Power Outage

Just before noon today, the power suddenly went out. At first, it seemed like one of those brief interruptions I’ve gotten used to—off for a minute or two, then back on like nothing happened. But around noon, it went out again and stayed off until nearly 2:00 PM. That two-hour stretch was the longest outage I’ve experienced since arriving here.

With no electricity, I couldn’t use any of the kitchen appliances to make lunch. So I headed over to the Simba Center, where I grabbed a chicken pot pie and picked up a few groceries from our running list. Not ideal, but at least it gave me a reason to get out for a bit.

Later in the evening, after dinner, my wife and I were looking forward to winding down with a cup of African tea. I had just started washing the dishes when—once again—the power cut out. The water was still running, but I couldn’t even see the faucet to turn it off. My wife helped by turning on the flashlight on my phone so I could finish cleaning up in the dark. About 10 or 15 minutes later, the lights flickered back on.

When the power goes out, the internet goes with it, which can be frustrating. It’s manageable during the day thanks to the natural light, but once the sun sets, the house turns pitch black. No light, no connection, just silence and shadows.

Hopefully tomorrow brings fewer interruptions. Power is something you don’t think about—until you suddenly don’t have it.