Electricity

Tuesday: Our training room is reasonably large, and Ingrid is raising her voice and making sure that all can hear her clearly. And, she's getting concerned about losing her voice. No problem - they have a sound system.

But, someone chopped off the power plug, so we just have 2 wires to plug into the wall. Given that this is British style 220V -- enough to kill a sweaty white guy, I'm a little reluctant to plug it directly into the wall. I find an extension cord, some tape, and get something that works. No problem.

I've seen lots of outlets just hanging out the the wall. Remember, this is 220V, and kids are everywhere.

Then speakers. All the connections are broken, but Joseph finds some wire, strips it with his teeth and kind of wraps it around the terminals. No problem.

Next, microphones. They're wireless. We find a matching set from the "junk box" and it sort of works. Find a channel on the sound system that works, set the wires in a place where they actually connect, and voila. we have sound. No problem.

Hand the microphone to Ingrid and its all good! After 2 minutes, the power drops out, and the fan stops turning. Ah well, these things happen here, put the microphone down and carry on. No problem.

After 30 minutes, the fan starts turning and we can hand the microphone back to Ingrid. No problem.

After 15 minutes, the battery dies. Lots of spare batteries in the junk box. None of them work. Problem. We concede defeat for the day.

Wednesday: We get a battery (about 2 days wages for a market vendor -- but hey, this is Ingrids voice we're trying to protect), and this is going to be good! We re-find the microphone, reconnect the speakers (they no longer work right), remove the keyboard someone connected and eventually find the position in which the wires work. Victory!!

Twenty minutes later the power goes out, and is spotty for the rest of the day. This is bizarre. At lunch we go out and see some very resourceful people doing some serious transmission repair. I see no tools, but hey, this is Africa. I see a small welder, with at least 100 feet of wire, spliced twice heading into the kitchen. In the kitchen, they've pulled the main fuse out the main box, and just wired in the welder. Remember this is 220. I watch him weld without glasses ... everytime he draws an arc, the power in the building drops out.

I'm curious and walk to where the power comes into the building -- the wire is hanging 4 feet from the ground. I wonder how many kids get hurt by power here.

Thursday: Its almost 1. Haven't seen power yet today. But I have a new theory. Yesterday, on the way here, we saw a truck with 10 guys and 1 utility pole. Was told they work for the electricity provider. My theory is they got the pole up, and have disconnected the wires so they can work. And its pretty hot today, so they are probably resting. Since people don't really expect the power to work, they figure this is probably fine.