Hakuna Steama

Written Tuesday, September 16, 2008

One thing that is taking a little time to get used to is the frequent power outages that are popular to Fort Portal. Since arriving in FP the power has been off Tuesday evening, Thursday during the day, Friday evening, all day Sunday, Monday daytime and Tuesday daytime. Janis and I were warned before we came that there are rotating electricity cuts so the occurrence doesn’t come as a surprise. What is challenging is adapting our lives and schedules to having no electricity. Take cooking for example. Our stove/oven is electric so we can only use it when there is power. Fortunately we also have two counter top burners that are run off of gas. Unfortunately the gas canister is empty. We’ve been trying to trade it for a full one, but the gas station hasn’t had any for a week. Today we’re hoping that they have some more in. So with no means to cook, we’ve been eating out a lot. I’m really looking forward to being able to cook for myself regardless as to whether or not there is electricity.

Something else that is a challenge is computer use. The office where we work has a generator so there’s power for my laptop. Except today because the generator was out of fuel. Once more fuel was purchased, the generator wasn’t working so a mechanic had to be brought in to look at it. I feel very fortunate because my computer’s battery lasts for a long time so I can work even with no power. I just need to make sure that I take every opportunity to charge it. Last night I made the mistake of running it off of battery power even though there was electricity. I didn’t think it would be a problem because I was expecting to be able to plug it in at the office this morning only to find there was no power.

I know that eventually I will get used to having no electricity. And I don’t want to complain about the lack of power, so this is the last that you’ll hear about it from me. The title of this posting comes from my time in Kenya. At MCF when there was no power, they’d always say “Hakuna steama” (no electricity) – something I’ve been thinking a lot these last few days.