Without power

Imagine an area the size of Cornwall, Devon and Dorset and up to 3 million people without any power for the foreseeable future. That is the situation we have found ourselves in this week. Since Sunday 3pm there has been no power in the entire region of Mbeya. The ‘step-down transformer’ (which apparently takes the power from the mainline at 800V down to the household amount of 220V) has blown and there is little prospect of getting a replacement (even a smaller one that would provide a fraction of the power – so regular on/off power cuts) before next Sunday!

Obviously many people in Africa live everyday without power, however, in the areas where people have begun to rely on electricity such a situation can cause big problems. Aside from all the problems of food storage (no fridges, freezers etc) and preparation (no cookers),plus no light, there are the bigger problems of hospitals and other basic facilities. Most of the essential services (like hospitals) have generators but these are not big enough to provide all their power needs and so they are all operating on a very reduced basis. This means many people are going without treatment when they really need it.

In light of all this, including our own projects needs (we can’t print or do many other important activities), please do pray for the people who are trying to fix the problem. The likely situation is that a new transformer will need to be shipped in from abroad and so this could be a very VERY long term problem. Please do pray that the situation will be resolved as quickly as possible and that in the meantime people will find satisfactory ways to continue working and living. Please also think of us as we adapt our lifestyle (including eating habits!) to compensate for this problem. Thank you.

The happy ending (or not so much an ending!) to the story is that people adapt. It has been amazing to see so many people, including ourselves, just getting on with life. Yes it’s frustrating at first but when there’s nothing you can do about it you learn to be flexible. It’s amazing to see so many happy people continuing their lives in the face of adversity.

p.s. the picture is of Matt queuing at the kerosene pump at the local petrol station... getting fuel for our little lantern!