Using Electrical Engineering Expertise to Help a Resource-Limited Community – Day One

My name is Ron Bourgault, Chief Electrical Engineer for Mazzetti. I have the great pleasure and opportunity to travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with my son Kyle, to install a much needed electrical distribution system at the University of Shalom at Bunia (USB). Thank you to all who have donated time, money, materials and support to make this happen. In appreciation, I’m documenting our journey for both a technical and non-technical audience. I hope to sufficiently share the stories of the real people who will be positively impacted by your support. Thank you again. I hope you enjoy the journey with us!

April 18^th, 2015: Day 1

Ron (right) and his son Kyle (left) departing Denver International Airport for the DRC.

Departure day has finally arrived. After months of planning, Kyle and I will be traveling to the University of Shalom at Bunia (USB) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We are going to assist with the installation of a new electrical distribution system for USB. The past couple of weeks have been rather eventful with respect to equipment delivery. The majority of the gear has been shipped from the US. It left Philadelphia over three weeks ago and has been in various parts of Uganda for the past two weeks. At about 3:00am this morning, the latest problem had been resolved, and the equipment will begin its final journey into the DRC this afternoon or Monday. There is a good chance we will get to USB before it arrives, but we will have plenty to do to keep us busy preparing the electrical room for this new equipment.

As Kyle and I complete our packing this morning, we will have an excess of 200 lbs. of hardware and tools, all of which we will try to get past the Ugandan and Congolese authorities without paying duty. Our journey will take us from Denver – Detroit – Amsterdam – Kigali, Rwanda, arriving in Entebbe, Uganda Sunday night. We will have an overnight in Entebbe before we take a 12-passenger plane into Bunia. We will arrive in Bunia late Monday morning, which I believe is about 9 hours ahead of Mountain Time.

Thanks to all of you, Lyndee and Whitney especially for your support, patience and understanding as we prepared for the trip, we know it was not easy at times. Many of you supported the purchase of the equipment, thanks so much. Your funds have been put to good use.

We ask that you keep us in your prayers as we start this worthy adventure.