Step by step, cell by cell

I want to share with you my experiences on a day to day basis as I engage in the activity of assembling my first solar panel here in Ibadan, Nigeria. Let me first assure you that I got some stuff on the technological know-how relating to this exercise several weeks ago. I have tried to study this documents and video over and over, and taken some notes. A couple of months back, I ordered for some solar cells online and they have arrived. I have also extracted all the other locally sourced materials and tools that I have to use to get myself a complete solar module that will last for the minimum specified period of 25 years. If I can do this for myself, I believe that it shouldnt be difficult for me to do it for my friends and associates. I might even be able to do it for my country and humankind. Anyway, I lay out all the tools and materials on the table. I guess I'm all set to go.

But am I really? I can almost feel the butterfly in my tummy as I consider what I have to go through. Will I be able to accomplish this strange task, considering that it is not particularly in a field that I am familiar with? It is true that I have initiated and pioneered some marvelous projects in the past and they turned out successfully. Like the Happy People Housing Cooperative which I started back in 1994 and which has blossomed into a growing housing community in Ibadan today. Anyway I have to face it that every new project has its own fears. Of course, I hate failure and since I'm hoping that this solar project will re-enact my entry into the big league, I know that I have to tread carefully so that the solar project will not fizzle out the way my catfish grow-out business, my laterite-cement brick production business and my environmental management project all did. What I'm about learning at this moment is that for every successful project, sometimes there might have been three failed projects. Although I am a man of faith, I am also conscious of the fact that mere faith without wisdom and some concrete action never accomplishes anything. So I want to invite you to join me closely as I take this course of constructing my first solar panel in the first few weeks, and later begin the mass production of solar panels in Nigeria, finally to create the first solar farm in Africa. I know you will like to be part of this experience. So I will be very happy if I can have your online presence and companionship as I go along, knowing that I'm not alone on this journey. Please be assured that I will be appreciating your comments, questions and possible suggestions to make this work more feasible. See you tomorrow