Electricity

The Electrical Team Mission Trip

  Last summer a hydro-electric generator was installed for the Tanzania Grace Bible Institute (TGBI) Campus. They brought electricity up to the campus into a building that houses our old generator which used to power the campus for 10 hours a week in the evenings.  They found that the existing wiring to most of the buildings was undersized and inadequate for 24 hour electricity which we now have. The entire electrical system needed an overhaul.  
The team of electricians and contractors from Seattle and Leavenworth came in July. The list of electrical work on this campus is quite long but they did a huge chunk of work. The part they accomplished was the hardest part which most nationals and missionaries couldn't do.
 
  Prior to coming hundreds of e-mails went back and forth between the two countries to plan out a better system in the most economical way.  There were complicated electrical charts, maps, sketches, pictures of existing wiring, pictures of supplies that we can find in Tanzania, etc...  Before the team arrived we had purchased the majority of the supplies needed for the work they planned to do.
      
They ran new wires to each building on the campus.  This included
- 4 missionary homes and their garages and guest homes
- 6 Tanzanian staff members homes
- The Bible School Office building, 5 classrooms (one of which will soon be used for a computer school), 4 dormitories, etc..
  
  They installed meters into each building so that we can begin to regulate the power usage and charge maintenance fees based on each persons usage.
  
   They installed new breaker boxes at most of the buildings as many had no breaker boxes and others were not usable for the new system. They installed dual power in each missionary home. Now we can simultaneously run 120v electricity for things we have brought from the States and 240v electricity for things which we can buy here.
   They set up wiring for new computer school which will start soon at the Bible School.
   They re-wired Brook's house inside.  Now there are lights and outlets where needed and all the scary wiring from the past is safely fixed up. When they first saw some of the older wiring on the campus they said it was all a fire waiting to happen! Now there are no more exposed wires but everything is inside junction boxes and labeled well.
   Praise the Lord for the gifts of many who made this work possible and for the guys that came to serve.
   I am excited to have so much light in my house now and to be able to rest assured that there isn't going to be a short in the attic which will start a fire.  It is exciting to have security lights outside as well. As I was in the big city just recently I was awed at all the appliances that I can now use here and spent a lot of time in the small appliance aisle at the store just dreaming!
   Never did I imagine living here in Mumba with 24 hr electricity.