Jim Molenhouse spent a half a day helping to get the Susie Guenter merry-go-round pump going again, and the rest of the time at ELWA, making a critical impact through helping with repairs. The John Deer tractor had been out of commission for some time. Steve Kjer needed it next in March and April 2010 when he tackled the electrical infrastructure. Transformers were going to have to be moved, poles and heaving equipment transported, and so on. Jim got it running so that the electrical team could hit the ground running.
Next, he tackled the well pumps, fixing a short in the well house. (Does a hospital need clean, running water?) The day Jim left, he and some other men noticed on their way home from church the water tank behind the school was leaking, so that is something else needing to be fixed.
Jim also worked on fixing a tire on the three wheeler. Though the tire waiting to be put on was stolen from the repair shop, it was recovered thanks to Jefferson Zeon. The tire tubes split three times (the stores in Liberia don't sell the right size tube for that vehicle), so the right tube needs to be brought from the States in order for the tire to be fixed completely.
Regarding the generators, Jim writes,
"It really was a privilege to work with Rusty Laird, Peter, Peewee, Ben and Ben's friend (he helped in rewinding the stator and exciter on generator #4). All four generators are operational, however it's important to keep an eye on #4 to make sure it is OK (it caught fire in December the week before we arrived.
The hospital generator is another story--it has a hole in the side of the engine block, so a short block is needed for a series 3 Perkins diesel engine. Please pray for a good used engine block so that this standby generator can be put back into service."
Current repair needs:
- repair the sand filter in the well house in back of the school (commercial grade sand filters are needed), repair of the leaking water tank behind the school
- new tires, tubes, for the Honda 3 wheeler
- new roofs on buildings (including James Kesselly's house--also known as the Schindler house)
- services building warehouse needs to have the ceiling repaired
- power lines and transformers (Steve Kejr and team will be doing this in March)
- upgrade hospital and radio equipment
Note: Rusty Laird is an SIM missionary helping with the construction and maintenance of ELWA's facilities. He and his wife Jaime have a blog that is well worth a look.
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