During my electricity withdrawal I learned how very much I depend on electricity throughout my day:
- Cooking – thankfully we have a stove with both electric and gas burners so we were able to cook up the food that would have been wasted in the refrigerator
- Snacking – no microwave popcorn
- Showering – we don’t have an external water heater – the shower head heats the water:
- Coffee making – again thankful for the gas stove to boil water for instant coffee
- Freezer – no ice cubes
- Water cooler – no cold water – room temperature water and Coke Light
- Refrigerator – we had to throw away a few items (items that couldn’t be cooked like mayo) and leave the frig open…it started to smell
- Entertainment – no Seinfeld or House episodes and no movies
- Yoga – no tv, computer for Yoga DVD’s
- Email – no keeping in touch with the “outside” world
- Website – no updating photos, blog or project information – this involves a lot of my day and was the most difficult to “lose”
- Photo readiness – no computer so no getting photos uploaded and published on the website/blog
- Social Networking – another way to stay in touch with family and friends
Most of these activities were grounded (except for the gas cooking) from Monday morning until electricity resumed Wednesday evening. As we drove home Wednesday evening we began seeing lights in people’s houses – yipee! We thought electricity has come home, thank you Lord. Driving closer to home we still noticed lights and I felt like a kid at Christmas but I knew what the gift would be…electricity! Then we rounded the corner near home and saw our neighbors with lights…except one. I said, hopefully, “maybe he’s just gone for the evening?” Very unlikely and coming to our compound we found it completely black, crazy dark.
Chuck and I proceeded to unpack the truck, get stuff ready for the next day and decide what to do about our dead batteries. We thought maybe spending the night in Nairobi to charge everything up, but then we found out the Academy had electricity! I packed up all my stuff (computer, iPod and phone) ready to go to school in the morning and recharge. Just after I got things packed the electricity blinked a few times then began humming consistently…then I was praying we didn’t overload it with all our gadgets plugged in and charging!
It was the most time we’ve been without electricity since our move here and I learned I could survive without it, although I don’t particularly like it and major adjustments would have to be made. God was always in control though so, really, what else could I have done but enjoy the time in my electricity-less world!? I thank God for the time He spent with me in the quiet, no electricity time and I also thank Him for spending time with me in the worship listening, blog writing times.