Delays and More Delays
Well. We spent last week (Saturday – Thursday) not working in Aldama because some of the community members (not stove builders – Promoters) tried to force us (WFH & THP) into paying bribe money to hire a mason to build the stove stands. In Oaxaca, it seems like all the promoters are masons, but in Aldama, none of the promoters are. We didn’t know this when we started. Margarita (the THP representative) first suggested that her father could do it for us. Then, she asked the promoters and they preferred to have someone from the community do it.
The whole thing really blew up last Saturday. Margarita was summoned to the community for a meeting. We were not there, nor invited. From what we understand, some of the community members wanted a bribe to let us hire several masons. The discussion was very difficult and Margarita was threatened. She then told the promoters that they would need to find a solution to this issue.
We had an emergency meeting with Lorena (Country Director) & Roberto (Regional Director) Sunday night to discuss the situation. Roberto came down on Monday to help Margarita negotiate with the community and the promoters. The big meeting was held on Tuesday, which was very successful. Then the community held a meeting on Wednesday to come up with a solution. Finally, on Thursday THP and the community came to a formal agreement.
Friday we got back to work. We first met with the masons and got the brick stand going. Like always, there was some confusion and discussion about the layout. Once we agreed on everything, they were off and running. While they were working on the stand, we de-molded the first set of parts, and they look great.
The promoters, Roberto and Margarita were happy and excited to see the parts come out of the molds and start to see the stove pieces.
We ended up leaving the community early because Roberto and Margarita had another meeting to attend in San Cristóbal. Stan and I were fine with that, as a short Friday is OK.
Saturday brought more exciting news. Not good news. After we left on Friday there was a conflict in the community that required the police. We don’t know the full story, but we do know that there were gunshots exchanged. Thus, we stayed in San Cristóbal, and will hopefully return to Aldama on Monday morning.
It’s not like we get a day off. Stan is updating our accounting-expenses and updating the master mixing spreadsheet. I have a new name for him. “The mixologist”. He is tweaking the recipe to match the “as built”. We have to do this because the particle sizes are different.
Myself, I got a box of nail gun nails (5,000) that I will try to get cut shorter. It turns out, I think I might run out of nails for my nail gun. Luckily I found some, but the only length they come in is 2″, and I need 1″ & 1-1/2″. I got an idea to cut them down to size. I marked them and then put a strip of masking tape on them to both hold the sheets together and to mark the cut line.
I met Margarita at the metal shop near the THP office walk (20 min). I had the idea that they would cut them with a cut-off saw. They ended up using a big pair of shears. It looks like it will work. I then got back to our casa and removed the tape. So I spent an hour and half finding the tape and putting it on then another hour taking it off (I think the tape would gum up the nail gun).
Finally, my computer is still not 100%. It has an intermittent problem with the charging circuit. If you remember, I had to replace the power port and cable in Mexico City. Then it had a full system crash (required a clean install of windows) and after all that, it still has an issue with the charging system. The wonders of the internet say it is a bad connection inside from the battery cable plug. So off to the hardware store for the special screwdriver to remove the back.
This hardware store is amazing. It is right next to the Zoloco, and the storefront is very small, but they seem to have EVERYTHING and at good prices.
I hope I can fix it. The fix (if it works) is to unplug and replug the batter a few times. This could be the issue because with many low current devices, the battery connections can be problematic. Because of the low current, an oxide builds on the connector and causes a huge increase in the resistance (looks like a dead battery). If one removes and replaces the battery and or cleans the terminals, the device works fine again. I hope this fixes the ongoing issue of the charging circuit on my laptop.
