Powerless in Soyo

As I make the postings on my blog, I am very aware….as my son Justin says…..once anything is out in the internet….you can never get it back….and so I do my best to make all entries honest and yet positive……and I’m sure by the end of this one, there were be enough opportunities to make this at least with some humor…..

Since November we have been having difficulty with our power supply.  Don’t know what the cause is but there have been power outages for several hours at a time…..and without warning…and most of the time this also means there is no water…..so a double whammy……but it always comes back on and we move forward. 

Yesterday, however, suddenly around noon the power went off and remained off for several hours, came back on….for about 5 minutes and then off again for several hours.  After 3 hours of no power and water, I called one of the other wives here, Ana, just to make sure she was having the same issues and it wasn’t just something on our street…..but all of Kimbumba was out of power and water.  I had to stop the quilting I was trying to finish as gifts….and since with no power there is also no air conditioning…..of course…..and no phone and no internet…..this did allow me to read for a while and do other things….and I had Praise music on my IPad to keep me encouraged.

Throughout the afternoon the power came back on for a minute or less several times and I took the opportunity to flush the toilets and get a big pan of water to wash hands…… I finally turned off the praise music with the songs about taking difficulties and trials and turning them into something wonderful as this was not working for me at that time……. It’s one thing to sing about it but another to live with the continuation of it for hours…..and I know that I sound like a baby…..but being honest….

Finally, Bryan arrived home at 7pm, he was so surprised….”We have no power?” he asked and I tried to be cheerful as the power had been off nearly 7 hours by then….had candles in the living room and bathrooms….which had great ambiance….but since these are decorative candles and so don’t really put out much light…..and the house does not have screens so we couldn’t open the windows for a cross breeze….but then it is the hot season now and so was still hotter outside than in……so we pulled out the two mini flash lights and after we talked for a bit and had something to drink, I tried to go and make some dinner…..but you don’t want to open the freezer or fridge much because we must not lose our food…..since it is the rainy season and the stores are beginning to have empty shelves again…..and I had a roast out for the crock pot….but no power means no crock pot…..so I pulled out hamburgers and cooked them on the stove with a mini flashlight literally in my teeth to be able to see what I was doing……and it worked…..and after we ate….with no water, we were unable to wash the dishes…so just rinsed them lightly with the water I had put aside for washing hands….and headed to bed…..but without air conditioning, it took a longer to fall asleep in the heat….

Sometime during the night the power did come on to our home and we were able to sleep more comfortably until 5 when I get up to fix breakfast for Bryan before he goes to work.  I had ants all over the stove….but now had water so could clean and things were looking up…..I got ready for my day after Bryan left and began to sew again when at 8 o’clock the power went off again and we start another day of wondering if there will be any power throughout the day.

I called Ana to see if she had power and she did not.  I then walked over to see Cindy who had just returned from the USA and she did have power.  We chatted for a while….she had no power all night and it just came on at 8 in the morning.  So when she had returned from the flight yesterday until this morning…no power, no water…..you get it…..  We then walked across the street to another house where there is a new couple, Nate and Alma.  Alma was there….no power since it went off yesterday and still none until 10 AM while we were there visiting.  The water was back on this morning and that was great!!!

I heard from Bryan….as he has internet at the plant….and apparently there is some problem…..someone else said a software problem…and so they can only use two of the generators which is not sufficient for all the power needs in our housing area, Kimbumba, so the plan is to rotate around the houses to keep the freezers cold…..2 hours at a time for the homes.  I’m now at 10 ½ hours without power….hmmmm….. we will see how this rotation plan works.

It was interesting that two of the ladies said someone came to their door around 8:30 last night and asked if they wanted to move to the hotel…..no one came to Alma, Debbie’s or my home. 

Cindy, such a smartie, said that she had moved in the garden solar lamps….great idea….dusted the dirt off and put them in the house for light….they last about 12 hours…..smart lady…..we will do that tonight if the power is still off.

Now of course, the rumors begin…..we have heard that there are three groups working on the problem and specific technical people are coming to help with the issues…..but the rumor is that they are coming by road…..remember the rains????  The road is not really passable…..so I think this rumor is wrong…..or hope it is.

So I’m thinking…..I have this roast sitting for two days in the refrigerator and am wondering not only if it will last…..but how to cook it?  Most of the local meat we get at “the brown store”….seriously that’s what we call it…..is usually tough and I’d check on line to see how to brine it…or if you can brine beef to make it softer…we do that with local chicken and pork but this is a large roast and so I don’t know what will happen if I leave it in salt water for some time and I don’t want to heat up the fridge with the placement of water and so I don’t know what I can do with this meat…..but…can’t check because with no power, the internet is down …..so….

We wives have decided that if the power is still off at 4pm…we are going to make this the time to tell our husbands we are going out for dinner tonight….nothing fancy…after all, this is Soyo….but at least no cooking by feel and flashlight.

The sewing????  Just have to let it go till I can resume…..and today I have put on the praise music again.