We leave Friday afternoon and arrive in Kinshasa (DRC) on Saturday. We have a layover in Chicago and another in Brussels, Belgium along with two flights at 8 hours ... but hey, that what it takes to go to the other side of the world :) Once we get to Kinshasa we will have to wait a bit to go to Mbuja-Mayi. Mbuja-Mayi is in diamond country and will require an additional visa that we have to get in-person in Kinshasa. The plan is to book a flight out to Mbuja-Mayi on Tuesday, as there are no decent roads that can get us there. We will then have 9 days to install the system and then get back to Kinshasa for our flight out on August 10th.
We are installing a 2.5kW solar electric system in the Kalala MEZEU medical clinic near Mbuja-Mayi. This clinic serves 50,000 people in the Cibombo Cinuanyi community. The solar power will run lights, microscopes, centrifuges, other lab equipment, and/or computers. At one point we were hoping to do a water pumping system as well, but the huge cost of drilling in Africa put that project on hold. We are hoping to make a future trip (or trips) to add the water pumping, some DC refrigeration, and possibly expand the solar system. We will see what God does :) Prayers in abundance please and thank you !!