If it ain’t one thing, then it’s another

This past week has been hell here in Tema. On Sunday, near about lunch time, the electricity went out. We have a name for it here in Ghana; it’s called “Lights Off.” During the daytime, it’s annoying, but you can live/deal with it. You can leave the house if it gets too hot, or have a shower to cool you down. At night time, it’s infinitely worse. There’s no ceiling fan or air conditioning, and there’s little or no breeze blowing in. You can only be “comfortable” if you sleep in the absolute barest minimum of clothes, i.e. your tighty whities. Even a lightweight sheet is too hot, and will soon be sweated through. As you’re lying in bed, awake because it’s too hot to sleep, you hear the droning and buzzing of mosquitoes near your head. All thoughts of possible sleep are dismissed. You’re not only hot, but you’re going to wind up with malaria.

We have a portable generator, so we had no intention of suffering with night time Lights Off. Well, that’s what we thought, anyway. Once a few hours had passed, we expected that this problem might be of longer duration than originally anticipated, so we went out and bought gasoline to power up the generator. Except that the battery wouldn’t turn over. No biggie. We jump started it and got it going. Except that the toggle switch wouldn’t work. Yeah, our generator could roar, but only with impotent rage.

So, Monday comes, and the kids trot off to school in wrinkled school uniforms, and Sly and I throw on whatever is not too wrinkled and race out the door soon afterward. No sense staying indoors when there’s no electricity. We head over to Prampram Beach and enjoy the cool ocean breezes (not to mention a couple of bottles of Star beer).

When we get home, we find that the situation has not improved. In fact, it’s worsened; now, not only no electricity, but no water. What that means is that we simply have to bucket bathe and for that we’ve got a barrel of water outside the house. Except that someone forgot to fill it the last time and it’s only half full. That means, absolutely only essential flushing, and no dish washing or clothes washing or non-essential (i.e. cooling off shower as opposed to a get rid of this stench shower) bathing.

Monday afternoon, finally around 3:30 pm, the lights come back on. Thank God for small favors. We can at least watch television and iron our clothes, and I can stop panicking about Alex’s insulin. Water is still off, but I’ve got a ton of clean dishes and we can just all have a quick single bucket bath before bedtime.

Tuesday morning and the water is finally turned back on. Yippee!! I’m up at 5:00 and doing dishes that have piled up in every nook and cranny (it’s amazing how much mess 5 people can make!) and even inside the oven. Meanwhile, I’ve got Sly standing outside in the dark refilling the barrel and a load of laundry running in the machine (school uniforms, natch). I really don’t trust the water company.

Later on, I learn that my distrust in Ghana Water Company is not misplaced. Sure enough, by noon, the water is turned back off. I have got a pile of dirty laundry that is taller than Mike. Around 3:00 pm, the electricity goes off. Again.

One thing that I really hate is not knowing why. I’d still be annoyed, but at least my anger would have a direction and not be so generalized. Sly tells me that he heard that a transformer blew out somewhere in Tema, and that all of Tema on this side of the main road has a problem. I’m not exactly comforted by that knowledge.

Tuesday evening as dusk falls, I figure we’re in for another night of lights off. We tried to reach an electrician to come and fix our generator except that his phone is shut off. We sit outside for a breeze, and watch as a storm comes in from the west which never reaches us. Just before we go to sleep, the lights come back on. Still no water, though, but at least our barrel is mostly full.

And that’s how it’s been all week long. Bouts of lights off, then water off, sometimes both off together – it’s scary if we can have a few hours where both are actually on. Even as I sit here now, Friday afternoon waiting for the kids to come home, the water has been turned off yet again.

As Rosanna Rosannadanna used to say on Saturday Night Live, “If it ain’t one thing it’s another.”