Just back from a relaxing weekend away at Kweisos House, a cottage we hired for the weekend out near Koru. When I say relaxing, I really mean it. Lots of time to read, wallow in the pool and play mandolin. In the evenings, we played Perudo and Mafia, both excellent games, with excellent company included. 

During the day, the nearby farm house offered horse riding, table tennis and croquet (it’s owned by some Kenyan-Brits). It was fun to try horse riding again. Last time I rode was in North Carolina, a slightly faded memory which included galloping across a field and toppling off the horse. This time I just did short bursts of cantering. 

I would definitely recommend Kweisos for a weekend away. I wish I could have stayed longer. But there’s wind turbines to put up, and other projects awaiting, so back to Kisumu for another adventurous week.

Photo taken this afternoon. On the final countdown of a fundraising campaign on IndieGoGo! Almost at $25,000. Join the crowd of supporters to help make energy access happen for communities across Kenya.

Today I was learning to ride a motorbike with Leonard, a local Piki-Piki driver.

On Tuesday, we put up this wind turbine. It’s attached to our workshop where we make them. It’s not an ideal spot for a wind turbine, but here, we can monitor the functioning of the different components. This morning, I took at battery reading and was pleased to see it was fully charged over night.

A less hunky selection of Kisumu Jua Kali shots from the making of the hot Kenyan mechanics calendar.

I can’t say I was overwhelmed with excitement about this photo session. Jua Kali translates as ‘hot sun’, and the afternoon lived up to that name.

I’m helping put together a tasteful calendar of Jua Kali artisans to help raise money for a training programme which will help train artisans to build small-scale renewable energy technologies. We think it’s an exciting idea. If you would like to buy a calendar, head over to indiegogo.com/accessenergy - hit contribute and choose the calendar.