No Electricity for a week!!

Anne 101 and more energy than most 60 year olds!

6 Feb Mon - Normal day. Mainly trying to work out how we run the poly for 9 months with twice the number of students and 25% of the cash until September when the Ministry contribution (75% of our income) for this year is expected to come in. Trying to find that magic fix it button on my spreadsheet!!. In the evening had my weekly visit to my Kenyan family to give Alex his computer lesson. One or two of the family wanted a photo of them sat on the motorbike. The granny (101 years old) was nearby so I suggested she sit on. 3 of the chaps lifted her on to lots of hilarity. Then I started the engine before she could complain and did a little circuit of the farmyard. Very slowly and carefully. She loved it and was grinning from ear to ear. – Her first time on a motorbike at 101 years old!!   Sadly the memory card in the camera had become dislodged so there are no photos. Not sure will persuade her to get on it again!!

In the evening on Sunday I had noticed the electricity was off which happens about every couple of weeks for a few hours so I thought nothing of it. Back home tonight it was still off. On checking it is because the Orphanage has not and cannot pay its bill so we have been cut off. Speaking to Carla a paediatric nurse who is here for 2 weeks and volunteered here for 6 months last year it was off for 3 months then!! So no running water and now no electricity – Well I did want the real Kenyan experience!! Main problem is laptop charging and trying to read by kerosene lamp. But hey Flexibility and Adaptability as VSO keep telling us!! It is quite fun at the moment really ansd a bit novel. Not sure I will be quite so pragmatic in 3 months.

7 Feb Tues – “Laid” the bike down today (gently – a bit careless on loose sand/gravel). The bike struggles to start now for some reason and there seems to be an electrical fault. Could be fun sorting that out. In the meantime my right leg will get plenty of exercise with the kickstart. It always gets there in the end but it does take some time. Any ideas out there??

8 Feb Weds – Met a nice chap,  Ivan, at a phone credit store and realised he knows the chap (Sam) who runs the internet café today, a good chat and he was even impressed with my Kiswahili (or was he just being polite?).

10 Feb Friday – Still trying to sort the electric fault which is causing the starting problems on the bike but my right leg is getting stronger by the day. Need to try sitting backwards on the bike to start it to balance out the strength in the left leg J

Waited for a plumber due at 4pm to fix my shower and WC. The shower has never worked but when cleaning the other day I turned the knob and water started flowing but would not turn off until the 4000 litre tank emptied (one way to get the shower/WC clean!!). At 530pm I decided he was not coming. (later found out he forgot and rearranged for 10 am Saturday). Went shopping for stuff for the weekend and met Ivan and Sam outside a café so dropped in there for an hour of chatting etc which was a great end to the week.

On the way up there one of the ladies on a market stall was struggling with the tarpaulin on her stall me being tall could deal with it easily. She was facing away from me as I flicked the canopy over and when she turned she screamed and ran off much to the hilarity of her friends on other stalls. The shock of a white man caught her out apparently. She recovered and we had a laugh about it later. 

11 Feb Saturday – Lazy day. Temperature around 35 degrees and the main part of the day it was oppressive so chilled out reading etc. Still no electricity and my laptop phone and ipod have all died. I brave the heat to walk to a friend’s house who has electricity but after 2km in the sun I found out he was not in. 2km back and after drinking a pint of water flaked out asleep. I am all for the European siesta culture, very civilised! Later for entertainment I made chapattis (my best yet) even the kids came back for more this time. That is always a good test of my cooking. They are very honest with their feedback usually.  Later dropped in on Carla and Carol (the Vision Africa former volunteers who are here for 2 weeks) they were having a lesson in Kikuyu dancing from the boys so I joined in and tried to move on from my Dad dancing meets thunderbird puppet impression. Failed miserably but amused everyone else!!