I-TEC Uganda 2022

  November 24 th , 2022   It’s hard to believe that our team has left RG and are now enjoying Thanksgiving with family and friends.  We really missed Gary Smedl ey who was to be part of the team but n ow that we are all home, I want to not on ly thank Matt Aungst, John Bennetch and Trey Harper but also thanks to their wives and families who were holding down the home front.    Gary would have kept up with the Blog as he does so well , but he offered to post what we sent him to close out the RG blog.  Thanks Gary.    The promised arrival of the 100kva transformer never did materialize but we left it in God’s hands and are certain there was a reason it didn’t show up, unknown to our team   Our team of four was small, but w e divided up into three area’s of responsibility and were able to get almost everything done on our individual list.    John Bennetch spent the majority of his week work ing on the old , well used , 80 kw generat...

 I spoke with the guys today after they finished work.  Much has been done already in these two days of work and it is looking pretty good that they will be able to do much of what is designed.  HOWEVER, the transformer did not show up yesterday as we were told.  The company assured us it would come on Monday, they just didn't say which Monday... Where is that transformer??? This is the point where our connection starts.  The box will house the utility company's Meter and this Main Breaker.  Our power will come from the bottom of the circuit breaker. Here is the Team in front of the Nile River. Here is the "new" generator that we are hooking up.  It is supposed to be under roof at some point. So, the construction continues. The above photos show our point on the outside of the PowerPac where the utility wires will connect.  In this box we will install Protection Circuitry to monitor incoming power and allow or disallow it to enter the system based...

 The team of four from I-TEC have arrived safely in Entebbe.  Their first night was spent at Annie's Bed & Breakfast. The path through Immigration and Customs was a close call, but the Lord prepared the pathway for them and all of the equipment we sent along was able to pass through successfully.  This is a better result than the recent Burundi trip's path through Customs.  God is good. The team was picked up just after the photo above and is enroute or already at Restoration Gateway.  Tomorrow the project will commence.  They will work alongside of Jimmy, the local electrician who does most of the work at RG.  Robert is an RG staff Doctor who we have worked with recently and this will be the first face-to-face meeting with him.  Jimmy works for a contractor and has been our contact on past trips to RG.  We are looking forward to the transformer arriving back at RG on Monday with the repairs made that should make it operate (we hope)....

As I said before, I had tried no less than four times to apply for a Visa for Uganda, to no avail.  Consequently, the airline could not allow me to fly to Uganda today and so I canceled my flights.  Since our flight from Harrisburg to Newark had been canceled, we had a driver from the church (Ken) who graciously agreed to drive the church van back from Newark after dropping us off.  Also, the Covid test result that John had was not allowed for the flight, so he ended up getting a Covid test in the airport and just making it to the gate in time for the flight.   We transferred equipment that I had in my baggage that was to go to the project into other bags and I even left my backpack to Matt to use for the next week.  The team of four now is on their way to Brussels and should arrive there in about four hours.   I am so sorry I was not able to resolve my Visa issue, but the Lord is in full control of all that has happened and of all that will happe...

Suitcases are packed and we are ready to head to the airport to begin our journey, but... LATE last night United Airlines decided to cancel our flight from Harrisburg to Newark, to our connecting flights to Entebbe.  We had to brainstorm what action could be taken.  The airline offers to fly from various other airports to make up for the loss, but in the end we decided that it may be best to just drive to Newark,  It is about a 2-1/2 hour drive under normal conditions, so we decided to use our church van and have a driver bring it back from Newark later today.  We plan to meet around noon at Friends In Action in Middletown and drive to Newark from there.  The reason for this is that Trey is flying from Tulsa to Denver to Newark and his flights are all listed as "on-time".  So we will do the check in for our flights at Newark instead of Harrisburg.  Our flight to Brussels leaves Newark around 7PM this evening. This is not the only glitch in this trip....

  Our team of five leaves Friday for Restoration Gateway in Uganda.  This is the site of I-TEC's second  Solar PowerPac.  The Mission has a hospital and a Dental Clinic that serves people in the Karuma area.  The mission has worked with orphaned children in Uganda for many years and provides a home atmosphere for children who have no other home.  They have established a way that people can adopt a child to assist in their housing.  There is a church on the property that is very active.  There are plans for a Ministry and Conference Center that will provide facilities for other missionaries to spend some quality and relaxing time away from their other commitments.  I-TEC is privileged to be a small part of this ministry in that we have been able to provide them with stable power for about five years now.  Please check out the mission website at "www.restorationgateway.org" to learn more about them. The purpose of this trip is to connect t...