Missouri workers to help install power lines in Sudan

January 12, 2008 (COLUMBIA, Mo.) — Instead of worrying about damage from winter storms, three Boone Electric Cooperative linemen will spend the next few weeks bringing light to about 200 people in Sudan.

Steve Baumgartner, Jamie Conrow and Jimmy Goodnight will be installing power lines and training residents in Yei, a city in Sudan near the equator with about 40,000 residents, on utility operations.

“First, we will wire stores and businesses, the places that affect the most people, and then houses, probably,” said Goodnight, noting that some residents have never seen electricity before.

Electricity would allow refrigeration of food and medications in Yei, Goodnight said.

“If you can improve someone’s way of life, that’s the reason to go,” he said.

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association organized the trip. The group first sent workers to Yei in 2003 to help rebuild after 20 years of civil war.

Volunteers already have installed generators and street lights in Yei.

Baumgartner, Conrow and Goodnight spent Thursday and Friday packing supplies, including their tools and ready-to-eat meals, for their flight on Saturday.

“We can’t ship the supplies, so we have to carry everything on the airplane,” said Vicki Kemna, director of communications for Boone Electric. “It’s made for interesting packing.”

Kemna noted that the utility also donated linemen tools that the men also had to bring on the airplane.

The men also collected used linemen’s boots that can be used by workers in Yei.

“In our line of work, you have to have boots,” Baumgartner said. “They are worth every penny.”

The three Boone Electric volunteers will return Feb. 4.

On Thursday, they didn’t know what to expect from their trip to Sudan, noting their only trips outside the U.S. until now had been to Mexico. Still, they said they were looking forward to the experience.

“Over here, we’ve pretty much got everything,” Goodnight said. “When we have an ice storm, people here are intolerant if their lights are out for one hour. For you to see people who’ve never had” electricity, “not even a light bulb, will be beneficial, just to see what they value and what their lives are like.”

(AP)