Multifunctional Engineering: The Story of Engineers Without Borders in Ghana - Part 4

Part Four:
How many Canadian engineers does it take to install a light bulb? Only one you say - true enough - but if that engineer is in Yaakrom Ghana, it may just take a long time. For Tom Owen, the answer to this question was an important lesson learned about the challenges of working in rural Africa.

Tom first arrived in Ghana a year ago, a newly minted mechanical engineer from Victoria, excited to start work in the rural communities in which the multifunctional platform (MFP) was being installed. Having spoken with Mike Quinn, the previous EWB volunteer working on the project, Tom was confident that he had a solid understanding of the project. So after a month in Ghana, reading reports and learning about the project’s progress, he set out to visit Yaakrom, the town where Ghana’s first MFP had been installed.

One of the main purposes of his visit was to test a new business opportunity for Akua, the entrepreneur running the MFP, that could benefit both her and the community. So on his way to Yaakrom, he made a short stop in the city of Kumasi to pick up two lights he hoped would do just that.

The direct current 12 volt fluorescent lights were designed for battery-based electrical systems common in many non-electrified communities. These new lights are a low cost alternative made from recycled electronic components taken from various household electronics. The cost for the lights using new components is prohibitively high for the average Ghanaian and if this low cost alternative worked, Tom hoped Akua could start selling basic 12 volt electrical equipment to go along with her battery charging service. In doing so, the people in Yaakrom would gain access to lighting for their homes and she would be able to expand her business.

After the long journey to Yaakrom, Tom and his co-worker Charles arrived excited to test the new lights. In Canada this would be an easy test, but Tom quickly learned that something as simple as installing a light can present many challenges when in rural Ghana.

Having left Accra without a circuit tester, Tom’s co-worker Charles thought they would find one along the way, but this was easier said than done. So they found themselves in Yaakrom with two lights and very little equipment to install them. Tom remembered the technician who sold them the lights had warned that “bad things would happen” if they hooked up the polarity backwards.

Tom attached one of the lights to the roof, and seeing no standard colour scheme indicating positive or negative, he stared at the wiring baffled. Traveling back to Kumasi to test the lights would take too long. With no other option, he decided he would have to test the waters, despite fear of breaking the lights and the technician’s warning if he hooked the light up wrong.

Read next month’s Society Notes to see if Tom is able to hook-up the lights, providing a new business opportunity for Akua and the chance of lighting for the community.

To learn more about the MFP, take a guided tour with Tom Owen on video (Download).

Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is a registered Canadian charity that helps people in developing communities gain access to basic engineering technologies that can reduce poverty, hunger and disease. Visit EWB’s website at www.ewb.ca to learn more.