JFK instead of Newark, leaving on January 17th and getting in on the 18th at 12:40 in the afternoon (21.5 hours).  This is a great set up as well.  I had been budgeting $2000 for the flight and the visa, but got this flight for $1497, giddy up!!  Then on top of that, I spent $65 for $1 million worth of travel insurance - for three months in post-conflict West Africa!!!  What!?!?  Talk about a steal, I think the website's marketing strategy was figuring more like people doing one or two week european vacations rather than three months in Africa!!  But even with the insurance I'm at $1562.33.  The visa is $140, thats $1702, $300 under budget.  I can get my backpack now and even still be a bit under budget!!

The big plus for the trip as well is that there won't be any American carriers!!  Now before you start calling names...  no baggage limits and better food!!  I will be flying on Jet Airways, which is Indian, which means CURRY!! A favorite of mine... and then Air Brussels which at least means real food - not chemicals flavored to taste like food like the American carries have!!  :p

And who of course who do I have to blame for this horrible scenario!?!?  Well Mr. C. Gregory Fehrmann, travel agent extraordinaire!!  Of course  after we got past Greg's incessant desire to plan flights around getting to as many airports as humanly possible, we were fine.  He did come up with one from Westchester County, NY, to Washington D.C, to Montreal, to Munich (big plus for him), then Brussels, and then to Freetown with the stop in Dakar.  !?!?  Yeah, I didn't take that one...

But anyway, the dates are set, its time to start moving forward...  :)

Not going to be my seat...

Putting a Master List Together

So what needs to be done in order to make this trip happen?  I would hope that this could become an open forum from those of you reading it.  Please either just put a comment down below, or send them in, as you wish.  I think the best thing for me with it though will be to put down the broad strokes here, and then to go through each list (and its progress) separately and periodically.  I'm going to link each heading to a search for that topic (some don't have anything written yet though) so you can easily see what's been written if you'd like.

• Gear - Backpacking/Living
• Briefly though: hammock, backpack, sleeping bag, hydration, cooking setup, first-aid kit, clothing, footwear, tools, misc, etc.
• Communications
• Phone
• Computer (possibly)
• Keyboard (if no computer)
• Solar Charger
• Networking/Relationships
• US based sponsors - I will be looking at companies such as Vibram and other similar businesses with specific interests in what i will be doing to help either with products and/or financial support.
• US based individuals and organizations that are affiliated in some way with Sierra Leone.  
• Sierra Leone based organizations and individuals that can help facilitate things on the ground during my trip.
• Language
• English is the 'official' language of the country, but Krio is the lingua franca and the one that I need to be working on.  I've been meaning to post of this for a while and will soon.  
• There are also many other tribal languages that I will try to have pleasantries down with.  The two main one's are Mende and Temne. 
•  Travel
• Flight
• Visa
• Accommodation for when I first get in.  (am thinking to spend the first couple days in the cheapest place I can find to get past jet-lag and get acclimated.) 
• Itinerary
• Finances
• Donations
• Existing cash
• Registry
• Marketing
• Email updates
• Business Cards
• Post Cards
• Networking
• Medical 
• Yellow Fever Vaccine
• First Aid
• Insurance
• Anything else I may need, but don't want!!

I find myself just assuming I've left some really important thing out - like 'breathing' or something - but this will have to be the start.  And again, by all means, add all the comments or responses you can.  I need the most exhaustive list I can!!

Sierra Leonean Embassy

Very unhelpful I must say upon first effort.  I have done a little bit of research on the whole visa scenario in Sierra Leone and had this little hiccup with the whole 'fixed' itinerary thing.  I am certainly not looking at this little scenario with a whole lot of time deadlines or specifics; 2, 3, 4, x months, who cares.  I mean realistically I'm thinking three months, but they want purchased plane tickets, finite ins and outs, etc.  I am trying to be more flexible.  The whole point of the journey is to expereince things as they exist, as they come about, and under whatever time frame they take - do what must be done to gain further understanding of the country and how, if at all, I/we can be of assistance.  This flexibility is however, well, indeterminable.  lol.

I called the embassy and the person I spoke to really had little clue.  They only thing they knew was that I had to have an invitation to visit and thought I was an idiot because: "you can't go anywhere in the world without one, every country in requires this!"  Oh, wait except most of the ones I've been to, lol.  I needed one in Russia and China, that's it.  The rest of europe (not just EU), nothing. 

Anyway, the guy couldn't provide much help and I am looking at this project in very specific humanitarian/business terms.  I am trying to bring direct foreign aid to the country.  Now granted perhaps some people there don't want this.  I truely respect this vantage point.  But most all of them want money to flow in, they want investment.  I would think they would do what they could to promote this, or at least accept it.  Now I know this is naive, as it is written time and time again of the obstacles to doing business in some areas of the world.  But no matter, I has hoping, thinking that if I said "this is what I am trying to do... walking through the country... for charity... to raise awareness..."  Hmm...  I mean granted, he was probably just a young guy simply excited about being posted in NYC and looking at his job as some extra anoyance he had to do... but again, I had hope.

After it all, there wasn't much of anything to come from it.  I thought they'd be able to work with me with any visa rigidities over the length of stay.  I figured if they knew why I was going they would be more helpful or flexible...  well, we'll see.  He said, "Call when you are closer to leaveing and speak to my boss" in a dismissive, "I give up on this call" tone of voice.  lol.  I probably needed to speak more to a chamber of comerce type than a consular official.  Add it to the list.  Anyway, no worries, time I have...