POWER!

Well now what an interesting couple of days we have had. The theme for the start of this blog is POWER! This is because we had a powercut which started at midnight on Sunday night and eventually came to an end at midnight on Monday night! That’s the story in a sentence. This is the story with warts and all. Lynda and I woke up in a complete sweat on Sunday night wondering why our fan wasn’t working and why the light from the bathroom which emits a comforting nightlight hue to our little children, had gone off. “Looks like a powercut” says I. (My application for Brain of Kenya probably needs a bit of work). Lynda was hyperventilating because of the heat and subsequently didn’t sleep. In typical male fashion I rolled over and tried to get to sleep which was a struggle and I was a raging insomniac for about 3 minutes. I woke up at about 7ish wondering why the power hadn’t come back on. Normally powercuts last for a couple of hours and are a minor inconvenience unless you are working at a computer and haven’t pressed the save button in a while, in which case it’s a global catastrophe on a par with the Wall Street Crash.

So we went through our normal morning routine , ‘Wait a minute – can’t have toast for breakfast – no toaster’ Never mind – cereal it is then! Halfway through breakfast I realise that we can’t wash up afterwards as the electric kettle needs something called electricity to work. So to summarise so far, no kettle, no fans, no toaster, no oven to cook Lynda and Mikey’s rolls, not allowed to open the fridge of freezer, no lights, no hot water, nothing to charge laptops for homeschool or kindles for reading. By this time our minds were starting to play tricks on us. I kept seeing the fan moving … only it wasn’t, it  was just that I had hoped it would. Lynda was not pleased at teatime because the water pump which pumps water into the apartment had died and so we just about managed to shower the kids with the remaining cold water.

And so with great British resolve we managed to cook a little bit of dinner and prepare candles for an evening’s lack of electricity. So feeling full and with the apartment looking like a Catholic mass we managed to resign ourselves to the fact that we were entertainment less and so we managed to use up the kindles power supply and read till the massively late time of 9pm. Then went to bed praying that the power would be back on later. We woke to the sound of the fan in our room going at midnight –and me singing another rendition of the Hallelujah chorus, albeit quietly so as not to wake our kids.

It really makes you appreciate something simple like an electricity supply. I’m not sure I can imagine a similar situation at home. School’s probably would shut, the economy would suffer, complaints would fire in – I’m sure it would be the subject of a Jeremy Kyle show. Then I got to thinking of all those people close to living to where we are now who have no electricity and no water all year round, those that want it but will never be able to afford it. You end up oscillating between chastising yourself for being selfish and trying not feel guilty for being brought up in the West. Anyway, we survived the blackout and when the power came back on we were truly thankful to God for something so basic as electricity. It was a reminder of all that God has provided for us in responding to His call on our lives in this place.

On to lighter things. We did our first baking today! Lynda and I made enough banana cake to feed the British Army. It was the nicest food I have ever tasted. This is a major break through as cooking can sometimes be a bit difficult. A cake, made to Delia’s standards with a hint of Jamie and frisson of Hugh Fearnly Whittingstall was topped with Lynda’s own brand of fudge icing. As you can tell from the description out tums are feeling decidedly better. Everyone knows the cure for an upset stomach is banana cake.  The upturned glass in a bowl of water is our ant defence system!

I have started to build relationships with some of the teachers who have been really friendly. It seems as though they are welcoming and I can’t wait to get a bit more stuck in. Getting your head round an education system which is so different will take some time but I’m up for a challenge. I was asked if I’d like to be put on the preaching rota for church. How do you answer that question without sounding like you can’t wait! I managed it though.