A young man arrived right on the appointed time of 1.30pm last Monday to talk about solar system installation. Lib was responsible for initiating this meeting, having answered an advert online somewhere. I was happy about this. It was always my intention to get solar power when we got around to it.
J had rung earlier to confirm the appointment, and asked could I have ready our last electricity bill so he could do his sums re the necessary size of system. Well no, I couldn't, we've been here less than three months and haven't received a bill yet. He asked me could I call my supplier and ask them for details of my usage since we've been here. This I did, it required me to go outside to the meter and tell the guy on the phone the readings so he could work out the cost of our electricity since we arrived. (For the record 72 days $273 usage to yesterday, but first 4 days after connection we weren't here).
With the service charge of something close to $1 per day it appears our quarterly bill would be about 90 days X $4 per day plus $90 service, so total probably about $450. I had been wondering, given that we now have electric cooktops, a dishwasher used probably twice a week, and an electric garage door, things we didn't have previously. Mind you being autumn we hardly used the airconditioning at all for heating or cooling, so probably the bill could double in winter quarter, and higher than autumn in summer if it's stinking hot. Allowing for some variation, the annual cost should be in the area of $2500. About $6-7 per day, which is pretty good when you think all you do with that electricity.
It was quickly obvious J knew his caper. First thing he wanted was to look at the meter. I told him that an electrical engineer friend back home had told me that the meter would need upgrading probably, "I suppose you know about all that, you'd be an electrician?"
"Yes, I'm an electrical engineer with solar experience. I've not long come back from Africa where I spent 3 years installing solar farms in Ethiopia and Somalia, employed by the UN, so this is pretty basic stuff." He had a quick look at the roof and the aspect and said it looks good to go. He explained the hacienda style tiles weren't ideal, not good to walk on, there may be a few broken but the team will bring some spares to replace them. He looked at the usage figures, said a 5kw inverter should be right, 18 panels. "We've had a cancellation, we can install on Thursday next week if you'd like, that would suit us, so I can give you a couple of hundred off."
We sat in the loung with a coffee and I asked him about Africa, wondering how it was he came to work there. His story, as I remember it, began when he was at school. His best friend was a South Sudanese refugee who came here with his mother and two siblings after fleeing war in Sudan. The father had been in the army and had not been seen for some time before they fled and was believed dead. The friend and his two siblings had witnessed two brothers murdered by rebels.
His friend told him that when they were kids in their village they used to sell coloured stones to Europeans and tourists who came through their village, and they used to think "How stupid are these people who will swap money for stones."
J and his friend finished school and went through university and as adventurous young men made a decision to go back to Sudan and find some of this coloured stone they now knew to be gold. When they arrived they were stopped by armed men at the airport who forcibly took them to a government building, to no less than the head of government offices, where Jay's friend was staggered to find his father was there, he was not dead, and had progressed to be a high ranking official.
So the young men had some safety to travel and indeed did find the village and the old childhood haunts of his friend. They found trace of gold and had assays done from soil at different depths, at considerable personal cost. The result was yes there was a lot of gold and could be mined profitably. Jay sent info to companies in the US and Australia and within hours his inbox lit up. They went with a Sydney company who offered to do everything for a 25% cut off the top. There was time lag in getting anything approved and in the meantime J and his friend were close to much violence from rebel activity and there was fighting at other mines in the area with many people killed. They did not like the disruption and danger mining was causing local people. They caved, too dangerous, pulled the pin on the deal and got out of the area.
By way of J's friend's father's contacts, he was offered a job with the UN working on installation of solar farms in relatively safe areas. His contract was for three years. He said Ethiopa is approaching almost total energy independance through solar farms, and by removing methane from trash, and incineration to generate electricity. This he said, was because they were starting from scratch with virtually no infrastructure so they could do things in a big way correctly, not hamstrung by existing interests. I found this quite amazing.
He said that he approached the UN with plans to build solar farms in South Sudan because he had an attachment to the people through his friend's family and village. This got no legs, nor did his attempt to start a school to educate the villagers in agriculture. He concluded that there's much corruption in the UN. There is, yes, large moneys given to various causes but it usually doesn't happen. There's huge mineral wealth in Sth Sudan which attracts foreign interest and capital, but J said it's necessary to keep the people poor and in debt, so the wealth from these resources goes out, and not to the Sudanese. His words, not mine. I believe it. Could it be he's an extaordinary liar or completely deluded? I have known amazing liars in the past but this bloke didn't seem like one to me.
J returned to Australia. He's involved with a clothing store company in Adelaide who donates girl's clothing on a regular basis. The figure of $10,000 for shipping container load was mentioned, how regular I don't know but J organizes the consignment. He raised this issue with the clothing company, 'Savers' I think it is, because rape is common, most girls and women in the villages walk around naked as they simply don't have clothes. There's little education for young people, many have never read a book. Many can speak multiple languages, eg English, French, German, Arabic as well as their own tongue, because there's always been plenty of foreigners coming to exploit, and learning language comes so naturally to them. Basic verbal communication is survival.
J said, aswering my questions, he's 27 years old. Most of the Sudanese here are very intelligent, many had little if any education, and had witnessed horrific violence and killing. Some were child soldiers. His friend from school is in Australia working as a biomedic engineer. He builds prosthetic limbs using robot technology.
We agreed to buy the solar system from the company J works for. It's scheduled to be installed next Wednesday. Later I googled solar systems, and since then my inbox has been inundated with offers, at cheaper "from" price than our agreement. Who knows if J did a number on us? Gut feel says stay the course. Solar installation is very competive here in SA Many of the prices advertised have asterisks with terms and conditions, and I think the price quoted is variable depending on how much you pay up front. You can select to pay less up front with payments coming off your electricity produced.
You live and learn. Certainly learning continues into retirement.
