John Dada of Fantsuam sent Dadamac UK the following updates plus some wonderful photos. (the one featured here shows John at the wheel of the Fast Tractor).
John informed us :
"Sixteen youths were needed to help offload the implements from the trailer of the FastTractor. THis has now freed the trailer to be used for other farm work such as bringing home farm produce. This is expected to start in the next two weeks. Some clients have come to request to have the tractor fetch some building sands from river banks and the driver will start that next week".
"The microfinance, which had taken the brunt of a slowed down
post-crises economy, seems to be picking up some steam as field
officers recorded ahigher repayment rate than June. But a major
problem for our clients who invested in ginger has been the current
price of ginger which has fallen to about 50% of its purchase value.
The reason for this colossal loss can be traced to the insecurity
levels in the ginger producing communities. Their traditional buyers
have kept away out of fear. Fantsuam is now exploring options of
linking buyers to wholesale exporters in the port city of Lagos. But
the logistics involved for us appears daunting".
"The Kafanchan Solar Club took delivery of some encapsulants from the
Minnesota Renewable Energy Society, and the foto below shows the
members at their weekly meeting. They had constructed a a borad that
can has 10 usb solar phone charging points.
Gabriel of Zittnet came back safely from attending the annual Cisco
Safari workshop in Lagos. The Cisco chain of communication is being
overhauled and the participants were updated on new programs to be
introduced soon. The current laboratory bundles need updating, but its
cost is currently beyond ZittNet until they can enrol enough students
to justify investing in an update".
We have also exchanged additional emails about the Comic Relief, Fantsuam Foundation and DevTec pilot project....to be told next week!