WE GOT ROBBED AGAIN !
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The emptied solar wings

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The doors cut open

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everything in a mess

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Fast keine Paneele mehr übrig...

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The watchmen telling us their storry

On Sunday morning we got the followoing message from the watchmen:

VIPI NIMEMJULISHA MKURUGENZI TUMEVAMIWA TENA NA WAIZI JUZI WAKIWA NA SILAHA WAKUZIDI NGUVU WAKAIBA SOLA NA WAKAWUNJA MLANGO WA JUU MFUNIKO MBONA HAMJI KUANGALIA TUNAISHI KWA TABU BARIDI MVUA KUNAHITAJIKA  WANAMGABO 2 NA BUNDUKI TUSHIRIKIANE WASIJE KUIBA VILIVYOBAKI. WAIZI WANA SILAHA KALI KULIKO SISI: HATUTHUBUTU KULALA KIBANDANI NI CHINI YA MTI

From: Sungura Kidia

11:16 13/4/08

 

"I have informed the director, we had been robbed again yesterday. They had a stronger weapon. They stole the solar plates and broke the door to the technical room..."

First we were shocked. The SMS had been delayed over night, what happens regularly during weekends. We tried to contact the director at once. But he responded on no phone line. We were sure he is doing the follow up. So we had to wait for Monday morning to see him in his office. We wanted to go up immediately, but he wanted to get a clear picture himself asking others about it. On Tuesday he had to be at the church head office in Arusha. We insisted on going up with the police on Wednesday morning. Unfortunately we met a long queue at the police office. So we went up to the transmitter side, while the director waited at the police line.

When we arrived at the transmitter site we met the watchmen guarding the property. But a glance up the tower gave us a big shock: Nearly all solar panels were taken off! The heavy steel door to the transmitter room was cut open. The second protective grill down inside was cut into pieces. In the transmitter room the 2 solar regulators, a small generator, all the tools and many small items were missing.

Without grinder someone must have been sitting there the hole afternoon to cut the heavy metal bars apart! Even taking down all the solar panels must have taken many hours, or even days, since it took so long for us to mount them here as well!

The watchmen told us their story about the robbery at 2 am at night. We could not believe it because we understood the telemetry data now what has happened: They show the battery voltage dropped to 0 on Wednesday at 19:08 in the evening. That must have been the time when they finished the solar panels and cut the solar regulator...

Since that time everything was standing open and just like a wonder the transmitter was still on air!!

At that time my director came up with the police commander and the national park guard.

"No one could do all the work from 2 to 6 in the morning up there!" he said.

The watchmen are under custody right now, but we are shure they do not want to say the truth because they may be killed by the robbers....

 

We started to weld new doors the same day to lock the transmitter room again.

The transmitter continued to work for another 2 months during heavy rains by generator. Then the generator refused to start. When installing a new starter battery, the voltage was reversed and the electronics of the generator ruined.

The transmitter was off air for a hole month causing the Lutheran Radio Centre a big loss of income to run the station.

Unfortunately the generator of the type: BEST48 D is no longer produced.

 

 

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