Hakuna petroli

The latest problem to hit our island... no petrol. With the increased demand due to petrol generators and water pumps, there is a constant strain on the supply of petrol and the fear that it could run out at any time.

We have already had a week or so without diesel earlier on in the power outage and as of the middle of last week, there is now hakuna petroli (no petrol). Occasionally there is a delivery to one or other petrol station, but there is not enough petrol to go around and scenes of chaos generally ensue at these petrol stations. The pictures below were taken going past a petrol station that had a delivery that afternoon.

Here you can see the queue along the side of the road to the petrol station in the distance.

This was the scene on the station forecourt; cars jammed into every available space and people with cans and containers surrounding the pumps desperate to get what petrol they can.

At the front of this picture there is a guard with a gun. This seems to be standard procedure at the moment for petrol deliveries using the threat of violence to try and control the chaos.

Having spoken to friends who have business in town, the current situation is making business very slow. There seem to be less tourists around at the moment and as they make up such a huge part of the economy here, local businesses are suffering.

No news is not necessarily good news!

Six weeks into the power cut and we are still none the wiser as to when to expect the power back. I mentioned in a previous post that we would be looking into solar options. Well we did and having been quoted between 2.5 and 5 thousand pounds for a system that would run a couple of fans and the fridge for 4 hours a day, we decided to stick with the less green, but definitely cheaper, alternative of the generator. We did however invest in an inverter and a couple of massive batteries so that we can store some generator power during the day and sleep with a fan on at night. I'm sure that it's difficult for many of you back home to imagine right now what an enormous blessing this is to us but it is the difference between a restful nights sleep and waking up in a cool, dry bed or a restless nights sleep and waking up in a puddle of sweat (no joke).

Unfortunately, in the last couple of weeks our water delivery efforts have been forced to a stop. To begin with the van broke, requiring a new part that we couldn't get here on the island. Thankfully our team leader was in Germany at the time and was able to bring the necessary part back and the van is back in working order (apart from the rear windscreen which Rich smashed by driving into an open window at our friends house!) However, throughout the water delivery project, the water pump has been somewhat delicate and temperamental and finally last week ground to a halt. After several days working on the engine it was concluded that the pump would not work again. This left us with a dilemma; whilst we have enough money to cover the day to day running costs of the project (i.e. fuel) we definitely didn't have enough money to buy a brand new water pump. However, we discovered that someone, somewhere (maybe the American's?) is giving money to people who are distributing water for free to enable them to buy equipment - fantastic! So now we have a brand new water pump and hoses and are back delivering water around the town. Isn't it great how God provides?!

We have no idea when to expect power back and we hear that when it does come back it will be rationed. All we have to go on is rumours and gossip and we are learning not to listen to them as it gets your hopes up! No one who, one would expect, knows anything is saying anything so we are just persevering and lowering our expectations of power returning to our island anytime in the near future.

Eclipse.

Having done some calculations, Rich's Dad informed us some time ago that an eclipse of some sort would be visible from our part of the world today as the sun rose.

So we got up at silly o'clock, made a cup of tea and went up onto our neighbours roof in order to catch a glimpse. Sadly however, although we watched the sun rise, we saw no evidence of an eclipse.

Later in the morning we had a call from our team leader to say that the partial eclipse was now visible. Rich took a couple of photo's and in this one (taken through my sun glasses) you can see what was going on.

Everyone is now walking around seeing dark spots from having looked directly at the sun...

Doesn't look good...

I have already mentioned in a previous post that rumours are flying around in these days of no electricity.
I received an e-mail yesterday from a friend who has a 'reliable' source informing us that it is unlikely that we will have power restored before the end of March.
Throughout these last four weeks without power, we have been constantly trying to weigh up the benefits of investing in alternative power supplies, for example solar, but as this would be such a massive investment, we didn't want to spend out only to find the power back within a week. We have now decided that we need to think of a different solution to the generator. It is costing us personally around 3 times as much to run a generator (it is only on for 9 hours a day and we share the cost with our neighbours) than we spend on normal electricity, and we will soon come to the point when it is unsustainable. If there are any experts out there on alternative energy sources then please let us share in your wisdom!!

Another problem we have encountered just today is that the van we have been using to distribute water broke; something to do with the gears. Please pray that we are able to sort it out soon and get on with distributing water to those who really have desperate need of it.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wadudu.

One of the challenges we face everday is keeping the many wadudu (insects) at bay. They get everywhere. There are tiny, little ants that seemingly come from nowhere and there are bigger ants that swarm over your feet when you step outside and have been known to bite. There are mossies and sandflies (who I personally feel have the worst bite) and probably a gazillion others that I haven't mentioned. Today I was about to make some pitta bread (no electricity = no oven or bread maker so I am trying to be a bit creative with my cooking) and was just about to mix the flour and the other ingredients when I noticed this...

What you are seeing (and you will need to look closely) is a very fine sieve after sieving the flour. The darker brown blobs are wadudu a little bit like ants and the stringly like bits are the lavae. GRIM! It did lead me to wondering how often we eat these guys without knowing of their presence... probably best not to think about it too much though!!

Some Christmas Highlights...

This year, we decided that it would be nice to get away over Christmas, so when our friends Tony and Cath who live on the mainland invited us to spend a few days with them, we jumped at the chance (particularly given the lack of electricity here!). We flew to the mainland on 22nd and then headed to their place on Christmas eve. Sadly, Cath had to head back to the UK a couple of days before we arrived, but she had left things extremely well organised and Tony was an excellent host to us. We haven't eaten so well in a long time and enjoyed roast lamb (Rich was a very happy boy!), roast chicken as well as a couple of BBQ's and plenty of bacon! Rich and Tony also managed to fit in a couple of rounds of golf at the local 9 hole golf course while I sat back and read undisturbed :)

Here are a few photo's of our Christmas highlights from this year...
Some visitors from the UK brought out a special Christmas cheese selection which we had been saving to take away with us, however given the lack of power here and the fact that our fridge cannot survive on just a few hours of generator power a day, the cheese started to expire. Here is Rich enjoying this special treat. (How big is his smile?!)


I decided this year that we would have a local style tree decorated in our lounge. This is a Baobab tree which has been made from banana plant leaves. You can see that this year we had lots of parcels arriving before Christmas (unlike last year when they all arived afterwards - African post...) from family and friends. We were blessed with all sorts of exciting bits and pieces, including more chocolate which I am trying to reconstitute in the fridge at the moment!!

One unexpected effect of the power shortage is that the internet has been pretty fast lately (I guess most people have no power to get online) so we have been able to have some good conversations on Skype for a change. This picture is taken during our chat with James, Anna and Will who made us our very own snowman!!

Christmas lunch with all the trimmings!! We had crackers, stuffing, bread sauces, chipolatas, Christmas pud, custard, mince pies, cream, roast potatoes, chicken.... (not necessarily in that order.)

One of Rich's highlights was being able to watch the footie on a decent sofa. Here he is enjoying watching Man U (eventually) thrash Hull City Doesn't he look comfortable?!

This evening we are heading out with our friends to the outdoor food market to see how they celebrate New Years Eve here. Apparently they will have Pashpashi (fireworks I think...) at midnight and if it's like any other celebration here it will be jam-packed with people.

Happy Christmas and New Year to you. I am slightly in awe of just how quickly 2009 has passed and all the incredible things God has done with and for us over the last year. I am excited to see what 2010 brings us!