Children in the African community of Yei had never seen electricity before.

"As far as the kids, they just kept looking at it. They couldn't really fathom what it was," said Jamie Conrow, one of the lineman.

These lineman worked for 24 days without power tools or utility vehicles to bring electricity to 200 people who had never experienced it before.

"They were just running around in it", said Jamie. "They would run outside and behind the trees and the shadows. They played with the light."

"I would venture to say that 99 percent of the people in the region we were at had no refrigeration, no washer dryer, no hot water," said Jimmy Goodnight, another lineman.

"The co-op was trying to teach them. "Hey, you can do this with it. You can do this with it." Not just lighting. Washing stuff. They only thought you could do lights with it," said lineman Steve Baumgartner.

The Boone Electric workers all returned to mid-Missouri and had to buy brand new tool belts because they left their old ones in Africa. They felt the people who they helped in Yei needed the tools and clothing more than they did, so they left behind their suitcases.

"That's about the only way to get tools to them. It's very hard to ship anything to southern Sudan so we took all of our tools with us and left them with the local co-op," Goodnight said.

"We take everything for granted," added Goodnight.

"A lot of people in the world who are less fortunate than we are and it was very rewarding," said Jimmy.

A reward that will now allow the people of Yei, Africa to climb higher.

On the toolbelts of Steve, Jamie and Jimmy, is something much more valuable than any wrench, these lineman carry compassion.

Boone Electric said the linemen also donated a week and a half of vacation time to bring power to the village of Yei.