We are still waiting for our shipment to clear customs. It is going through a whole new set of traumas, after we had an agreement, they changed their mind and told us the amount would be about 70% of the value of the merchandize PLUS shipping costs which would mean we would be paying almost $1000 in customs on shipping charges. Ugh I can’t even think about it. Sidi called some friends and they are now considering giving us a letter of transit so we can clear customs in Agadez. The earliest it could get here is Tuesday which gives Dr. Komp exactly two days with the equipment. He is pretty amazing though and very used to these kind of delays so you will see what happens.
But the program is chugging along without the main materials, building cell phone chargers
- The small panels charge one cell phone per hour, the larger ones, three.
Insulating the solar oven
and completing the solar oven. When it is done, we will be able to complete a large panel using the new method of encapsulation by baking the cells in the plastic sheeting. This will eliminate the need to send the silicone through the impossible customs system.
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