Saturday, July 2, 2011

In Electric Shock

The hospital is going through a renovation. Part of the renovation is the installation of a brand new, more powerful, generator. Everyone is really excited because it will be able to supply enough power to take an Xray and power the lights at the exact same time!!! The current generator can’t even produce enough power run two electric kettles at the same time.

Everyone around the hospital is high-fiving and celebrating. Soon we will have electricity for more than a few hours per day and more than two hours in the night. Think of all the activities we can do! So many activities!!!

Well, everyone WAS high-fiving and celebrating. . .until today, when we got a phone call from the main island that said that they had forgotten to put our fuel on the boat (which is arriving today). No fuel = no way to run the generator (the new one or the old one) = NO electricity until the next boat arrives. The boat, well it comes just once a month (and only if the weather is good). So no lights, no electric kettles, no xrays, no refrigeration for the immunizations (?), no fans, no nothing for 30 days. I hope if people get injured it happens during the day. And if babies decide to be born they wait until sunlight. If not, medical care will be done by candle light. [And the computer classes I teach will have to be moved to the high school next door, because they use solar power instead of relying on million year old plant and animal decomposed gooey matter.]

Also, no fuel means the hospital truck/ambulance and boat will remain idle. Looks like people should avoid getting sick this month and I should learn how to see in the dark.

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