Chick in a Bucket

One of the things to which we've all had to adjust is the sporadic, or in some cases, the entire absence, of basic services such as electricity, water, sewage disposal and regular garbage pick ups.

Since August of 2006, residents have suffered with the Ghana government imposed "load shedding" program, whereby the electricity is switched off for 12 hours as a time, every other day. If you're lucky, as we are, you use a standby generator to, well, stand by. Ours is small, but plenty loud, with a decibel level not unlike three lawn mowers running simultaneously. And it's plenty expensive to run: it costs about $20 for 12 hours worth of gas. If we ran our generator each and every time the lights were off, we'd be spending on average $300 a month. Plus whatever we have to pay the Ghana Electric Company for their, ahem, kindness, which amounts to about $35 a month.

So, what we do, to save money, our sanity and our hearing (did I mention how LOUD the generator is?), we try to leave the house during day time lights off, so that during the hottest part of the day, we're out doing something else, like hitting the beach or playing football, it doesn't matter what, just something. When we get home we've (hopefully) only got an hour or so to wait for the lights to come back on. Basically, the money we'd have spent on gas for the generator goes to Star Beer for me and Sly and sodas for the kidlets.

When it comes to night time lights off, though, I can't live without A/C, or at the very very least, a ceiling fan. I know what you're thinking -- what a WUSS. Yes, I am.

There are two choices, as I see it, and neither of them involves me melting in a puddle of sweat. Either the generator gets filled, or we sleep somewhere where there IS electricity. Of late, that destination has been my brother-in-law's house in the exclusive area of East Legon, a suburb of Accra. It's a big lovely house, but it's lonely. It needs us. And (BONUS), they have lights off on a schedule exactly opposite us! If we're "lights off" on Sunday night, their house is "lights off" Sunday day. Works great and we can almost totally avoid "lights off" if we plan it right.

And there's even a well on the property, so we don't have to rely on the Ghana Water Company. I mean, the mess with our electricity is because our dam is too low. Helloooo! It's only a matter of time, the way I see it . So the well is, well, swell. The water just comes right up out of the ground. All the water you can ever need. There's only one "minor problem" -- the guest bathroom has no shower curtain.

I really hate bucket baths... I could never be an Amish (all you Witness fans will know what I'm referring to). I like, no, I need the water to come down on me all at once, in steady strong rivulets (oh, and hot water would be a big plus!). I want want Joan Crawford had (and all you Mommy Dearest fans will know what I'm referring to). Some day soon, I will have a shower like that.

But, when a bucket is all you've got, you deal with it, right? Right. Now, what I see as a burden, someone else sees as a blessing. A picture is worth a thousand words.



Oh, that "minor problem" I mentioned... well, I can fix that 1-2-3. The real question is, "Should I?" I guess not. Just another sacrifice a parent has to make for the sake of their kids happiness. Now, when do I get my stained glass window?