One of the rainy seasons in Bunia is March- June, but this has been a very dry rainy season. Only 2 short rains (each lasting less than half an hour) since I arrived two weeks ago. And it is hotter than usual, getting into the mid-80’s when it is normally in the high 70’s. (June is supposed to be the coldest month of the year, but that means mid 60’s at night, and mid 70’s during the day.) I can’t complain about the temperature, it really is pretty moderate given that Bunia is 1 degree north of the equator. But the drought continues, and many here are subsistence farmers, with plots outside town, and many crops have been lost.
The lack of rain is serious for us too, and serious because we currently have no power. We lost power during the night last Wednesday and were initially told that the outage would last to the weekend. But now we are being told that the breakdown is quite bad, and it could take some time to fix. (Possibly a month or longer…) There is a gold mining operation not too far away that depends on the same power plant for their electricity, and in that there is hope. They will exert pressure to get the problem fixed, but getting parts can be difficult, so sometimes even pressure doesn’t make it happen any faster. There are three generators at the power plant, but only one is operational, so when it breaks, there is no power. The University is running on generator for part of the day, but after many days, they are starting to have problems too. Right now, the university is rationing laptop plug- in usage in the library to graduating students, so they can get their thesis done. (The advent of laptops has been a boon for the university, as students can work on battery power through short outages, which happen every day, but batteries only last so long and have to be recharged.) And adding to that, the school’s internet was migrated onto a new satellite by their service provider, and the provider does not have enough band width for its customers. So the best we can get with the internet right now is email, and even that is problematic. No ability to access the internet otherwise, so I am dependent on the five minute BBC news that comes over a short wave radio to know what is going on in the world. I miss reading the New York Times on-line, and for those of you who know my passion for reading obituaries, I am feeling a bit bereft!
With no power, there is no pumping of the University’s well, so we have no ‘dirty’ water coming into our home, that is, the water used for showering and washing. (Those in NJ with well water are familiar with no electricity = no water, given Hurricane Sandy last fall.) We are relying on the tank of collected rain water for all our water needs. It is nearly half full with about 650 gallons. As drinking water, 650 gallons will last a long time, but we now need to use that for washing and showering, and with the dry season approaching and the need to conserve our drinking water until the rains come again in September, we are on strict water rationing. (I am already dreaming of a long, hot shower, and I need to get over it, as it may be a long, long time…)
And then the Witmer’s generator conked out! It was being run a few hours a day to connect to email and heat the water OR run the refrigerator OR use one burner on the stove (it can only really power one thing, plus provide lights and recharge our computers, cell phones and for me, my Kindle.) The Witmer’s leave for the US in ten days, and then I will be here by myself for another 7 weeks, so okay, yes I am starting to get a bit nervous! Ted borrowed a generator today, so we have power again at the house for 7 hours a day (morning, and three hours in the evenings which is just about the minimum needed to keep the food cold enough not to spoil -well, that and the fridge is wrapped well in a blanket). I am only writing this now because the computer I am working on for the accounting project is older and only has a three hour battery, so I am out of power until the generator is powered up to recharge it. I am concerned because if the power does not come back on, I have no way to get gasoline for the generator myself. I am sure the Witmer’s will assign someone to look in on me, but still… I already don’t know how I will communicate with Kwienie, the cook, or Nguana, the outside man, as neither speaks a word of English. I have learned a bit of French and even a few words of Swahili, but not enough to say anything that makes sense. However, I am finding that many at the University speak some English, far more than I expected, so I am going to hold on to that as my comfort right now. I am sure it will work out one way or another, but I am gaining in my appreciation and admiration for people who come to the US and have to navigate our largely ‘English only’ culture…
God is in this, too, so I am not alone! I accompanied Dana to see one of the support group leaders today , and it was humbling to see how a Congolese family lives. If I never have any gasoline to run the generator, I am living in a palace. No open door to let the mosquitos in, or the roosters, and we still have running water, so my lips are sealed of complaint this evening!
A bientôt
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