My work in Mada (continued):
Unfortunately, this economy stinks, (has anyone noticed?) and science hasn't been receiving much funding in recent years. Nor has education in general. We were fortunate enough to land three grants, but unfortunate in that those grants only cover about 60% of the budget we hoped to work with. Considering that our largest (10k) grant didn't even cover all of our travel expenses, we were left with less than $1000 for research equipment. That means no photovoltaic panels, no radios for inter-village communication, no antennae to boost internet and cell phone reception, no solar pumps for water systems. Bummer.
Anyway, we've taken the bumps in stride and managed what we can. We have an oil press for testing biofuel potential, a handheld solar radiation detector, and GPS/GIS mapping equipment borrowed from SNRE. If we can't actually implement the systems we hoped to, we can at least gather data to support our recommendations for a high-voltage solar photovoltaic system. Anyway, working in Africa requires a great deal of flexibility and frustration, as does working in science, so this is probably just a taste of what is to come.
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