As the events of yesterday wound down to an end, all the teachers agreed that there should be no school today, so there wasn't any school today! Everyone was moving slow this morning, so Namatovu, Katamba and I sat down for a late breakfast and discussed the requirements for their USA visa applications! We have flown Namatovu out to Colorado before and would like to fly both of them out next year if everything goes according to plan. Any time we talk about coming to Colorado, both their faces just light up with excitement! A trip like this would not only benefit Namatouv and Katamba, but would educate and inspire the communities we work with in Colorado too!
This afternoon, Namatouv, Katamba, and I met up with a friend of mine, Noel, who has become our contact for everything solar here. He is a local technician, so when I told him we would be installing solar arrays at each new school he volunteered to help us in any way he could. He ended up finding us a great company, Ital Trading Ltd, that can install the system as designed by our Colorado solar contact, John Tembrock. Today we met at the Ital offices in Kampala. We reviewed the solar quote and I purchased a few key solar items with a $4,500 USD grant the Mwebaza Foundation received earlier this year. There is still much more to purchase before we can install the entire solar array, so the owner of Ital offered to store the items for us until we are ready for installation. So considerate of him!
I'm so glad to know we are working with a reliable company from start to finish. I was a little concerned when Namatovu and Katamba said that usually when you buy solar power parts here in Uganda they will throw in an additional flat screen TV or something. I don't know how that all works. I guess it's a secret of bargaining I don't know, but when we entered the Ital office and the owner sat us down, offered us coffee, and reviewed the quote and design for us, neither of them seemed to mind that there was no flat screen wrapped in the deal.