Fans!!!

After my electrician took three days for this father's funeral, as is the muslim tradition, he came back and finished the job. I had a meeting in another village while he was doing the work, but he apparently had to crawl around in my ceiling a lot and spent about 3 or 4 hours working on my messed up wiring. But, when I got home, I had working fans and lights!!! I never gave fans enough credit when I was home. They are the most amazing things in the world! It's sooo nice to sleep under a ceiling fan now. The lights attract bugs, but are useful sometimes, but its the fans that I am incredibly grateful for.

Also, Nicole asked about my garden. Well, we planted some yams, corn, and carrots, but after a very windy night, the goats got into my garden and ate the corn that had started growing. So, I think we'll have to replant the corn, but I have high hopes. We are also nursing tomatoes, peppers, and onions, but that isn't going great either. I think the onions won't make it but maybe the tomatoes and peppers will be okay.

Finally, thanks for all the clinic donations so far! Only about $1,000 to go. You guys are great, keep spreading the word about it.

LIGHTS!!!

That's right, I finally got electricity! On wednesday evening they came and hooked up the electricity on my village. I've never seen my community so excited. The MP (Member of Parliament) for my district came for the event and gave a little speech on the night that they hooked it up and then the whole village ran back to their houses to see if their lights were working. Most of them were, but since then, there has been a steady stream of electricians flowing through the village fixing problems with people's wiring. Since my house was wired over 5 years ago and has been sitting in poor shape since, I was worried as I walked back to find out if everything was working. Let me tell you, I had reason to worry. Unfortunately, only one light in my house works and it is the outside security light. And, none of my fans work. All of my outlets seem to be working though.

The first electrician that came to look at it said he would have to enter the ceiling to find the problem but he thought he was too heavy and would break the ceiling (but I'm pretty sure he really just didn't want to dirty his clothes), so he left. The second one wouldn't enter the ceiling that day because of his clothes and it was getting a little late. But, he came back the next day and put on some sweats and climbed all around in my ceiling. Unfortunately, he couldn't figure out the exact problem because a pole burned in a nearby village and we didn't have electricity most of that day. In the afternoon, he came back and told us his father had just died and he had to go immediately. So, he will be with his family for a few days and then come back to hopefully finish the job.

Eventually, I hope to have working fans and lights, but for now it is nice to be able to charge my phone and plug things in. Also, in my lack of faith in actually getting lights, I had left most of my electronic stuff and my adaptor in Tamale for when I am here. So, when I get back I will have an adaptor and at least be able to plug in the fan Aunty Cindy sent me, which will make me very very happy.