While Ed was working with the new Child Rescue Centre Director, discussing budget issues as well as interviewing candidates for Business Manager, I did my usual puttering around to see how we might help improve energy, water and waste management operations.

The entire facility, all on about 23 acres, includes about 5 acres for the CRC, 1/4 acre for the lodging site (MTC=Missionary Training Centre) and a large chunk of land for the 25-bed Mercy Hospital and Lab, along with various outbuildings, homes, a small primary school and church.

We are working with the United Methodist bishop of Sierra Leone, Bishop John Yambasu, to improve and increase the capacity of the facilities so there are reliable water sources, improved trash handling and sustainable energy capabilities so as to reduce reliance on diesel generators and the public electric utility company which, in the dry season, has limited reliability.

One project I'm working on is how to utilize the CRC generator house (picture of the caretaker there, Alfred) so we can use the building both for diesel generation as well as for solar electric storage.

Another persistent challenge is the water supply. In America, we see time is money; in Sierra Leone, I think they'd say labor is money--most wells, building and cistern construction is done by hand--but that limits the results if something hand-labor cannot cope with (like a rock layer when digging a well).

At the MTC we have tried to dig two wells, both meeting an outcrop of rock about 10-20 feet down; without a well, the facility relies on water being trucked in during the dry season and filling a cistern dug next to the building (during the rainy season, water from the roof is directed into the facility so there is an abundant supply then). Trucking in water is expensive and, in this case, even more costly because there is a leak in the cistern.

The picture at the right is when the MTC caretaker, Tommy, and I climbed down into the cistern to inspect the work done to tile over and seal some cracks before the water trucks arrived that afternoon.

Unfortunately, the seals didn't hold and the cistern continued to leak. Before departing Bo, I was able to meet with two representatives from the "Korea Group"--a well-drilling enterprise from South Korea operating in Sierra Leone which uses seismic technology to locate water tables, heavy drilling equipment so as to go deep and through rock with impunity, and offers a guaranteed water flow for a year at capacity. Of course, this comes with a pretty high price tag; however, when compared to the fact that we've almost spent that much to dig two holes in the ground at the MTC which are NOT providing water, I see a deal with the Korea Group at this point as a very good idea.

Other activities included getting a team-sized gravity feed water filtration system set up in the dining room of the MTC because, up to this point, every team has been purchasing bottled water so as to avoid some nasty bacteria and viruses in the water which we are not acclimated to like the residents are.

Of course, do the math, three 1 1/2 litre bottles of water per person per day equates to as many as 300 plastic water bottles generated per team visit. Yes, the water bottles are distributed locally for people to use, but they eventually break or lose their purpose and end up on the side of the road or in the makeshift land fills, or burned.

I see the implementation of the water filtration systems as a cost-saving and environmentally responsible solution to the massive amounts of waste that can be generated by the 40-60 well-intentioned North Americans staying at the MTC each year.