Solar cooking update

Got an internal rack made for the solar oven so we can have 2 levels of trays cooking at once, eg. meatballs and baked potatoes.

Lea has got used to putting the oven in the sun first thing when she arrives, and preparing the main meal before 9 to slow cook in the solar oven. Or if there's no food, at least she can heat the water for washing dishes.

On weekends I remind the day guard to get his food from the oven (usually a casserole, with rice or baked potatoes) himself at lunchtime if I'm late home or end up eating lunch out.

Several friends & acquaintances (including Lea and my landlord) have asked how they can obtain one, especially since lately there has been some delays refilling gas bottles.

2500 cards, 2500 pockets, 5000 pieces sticky tape, tubs&tubs of glue later ...

We had a professional theological librarian visit us earlier in the year and make some recommendations for IMS. One was to switch to a card borrowing service, and another to a professional library software so we could create the cards.

One step at a time ...  so I worked out how to use our current Excel list to creat the 2500 cards we needed using MailMerge.

I went into the cardboard sellers near the big market in town (horrendous parking) and got 2500 blue strips cut for making the pockets (she threw in a few extra) and large white cards for printing off 8 book cards per page.

For the last few weeks my day guard, IMS's secretary, a former student, the dean and his wife -- all have been cutting out white book cards and blue pockets, folding and sticking them together ... and we've had a few sessions of sticking in the pockets and inserting the cards in the library.

Our last session is tomorrow, by when I hope we will have half the books completed. They will have to finish the rest in my absence since I'm not supposed to drive close to leaving, and I'll be leaving for almost 2 months!  I'm back the weekend before Orientation starts in January.

Modifications & Additions at IMS campus

 As soon as we heard about a recent gift towards construction the builders were called in to expand what the campus could offer for our (hopefully) larger student body in the coming year.

 Since we'll have 2 classes from January 2013, we need 2 classrooms. The big classroom has been subdivided along the foundation where my inital plan had provided for an eventual conference room+Director's office to make a small classroom. The other remains medium large.

 We had added a storeroom on the bottom of the water tower structure (no use letting good foundations and frames go to waste). Then we added an outside kitchen for preparing students' food to that ... and then it was decided one storeroom wasn't enough so added on to that!

Water still hasn't been running properly, so our FIA friends had yet another look at things, and this time it seems that we have to change the type of generator (we've changed the generator, the pump, the pipes, ...)

 Our new site supervisor and dean of students isn't too comfortable with our western-style teacher's house, so we are building him an african-style house (outside kitchen and bathroom) with extra room for his large family.

We have started another unit that could be for a couple/family (has a door in the interior wall) or 2 singles' rooms .