July 1, 2006… Updates from Joe
Slowly but surely things are coming together. Don Prudencio FINALLY finished the welding on our processor. However, we are a bit concerned because he only tack welded the conical bottom onto the bottom of our drum. He then used silicone glue to seal it. We are pretty sure that with time, the chemicals we are using will eat through that glue. This means more time that we have to spend waiting for welding to be completed before we can put the rest of our processor together. But the good news is that except for that, the welding on our processor is complete.
Also in breaking news: Amit and Tanner (after some long discussions with Curt and I) finally came to a great plan for the solar box that they are planning on building to heat the oil for our biodiesel process. They are planning on building the box tomorrow, while Don Prudencio welds them a heat exchanger.
I can’t wait to finally get my hands on some palm oil. We’ve been here a week and a half, and I still haven’t made any biodiesel. It is a bit strange not making biodiesel for such a long time. I am very anxious to start making biodiesel here because most of the oil that people have access to currently is palm oil, and our team needs to have experience with this specific oil before we can teach people about it. Once the processor is complete we will go to Ana Cafe. We will do our experimentation on the farm, because it is at a lower elevation and is warmer (which is better than making biodiesel up in the cold mountains of Xela proper). The owner of Ana Cafe has agreed to give us 200 gallons of palm oil to experiment with.
The other night Curt and I had a really good conversation about how we both are unfortunately harboring quite a bit of resentment within us. Many many people have let us down throughout the course of this project. We have encountered countless obstacles, and bared witness to the more tragic side of human nature (including our own) quite often. But still, we have remained strong because this is something that we care about and because it is something we both set out to do. Yet still, that anger sits within us. Don’t get me wrong, there have been many beautiful moments in this project, but in the shadow of the many other huge let downs it is hard not to become a bit jaded.
But that conversation somehow freed me. It re-centered my understanding of why I am doing this project. If anything the best thing I can do for me is to not let other people’s failures contribute to my own. And the best thing I can do for them is to show them what it means to actually dedicate one’s self to something. Perhaps they will refuse to see that lesson, most people hate to admit their failures (that is something I have had to come to terms with in myself many times over throughout this project).
Regardless, I am feeling like less of a jaded activist, and more like a person surrounded by good people trying to do good things. But as I write these words, my pulse quickens a bit at the danger of those words. Too often in this world that general sentiment leads to a sort of group feeling that says “look, we are doing good things with our lives” which can often cause people to not work as hard because they become stagnated by that feeling of fulfillment. The feeling of approval. We must continually push ourselves to the limit if we want this project to be a success. Getting stuck at the border for a week, and slow welding has put us significantly behind schedule. As such, now is more important than ever.
New update: Well I thought that the welding was done, but I have now begun to check the quality of the work and thus far I have found five different leaks in the welding job. It was quite a disheartening discovery because the welding took over a week longer than it was supposed to, and now we are you appoxy to patch our processor up. The appoxy is not a long term solution, but it is resistent to the chemicals we are using, so the processor will be good for a couple of months (assuming I bought enough appoxy to fix all the holes I am continually finding).
The bus: brook and Ethan are coming tonight. For this I am soooo thankful. Those poor guys have been through so much. First the border was hell! (Since our bus driver ditched us our paperwork wasn’t in order and that set us a week behind). Then, the bus broke an hour outside of the border of Mexico and Guatemala. The good news is that the original owner, Gwen, paid for the bus to be towed to Guatemala because Mexico doesn’t sell the parts that we need. Gwen is also paying for all of the needed repairs, which is incredibly generous in him.
Currently I am waiting for the appoxy to dry and I will test our processor to see if it is leak free.
Hugo had a great insight: this project is like one incredibly hard video game, and every time you think you got the level beat, some random monster jumps out and puts you back siginificantly. The key is to just keep working at it, learn from your mistakes, and stay strong.