July 11, 2009
This week Dan and Nathan left for home, so now it is me and Erin left from UD.
This week on Thursday and Friday I went to Managua (Nicaragua´s capitol) for a couple meetings with Salud del Sol (the non-profit who created the solar autoclave). Our first meeting was actually right outside of the city limits. It was with a group called the Jubillee House. Apparently 15 years ago 4 families from North Carolina moved down to Nicaragua into an area that has an unemployment of about 80%. They saw a need for health care and they wanted to make a difference. I have to applaude them because it would be soooo hard to relocate your family and hope that what you are doing is worth all the risks. We talked with one of the Gringo founders and she said that the little village we visited has a lot of women who work the street and she would not be surprised if in a couple years there is an AIDS outbreak in that area if this keeps up. Basically the way their clinic works is that you can pay for your doctor or dentist visit one of two ways: you can either make a donation or you can work in the clinic for a day to pay off your debt. This is a really good option considering the unemployment rates. The lady really seemed interested in the solar autoclave if we get it to work. She also mentioned that she was taking a group of people to a smaller clinic without electricity up in the mountains at the end of July, and I think it would be really neat to see an actual clinic that would benefit from the solar autoclave.
The next meeting we had in Managua was with UNI (the private university in Managua). They gave us suggestions and told us that they have three engineering students who want to test and work on the solar autoclave as their project. So that was pretty exciting that the research will not stop when Erin and I leave for the summer.
Erin and I went shopping for supplies in Managua and it is soooo unbelievably hard to find copper tubing here for the pressure release valve for the autoclave. We decided that their plumbing isn´t very developed. Most houses, if they have running water, only have cold water. So there is not a need for copper tubing. We ended up spending $10 on taxis around the city and don´t have anything to show for it…..I am about to send an S.O.S. to Lowes…. 
Have a good week!
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