Nanu/Nanu
Don't wait til' life's easy to be happy
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- Jul 30, 2020
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As some of the members here may know i am a Journeyman Lineman. A couple months ago i was asked if I would volunteer to go build power lines for the Navajo Nation. On Saturday i made the journey up to kayenta to meet up with the crew and get settled in to start work on Sunday.
Upon arrival and after getting checked in at Goulding's Monument Valley Lodge I snapped some photos of the accomodations and views. Not to shabby.
Sunday was our first day which consisted of a couple hour orientation. The local staff gave us some back ground information on the situation and why the mission is so critical to them, which I will do my best to portray.
So in 2019 "light up Navajo" started i think they were able to provide power to roughly 500 homes. At this time the people who participated only thought they were doing something good but in 2020 it would come to be that they were actually saving people's lives. Covid hit in 2020. (I haven't researched this) but the statistics that they told us was the highest mortality rate from covid was in the country of Mexico with 5%. The second highest mortality rate was 3.5% on the Navajo reservation.
What they found was that most of the 3.5% did not have power at their homes. Having access to electricity is something most of us take for granted. You can heat your home when its cold. Your can run a water pump when you want to shower. Can keep lights on for kids when they get home to do their homework. Since most families live very remotely they drop kids off for school early in the morning and dont return home until late at night when its dark. Also most of these homes rely on stoves for heat/cooking which requires you to go get coal or wood which isnt close. Also most people are on steady diets of nonperishable canned food as they do not have the ability to keep perishable food.
So after our meeting Sunday morning we went out and started working. Since the day started late we only had a small job scheduled which was to hang a pot and run a service. The gentleman we served had just gotten home 3 weeks prior from having his foot amputated. As well as prepping his home for power, the building code requires his home to have a concrete floor. Yes that right this guy has been living in a hogan with a dirt floor. When the job was complete he had the biggest smile flipping on a light switch for the first time.
Today started off with with a bigger job. 3 pole extension, hanging a transformer and running a service to a single wide home. I didn't do as well with photos, but heres the completed line.
Unfortunately the house is behind this closest pole. Another super grateful customer. This has been her dream to have a home, with modern amenities and today we made that possible. She is older and due to not having power she has been living in Phoenix with her kids. She was so excited she left PHX this morning at 2 am so she could be here to flip on her lights!
With this job completed we head back in to the yard picked up a pole and more material and headed out the the field.
We were going to set the pole, but unfortunately there was another crew in the area working on a broken recloser and operations didn't feel comfortable issuing a contact tag (putting a device on a setting that trips open due to a fault whether it be phase 2 phase or phase 2 ground). So tomorrow morning we will start off there and see what the rest if the day holds!
Stay tuned for more to come tomorrow.
Upon arrival and after getting checked in at Goulding's Monument Valley Lodge I snapped some photos of the accomodations and views. Not to shabby.
Sunday was our first day which consisted of a couple hour orientation. The local staff gave us some back ground information on the situation and why the mission is so critical to them, which I will do my best to portray.
So in 2019 "light up Navajo" started i think they were able to provide power to roughly 500 homes. At this time the people who participated only thought they were doing something good but in 2020 it would come to be that they were actually saving people's lives. Covid hit in 2020. (I haven't researched this) but the statistics that they told us was the highest mortality rate from covid was in the country of Mexico with 5%. The second highest mortality rate was 3.5% on the Navajo reservation.
What they found was that most of the 3.5% did not have power at their homes. Having access to electricity is something most of us take for granted. You can heat your home when its cold. Your can run a water pump when you want to shower. Can keep lights on for kids when they get home to do their homework. Since most families live very remotely they drop kids off for school early in the morning and dont return home until late at night when its dark. Also most of these homes rely on stoves for heat/cooking which requires you to go get coal or wood which isnt close. Also most people are on steady diets of nonperishable canned food as they do not have the ability to keep perishable food.
So after our meeting Sunday morning we went out and started working. Since the day started late we only had a small job scheduled which was to hang a pot and run a service. The gentleman we served had just gotten home 3 weeks prior from having his foot amputated. As well as prepping his home for power, the building code requires his home to have a concrete floor. Yes that right this guy has been living in a hogan with a dirt floor. When the job was complete he had the biggest smile flipping on a light switch for the first time.
Today started off with with a bigger job. 3 pole extension, hanging a transformer and running a service to a single wide home. I didn't do as well with photos, but heres the completed line.
Unfortunately the house is behind this closest pole. Another super grateful customer. This has been her dream to have a home, with modern amenities and today we made that possible. She is older and due to not having power she has been living in Phoenix with her kids. She was so excited she left PHX this morning at 2 am so she could be here to flip on her lights!
With this job completed we head back in to the yard picked up a pole and more material and headed out the the field.
We were going to set the pole, but unfortunately there was another crew in the area working on a broken recloser and operations didn't feel comfortable issuing a contact tag (putting a device on a setting that trips open due to a fault whether it be phase 2 phase or phase 2 ground). So tomorrow morning we will start off there and see what the rest if the day holds!
Stay tuned for more to come tomorrow.
. So we improvised cutting the bead off on one side and tossing the coil of wire in and whalah! 
