JoAnn: Power Out

Posted 12:49 AM, July 03, 2006, by jaczecho

Today my friend Blas at the office asked me if my parents were still alive. Sign number one that you're either getting old (did he see my grays?), or you're in a developing country.

I think the average life expectancy here in Equatorial Guinea is in the fifties. This is result of many factors, including a tragic number of accidental electrocutions (poor wiring + torrential, puddle-forming rain). Yikes. Other cues given that this is indeed the developing world:

1.)The water that is supposed to run from 7 to 9 each morning has come for only two of the past six days. But I don't smell. Nope.
2.)Power outages. Last night I returned home from the office around 6:30 to find my family in a dark living room...

I located my trusty purple Mag-lite and sat out on my balcony reading by twi- then flash- light. The power goes out frequently, so everyone was ready with candles and old-fashioned Ebenezer Scrooge-style candleholders.

Candle in hand, I took little Bryan out onto my balcony and did what my family always did when the power went out: told stories. Starting these stories and hoping I could remember how they went, I told him about Goldilocks and the Three Bears (I didn't feel like explaining porridge so I called it soup instead), Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Bean Stock.

After exhausting my memory of those secular tales, I moved on to the ones I remembered from the "Jesus, Friend of Children," book my dad used to read to me. I told him "From dark to light" where Jesus helps the blind man see by smearing mud in his eyes. I told him about the miracle of the loaves and the fishes. When I started on David and Goliath, he stopped and shouted that he knew this one. Of course he does. Son of a preacher man! And boy could this little guy preach.

Emphatically describing David's bravery, pounding his teeny fist on the ground yelling "Fear God!" Even Jesus himself made an appearance in Bryan's version of this Old Testament story. Then we sang church songs. I taught him "Halle-halle-halle. Lu-u-yah!" Remember that one? He taught me one about Simeo, the man who helped Jesus carry his cross.

In addition to facilitating some intense host-brother bonding, power outages have another upside: candlelight is beautiful. I have an intricate wrought iron gate between my room and my balcony, and the balcony has its own stonework design. The soft candlelight cast the most exquisite shadows out onto the balcony. There was a quiet peace, no Reggeton concert on the radio below, no Nigerian movies blaring in the next room. Just gentle candlelight, sparkling in the evening.

I am fully aware of the fact that I am here only five weeks more, and so I classify these inconveniences as challenges contributing to my adventure. Knowing my host family will deal with intermittent light and water for the indefinite future prevents me from feeling annoyed that I can't wash my hair.

Oh, finally, here's something interesting about Malabo: the phonebook lists people alphabetically by first name! When I found my friend Aurelio, and threatened to call him on Saturday night, he collapsed in a chair laughing. The people here are enchanting.