Working on the Generators

I'm having trouble getting myself to start this entry and it has nothing to do with the subject matter.  It's just that I realize that this trip ended almost two months ago now and I am coming close to the end of my pictures.  Labor Day has passed and we're in our fourth week of school.  This morning was the first to call seriously for a jacket.  And it all makes Haiti seem very distant at the moment. 

But I need to push forward and finish up my posts about the trip so I can get back to present day and our progress towards moving our family to Haiti for the long term.  Next week Melissa and I will be attending orientation at OMS headquarters in Greenwood.  They would like us both to be there all week, but neither of us can afford to be out of the classroom that long, so I will go Monday, Wednesday and Friday and Melissa will go Tuesday and Thursday.  (Melissa is excited because she is planning to do a couple of sleepovers in Greenwood with our good friend Beka.) 

So here goes ...

Several days of my time in Haiti in July were spent working alongside Bud, the mission handyman.  Believe me, I did not contribute any mechanical expertise, just an extra set of hands.  And really, an extra set of hands was all Bud needed from me.  I learned a few things and, although I'm sure he didn't realize it, Bud helped me out by demystifying machines a bit for me.  (He would have been proud of me a couple of weeks ago when our renters, Rob and Jessica, called to say the dryer was on the fritz - with a hand from Rob, I was able to remove the heating element, find the problem in the sensors and get them replaced.  The dryer is back to work.)  I imagine that living in Haiti will require me to get a bit more knowledgeable about how things work and how to fix them on the fly, so it's all good practice for me.

With the exception of a day's work on the mission lawn mower (I now know how to replace a blown head gasket!), most of my days with Bud involved work on various diesel-powered generators.  There are four sets of generators (each with one main generator and one back-up) that Bud oversees:  at the mission compound, at the radio station/Cowman School, at the Emmaus Seminary and at the radio transmitter towers.  The generators run during the day whenever the local power company is not providing power.  (Local power kinda comes and goes - somewhat predictably most days.)  So the generators are often key to keeping the lights on, the computers and fans running, and (most importantly) a radio signal carrying the gospel to a million listeners.  Hundreds of things can go wrong with any one of the generators, and it's left to Bud to locate the problem and fix it (sometimes waiting weeks or months for a particular part or tool in order to do the job).

Below are a few pictures from my time with Bud.  I wish I had a way to capture on film how wise, personable, and godly Bud is as an individual, but there's no way to do that - you'll just have to take my word for it.  It was a great experience to work with him. 

There aren't many pictures here because typically my hands were way too greasy to hold a camera...

Bud checks up on the main generator at the radio towers.



The back-up generator at the radio towers had a leaky oil seal.  Bud shared with me the year-long saga of getting the proper tool for removing the old seal to Haiti.  Getting this generator back in good working condition was very satisfying for him!





We had to get the electrical half of the generator away from the motor part in order to get to the leaky seal, thus Bud rigged this scaffolding to swing the half out of the way.  It weighs hundreds of pounds.



It's out of the way and we can finally get to the faulty seal.

At the center of the picture is a homemade switch that Bud designed and installed to enable the automatic start of either generator whenever the city power dies away.  Otherwise, a worker has to be on hand to manually flip the switch quickly once he notices the power is down.

Dats came along with us on the day Bud worked on the switch.  Here he inspects the job.

A few minutes later, Dats pulled a tooth.  He was quite proud of it.

Each set of generators is housed in a cinderblock building and kept under lock and key.  This is the one at the radio station where I helped Bud with another generator job ...

This time there was a need to replace the entire electrical half of the generator.  We used a similar scaffolding rig to get it into place where it could be attached to the motor.

The finished project.

This photo is blurry, but I include it to prove to people - especially my brothers - that I did indeed get my hands dirty.