How Many Teachers Does It Take to Start a Generator? Friday April 26
It has been a busy few days and (and Bill has been using this PC when I’ve been awake) so apologies for not posting. A quick post on Friday’s activities:
Friday was our first full day in Kasulu and we were eager to get down to the Bible College and get started on the new server and other equipment installs. Bill had hoped to start loading the operating system on the server while we were still in Dar, but because of the late arrival of the equipment the new sever was still in it’s sealed shipping carton when we arrived. So lots of technical activities planned.
This of course meant that just as soon as we finished breakfast and were going to head down to the Bible College the power went out. All over the Kasulu area. As power is new to Kasulu, there were several backup sources of power at KBC. The best would have been solar, but unfortunately the batteries were stolen during some construction in the library/internet room building. There was however, still the gasoline generator that Bill had purchased as part of the original computer installation. 
In short order the generator was carried outside. First attempts to start it failed as it was dry as a bone. Gasoline was procured and an overly enthusiastic pull of the starter cord caught on some of the wiring and ripped it off the generator. Bill and Alysha, who manages the technology at KBC moved on to other projects (repeating routers that will provide internet coverage for the entire KBC compound, hooking up some of the small separate computers we brought to replace to large standard computer). In an hour or so the generator was repaired and purring away. We turned it off for lunch and by the time we returned to KBC from our afternoon rests the power grid was back up and running. The operating system software was successfully loaded.
While on the subject of the Bible College Internet Room (as it is officially called), I am happy to report that thanks to a gift form the parish of some other missionaries here at DWT (Helen and Alistair Sammons) a tile floor has been installed and new curtains made. With the addition of some thin linoleum on the desk tops, the café looks REALLY great.