Initial leaps

Due to time and logistical constraints (Karim's van and Pierro's vans leave tomorrow) we have purchased all major steel and mirror components for a Helios ( http://www.solarfireproject.com/thehelios) array (no doubt at slightly higher costs than would have been possible with more time, but orders of magnitude more convenient).

Note the nice clean T-shirt.

The Project is in very high gear.

Last night: strategy meeting with RV and the President, secretaries and Administrative council of FIMB-Mali, and Tomota, who seems to have a hand in just about everything. We are in general agreement that the plan is as follows: build a Helios ASAP, promote it at the highest levels permitted to us through pooling our (their) contact networks and solicit funding for a solar energy research, development and training (R,D&T) center, where my colleagues and I would explore all low tech (for now) solar technology options, while training others in the science of solar concentration as we build concentrators to distribute to eligible people. To this end, it was decided to call the director general of the Cité des Enfants, a ‘Ministry of the Promotion of the Woman, Child and Family’ institution housed in a sprawling complex of buildings built to look like fairytale castles: All those at the strategy meeting knew him and agreed that Mr. Dembele was the man who could set this thing off with a bang. The Cité des Enfants has plenty of space to set up the unit for demonstrations and is a government institution, which will reduce the red tape for inviting government representatives and media to the unveiling of the Helios.

This morning RV, Lalla, Tomota and FIMB-Mali’s general secretary and I met with Mr. Dembele, who was astonished by the capacities of Solar Fire technologies. He said there were a half dozen solar cooking devices sitting in a warehouse owned by the ministry of energy, unused, because they were not worth the cost. He said it would be a pleasure for us to do the demonstration at the Cité, and said that it should be no problem for him to arrange for various Ministers (Energy, Environment, others) to be in attendance, as well as directors of various NGOs and institutions, plus TV, newspaper and radio reporters. When I asked him how much notice he needed to set up what he called ‘an inauguration ceremony’ with such attendees, and he told me three or four days. I said I’d be ready by mid January and he shook my hand and said he looked forward to it. He gave me his cellphone number and said if I needed anything he’d do what he could.

Afterwards I went and checked out the workshop. Lalla’s brother, Diadié, owns the place. It is rustic to say the least, but he has everything we need to build the array. It’s a good thing he has an apprentice who is basically a human hacksaw, because there’s no abrasive chop saw. There is a hand grinder and a hand drill and a table vise and some welders’ beams and we’ll be working in the street, since there is no space in the actual workshop (and it’s blazing hot in there).

Here's a picture of our workshop. It's kind of like a 'Where's Waldo?'