What it's like trying to build a free energy generator in an underdeveloped country.
In an attempt to explain our silence for the last month, we wanted to write this short update for Fix the World and the QEG family.
We have been in an area in Morocco –an underdeveloped country – building a Quantum Energy Generator (QEG) with at least 30 engineers, and a total of about 70 people from over 20 different countries. What we are doing here is a humanitarian project: to build a generator that will run a well and provide water to 300 poor people of this village. The excitement of opensourcing the QEG, and our open invitation to anyone who wanted to come join us, brought in a lot of amazing people with broad backgrounds and great forward-thinking ideas. Still, our goal remains the same; to help the people in this village.
For the rest of the world outside of this secluded village, we wanted to make sure we were able to clarify what “underdeveloped” really looks and feels like, and what our experience has been building here. We feel an explanation of the conditions we’ve had to endure for a project like this is important, since it is you – The People - who provide the impetus to keep going when everything around us looks insurmountable.
No Internet
Other than extremely sporadic moments of luck, we have basically had no means of communication with the outside world for over 3 weeks. Some members of the community here use “internet sticks” that work very slowly, very poorly and have daily limits of usage (when indeed they do decide to work). So basically we have had no internet, no means of reading anything online, watching Youtube videos, checking email, looking on Facebook, keeping up with Skype, etc. etc. One keeps trying though, and the frustration builds. On occasion, someone will get an internet connection and perhaps have about 10 minutes of time here or there, but for the majority of time we’ve had no luck.
The result of not having proper communication for almost a month is a mixed one. On one hand we don’t get to see much of the negative stuff flying around about our project, but on the other hand, we know with proper updating we could avoid misinterpretation of our actions. We’re only vaguely aware that gross mistruths are being spread, which is probably a good thing. We remain focused on the goal.
In an attempt to explain our silence for the last month, we wanted to write this short update for Fix the World and the QEG family.
We have been in an area in Morocco –an underdeveloped country – building a Quantum Energy Generator (QEG) with at least 30 engineers, and a total of about 70 people from over 20 different countries. What we are doing here is a humanitarian project: to build a generator that will run a well and provide water to 300 poor people of this village. The excitement of opensourcing the QEG, and our open invitation to anyone who wanted to come join us, brought in a lot of amazing people with broad backgrounds and great forward-thinking ideas. Still, our goal remains the same; to help the people in this village.
For the rest of the world outside of this secluded village, we wanted to make sure we were able to clarify what “underdeveloped” really looks and feels like, and what our experience has been building here. We feel an explanation of the conditions we’ve had to endure for a project like this is important, since it is you – The People - who provide the impetus to keep going when everything around us looks insurmountable.
No Internet
Other than extremely sporadic moments of luck, we have basically had no means of communication with the outside world for over 3 weeks. Some members of the community here use “internet sticks” that work very slowly, very poorly and have daily limits of usage (when indeed they do decide to work). So basically we have had no internet, no means of reading anything online, watching Youtube videos, checking email, looking on Facebook, keeping up with Skype, etc. etc. One keeps trying though, and the frustration builds. On occasion, someone will get an internet connection and perhaps have about 10 minutes of time here or there, but for the majority of time we’ve had no luck.
The result of not having proper communication for almost a month is a mixed one. On one hand we don’t get to see much of the negative stuff flying around about our project, but on the other hand, we know with proper updating we could avoid misinterpretation of our actions. We’re only vaguely aware that gross mistruths are being spread, which is probably a good thing. We remain focused on the goal.
Local Communication Problems
Most of us here do not have phones, and we are pretty spread out in the village. In a world where a text message saying “Where are you? Can you meet me at the corner?” is not possible, simple communication is very difficult when you have to walk 1/2 a mile to find the person you’re looking for. The best you can do is hope the person you need to talk to happens to show up for the community dinner. In addition to this, there are many different languages being spoken here, including German, Norwegian, French, Spanish, English and Arabic, and translation can be a little tricky. This has made local communication incredibly scattered and disconnected, and often things get miscommunicated, especially when plans change (which happens a lot).
No Basic Supply Industry
We were able to find wood, bolts and capacitors in Morocco, but 90% of the basic parts and tools needed to build the QEG had to be brought here from other countries. Shipping costs are quite high since you will have to purchase overnight postage if you want your item in 3 weeks. These things caused huge delays and severely cut into our budget for the project (expenditure update coming soon!) In an effort to get the parts we needed on time, we bought plane tickets to fly people here carrying the parts in their suitcases. Also we had to deal with this country’s bureaucracy as Moroccan Customs wouldn’t release the QEG core for 2 weeks! We drove 12 hours round trip to Casablanca twice, and spent entire days fighting with customs to get them to release our property to us. It may not be practical to ship processed cores, so it will be wonderful to watch these problems be eliminated as the CICU (cottage industry community unit) here gets funded and grows.
Physical Comfort
As mentioned, there were about 70 people here just for the QEG build. Some of us were lucky and were able to get a bed or share an apartment, but most people slept on mats in a large shared room in the community house. In areas where there is indoor plumbing, there are usually problems and sometimes you have to walk up the hill to find a shower with pressure and hot water. Many Moroccan toilets are holes in the floor with a bucket of water for flushing. Unfortunately a handful of us, including HopeGirl, came down with dysentery and were sick for days. That is in addition to the general intestinal malaise that seems to linger….
The Villagers
The people who live here are mostly very poor, but not unhappy. They plant and harvest their own crops by hand, bent over in the fields all day. The villagers walk with their donkeys for a full day’s journey to the nearest town for supplies, normally a 15-30 minute car ride. The women pull water (and do all the back-breaking field work too) from the well and fill plastic bottles to bring home. Only about 50% of the villagers have any electricity at all. Most of the people here have no idea that the entire world now knows about Aouchtam due to the internet and the work that some of us are doing here. But everyone here knows there’s an important project going on – and they love us!
So, circumstances have caused considerable delays, expenditures and disinformation regarding our project here. Nonetheless, we are committed to seeing this through and dedicated to our goal. So many wonderful people have come together to make this happen, and we are in great spirits due to the glorious support we have from The People, despite the problems. Work here will continue on the QEG for the next one to two weeks… or until it is complete. Jamie and some of the engineers are remaining here in Morocco to do this. As for myself and my mother Valerie, we are leaving Morocco to go where we can have the reliable internet access we need to catch up on the rest of the work around the QEG and Fix The World.
Many updates are coming in the next 2 weeks including tons of instructional video footage to edit and upload. We have several blog posts to compose with lots of information. We have many emails to catch up on and future QEG builds to plan.
We want to thank our friends in the alternative media team that have been writing blog posts and sharing videos with the world whenever they could find an internet connection. Much more to come from the QEG team, please stay tuned!
Gifting chickens to local woman
