1 down… 9 to go!

It has been an exciting past few days for me personally as I have completed the installation of the first VSAT dish! For the first time ever the medical teams working in the mountain village of Nohana have communication with the rest of the world.

On Tuesday, April 15, I flew to Nohana along with Jeremy Keeton – IT Specialist for Partners In Health. (A few “Flat Stanley’s” also joined me – something the teachers in our families will appreciate…!) Flight delays kept us from getting to the site until after 2:00 PM and we were planning to commission the dish at 8:00 PM that evening (this is scheduled in advanced with the Network Operation Center at Constellation Network Corporation, our satellite provider.) Less than 6 hours to construct, wire, configure, and point the dish – a little more pressure than I had hoped for on the first attempt! Thankfully we had plenty of help as several local Basotho men pitched in. They were eager to build something so unique in the mountains.

All things considered the installation went great. By 9:30 we were online and making test calls to the United States. Dr. Jonas Rigodon, who has been the physician at this remote clinic for 18 months, was very excited to email his colleagues and his wife (a little quicker than sending letters back and forth on the airplane!).

This VSAT system will bring much needed Internet access, email, and telephone capabilities to help meet the healthcare needs of the Basotho people in and around Nohana. This is a small village of maybe 1000 people, but the clinic serves a much wider area of at least 8000 people. To give you an idea of how bad the health situation is here, this clinic has been tracking all the patients who test positive for HIV/AIDS. In the last 18 months the number has grown to over 2,500. And of course not everyone in the Nohana area has come to the clinic or been tested.

Another troubling statistic: Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has joined the effort in Nohana by distributing food packets, blankets, and teaching new farming techniques (the AIDS treatments here are much more effective with a proper diet). CRS also started an initiative to profile all of the orphans and “at risk” children in the Nohana area. So far they have also exceeded 2,500 and have not reached the outer areas of the village population.

2,500 AIDS patients and climbing. 2,500 orphans and climbing. Just one small village.

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This week I will continue the VSAT project by installing a second dish in the village of Bobete. I was in Bobete on Friday to set the mounting pole. It is a tiny clinic grounds and like Nohana serves a large rural area. It is not uncommon for the clinic here to see up to 300 people a day. The flight schedule should allow Thomas to fly with me and stay the night in Bobete while I install the dish. It should be an interesting experience for both of us as Bobete has no electricity and just this morning had a couple inches of snow!! I am curious to hear what he thinks about the experience.

As always thanks for your prayers and emails. Please continue to pray for the Basotho people as winter sets in here. It was very cold this morning and snow kept us from flying to several mountain airstrips. Please pray for a mild winter in the mountains and good weather to keep our planes flying.

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And finally a special CONGRATULATIONS!! to Megan and Tony who are expecting their first baby in October. We love you and are very happy for you!

Have a great week everyone and God Bless you and your families,

Traig