Normality? Where?

And by "normality" I clearly meant blogging getting pushed off the agenda by tasks innumerable.

Things are advancing on the MFC contract: we just finished painting the last of the mirrors for the Helios for MFC. Monday we should go out and buy the materials for the dehydrator and the boiler, and hopefully we will finish them within the week. After work we'll be working (heh) at Djadjé's on a new and improved oven.

That should give us about 1 week for tests and modifications, because after that I am going home.

That's right, you heard me, Ottawa, Canada.

MFC has a project at Timbuktu and I'm welcome and encouraged to work on it because there is money, as well as R&D and pilot project possibilities, but it is not the right time for that. I'm in debt to the point where it is unwise to continue abroad. And as such, I think it is prudent to go home, recuperate financially and physically while consolidating and improving the online presence of the project and plan the next move.

For instance, I’ll have to revise this blog, because it’s called ‘The Solar Fire Project Blog’ but it has so far only served as a blog for me and the Mali mission, while I’ve regrettably neglected blogging about what has being going on with Feu Solaire in France. They’ve been doing great things, so check out the website at www.solarfire.org for the latest info.

Leaving Mali will give me a good chance to test the association that we’ve put up here. We’re working on a deal that would see donors in Canada and the United States provide enough funds for the construction and installation of 3 Helios concentrators with ovens, which Tile Tasuma would provide to interested groups under a micro-loan arrangement where the cost of the machines is spread over a period of time where the income generated by using the machine will pay off the loan, and as the money flows back to Tile Tasuma, they will build more concentrators and start the process over again with new partners.

So much to do, so little time, I should be leaving Mali around the 3^rd of June.

To everyone who has supported my throughout this experience: thank you so much. This is by no means the end, merely a pause to regroup and improve.

ANEJ conference and MFC Helios

On the 3^rd of May, the President of Tile Tasuma, Mr. Ibrahim C Tomota, who has been active on the Solar Fire Project since we arrived in Bamako on the 19^th of December, tells me he saw a banner saying that there was a conference of environmental journalists, organized by the Minister of Sanitation and the Environment, Mr. Agatham Ag Alassane, and maybe we should present there. I pointed out that it was Saturday and the conference started on Monday. He said let’s go see the Minister of the Environment and see what can be done. Months before, the Minister said that we were welcome to stop by his home whenever we had news or wanted to discuss. We did so Sunday night. We told him that we had finished the Butterfly, and he said ‘oh great! You’ve got to come to the conference!’ He got on the phone with the organizers and bam, three days of mixing it up with ANEJ (African Network of Environmental Journalists). I have mixed feelings about this conference though, and I might blog them soon. Here is the Minister at the opening ceremony:

And here is the Prime Minister of Mali, clearly pleased with what he hears, he is flanked by the Minister of the Promotion of the Woman, Child and Family and the Minister of Sanitation and the Environment:

The goal of the conference was to raise awareness of the power that journalists have in society to stress the importance of reporting on environmental issues and bring these things to the attention of decision makers and the general public. Did it work? Well the Butterfly was featured as the ‘pic of the week’ in l’Essor the national daily newspaper. You can read the article, hosted here at www.maliweb.net

Soon enough though, it was back to the grind.

Here is Djadjé painting the new Helios:

And us back at Djadjé’s workshop, working to dusk like the good old days.

And me, hating working with sheetmetal:

And Djadjé, stylish as always, welding away: