Blackout

I don't know if this made international news, but electricity in the whole of Zimbabwe (except for one province) and in most of Zambia was out since last night. A bit worrying... but now it's back - at least downtown (where we are at work). Our electricity at home has actually been off since Sunday. It finally came on last night - and we enjoyed 10 minutes - and then it was off - but not just for our neighbourhood, not just for the capital city - but for almost the whole country! That can't be a good sign of things to come!!!! I was getting a little worried - see without power, there's no running water, and without power, the boreholes in our neighbourhood don't work. So I was wondering how we were going to get water, and panicking that we were going to die of thirst! Sometimes my active imagination is not helpful. Anyway, I found out that the SBA (top business guy at Salvation Army) is working on a plan to hook up SALT College's generator to the borehole on our compound so that our neighbourhood will be able to access water.That would be good! I love water so much! I guess things will just keep getting worse in the country. It's so sad...

I don't actually mind not having much electricity, but having some is good - so we can email, wash our laundry, charge our computer/lamp, etc. We bought some sugarcane gel at lunch which powers our little stove. This means that we can cook - inside. I'm not so keen on the firewood thing, and I'm ashamed to admit that that probably makes me a snob. It takes a long time, it's bad for the environment, and it's raining almost every day, so the wood is usually wet anyway. Actually, people are concerned for us in a kind way. I was carrying 2 buckets of water from the borehole on Sunday and so many people offered to help me. I was going to try one on the head - but the water was just too precious to me at that point!

Water and electricity - two things I am most thankful for. But especially water. Have I mentioned that I love it?