2025-06-08

Update from John Wolfe

Dear Friends and Family,

  Wanted to give you a little update, halfway through my two month stay in Malawi. Robert was here for the month of May, so we were able to overlap by two weeks, which was great. He then went to the UK for a week to update the Modern Energy Cooker Systems folks at University of Loughborough on the latest Solar Ku Midzi developments. 

Myriad Administrative Tasks

  Most of my days in Blantyre are spent on administrative tasks, stuff like exchanging dollars for kwacha, making improvements to the NGO’s online banking access, recovering assets from a no longer trusted former friend who stole solar shop inventory, calculating the latest taxes due on the glacially slow and poorly organized Msonkho (taxes) website, setting up a subscription to QuickBooks Online for the NGO, getting receipt books printed and urging everyone to write receipts for every expense, helping the team prepare for the powerpoint presentation before the Gender Task Force of Blantyre District (incidentally, the presentation went great – so glad I recommended that Rachel and two women from the Lundu shop attended – they lended great credibility – best of all, I did not have to attend, the team handled it magnificently on their own); myriad details like that.

20 foot Shipping Container Arrived in Mid-May 

  This container held 400 new pumps and hoses (thank you donors!) just in time for this year’s dry season. Also voltage converters for the cookers and solar trike repair parts. Best of all, it held repair parts for one thousand small pumps, the ones already deployed in the field. With the right parts and trained village technicians, these small pumps are relatively easy to repair – at a tenth the cost of replacing a broken pump with a new one. 

  The container arrived in a big flatbed truck – impossible to fit through the gate at the workshop. After lowering the container off the truck bed with a forklift – which also couldn’t move the twenty foot long container through the 16 feet wide gate, Gilbert hired a team of eight guys who move containers by hand, using a couple long steel pry bars and a few truck wheel hubs to slide the container over. You can move the container a meter or two across the ground in an hour. Luckily they finished just before sunset, so folks could safely get home.

Test Pumps also Arrive

  Robert and I both ordered a wide range of twelve different types of more durable and powerful (and also more expensive) brushless pumps. Next week we’re going to create a trough of water at the workshop and race the pumps against each other, running hoses up to the roof of the workshop to simulate a 5 meter head. Before our village visit, we tested a surface pump that we thought was “IT!”. It even had a remote control so you could turn down the speed until the pump would push water even when the sun was blocked by clouds. It was very exciting, until we took it to a village and realized, yes, it could pump with smaller panels and cloudy weather – up a head of 6 inches, and then stop.

Village Visit: Solar Cookers and Batteries

  Rachel and Christina (R&C) Robert and I went out to R&C’s home village Mganja in Dedza district, where we met up with Mada and Mercy (M&M), the cooker interview team. The village is in a high plain, with a long mountain ridge forming a beautiful backdrop. I tagged along as M&M and R&C interviewed cooker users and got the research and battery loan agreements signed. R&C also installed a few previously purchased cooker systems along with Forever Batteries (Batire Lokhalitsa). The loan agreements give cooker users a big discount on the battery repayment cost if they use the cooker heavily, as verified by the data logger that’s embedded in the battery. These batteries are very durable, expected to last far longer than the usual lead acid batteries, and even the state-of-the-art lithium iron phosphate batteries. The batteries have limited capacity, but can easily power three 12V light bulbs all through the night. The big 18V version can heat a meal at night. With a 12V USB converter, the batteries can also charge cell phones or even laptops or small TVs. The villagers’ top priority are lights that last all night long to keep thieves away and discourage rats from stealing their food.

John Learning Chichewa Pang’onopang’ono (slowly little by little)

  For me, the fun was tagging along and meeting the villagers. Each family was quite different and unique. I also got to listen to rapid-fire incomprehensible Chichewa, just letting it wash over me, recognizing a word here or there. To be polite (ulemu) and respectful, I was expected to greet each person individually: The afternoon version goes: me, looking at the first person directly in the eye “Mwasera bwanji?” (how is your day going? Said sincerely in poorly pronounced Chichewa). The person smiles and replies: “Ndaswera bwino”. (I’m passing the time well). “Kaya inu?” (how about you)? I reply “ Ndaswera bwino, zikomo.” (Things are going well, thank you.). And they reply: “Zikomo.” And we then both say “Zikomo kwambiri” (thank you very much). And then it’s on to the next person. The expectation is that I greet each adult, but it was extra fun to also greet each child. It’s formulaic but quite enjoyable, each of us recognizing each other’s importance. My only mistake was the one time someone was not doing well, and I missed the change in the response. A bit later I asked Mada what he said, and she explained he said he was seriously ill. I went back and tried to repeat (mumbling and forgetting) what Mada told me to say “Pepani. Ndikukhulupirira mukumva bwino  posachedwa.” I get a confused look in response to my garbled attempt and Mada explained to him what I tried to say. 

  Despite studying Chichewa for two years now, and despite Malawian’s excitement when they hear me utter a few words in Chichewa, a three year old child can speak and understand Chichewa better than me. And yes, I’m trying to memorize that sentence as a rueful joke: “Mwana wazaka zitatu amalankhula ndikumvetsetsa Chichewa kuposa ine.” Trying to cram a new language into this 69 year old brain is hard, but also joyful when I’m in the right frame of mind.

Miscellaneous Notes

  The JB12 workshop has shifted from charcoal to almost entirely solar cooking for lunch every day, even on cloudy days, when lunch might be delayed a bit while the beans finish cooking.

  Demonstrating the cookers at a nearby trade show in early June led to pump sales, and future cooperation with MERA, the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority, who sat at booth next door. The booth on the other side might also lead to something: Go4Solar.com seems like a well-organized company, installing solar systems for well-to-do Malawians.

  I’m staying at JB8, four doors down from the Blantyre workshop at JB12. It’s a lodging house with a pharmacy intern, a 5-th year medical student, two medical interns, one resident in internal medicine (all at Blantyre’s Queen Elizabeth public hospital), a young medical doctor doing TB research, and a young lawyer who’s helping me with the stolen solar products problem. It’s inspiring to be around a lively bunch of young people who save lives and alleviate suffering every day.

Next Steps

  Robert has a parallel path focused on cooker and battery research. Little steps that I’m focusing on: this week we race the brushless pumps against each other and organize the pump repair technicians workshop, with a dozen pump technicians arriving next week from distant village solar shops to learn the latest methods to repair the small pumps. A lot of moving parts: what’s our budget, who to invite, where will they stay, pulling broken pumps out of storage to fix, getting on the same page regarding the correct repair procedures, putting all the repair parts into plastic bag kits for the techs to bring back home, getting a few key basic tools for them to use at the workshop and return home with, etc etc. The following week Thomson Ngupete, Chitani Chatama and I plan their interview forays across the village shops, locating last year’s new pump customers, checking in with the farmers they interviewed in Jan/Feb to see if they’re using their solar pumps this dry season, and training the pump users on the proper care of their pumps (especially by hanging the pumps into the water from wood tripods: Ndodo Zitatu).

  The Affordable Solar for Villagers (AS4V NGO) has a presentation before the Blantyre District Council and then the local traditional authority where the Lundu women’s shop is located (all requirements of NGORA before they will take our case to MRA to reduce our import taxes). Update the solarkumidzi.org website with latest news. Get another foundation proposal out (Montfort has managed to send one out every month or two, but so far, no success). Hold an AS4V NGO board meeting, preferably in person, but at least online. Make cash projections for the next half year for both Kachione and AS4V.

Boldly go where no NGO has gone before…

  Anthu onse a kumidzi ku Malawi akhale osangalala. Anthu onse kulikonse akhale osangalala. May all the villagers of Malawi be happy. May all beings everywhere be happy.

Best wishes to everyone, and deep gratitude for your support.

John