Kaboom!!!

9 April 2010

I probably should have mentioned an innate understanding of how power works in my "you know you're in Tanzania when..." post recently. Never in the States did I know so much about transformers, power grids, and the necessary components of hydro-electric power. True, I went through the hydro-electric plant at Lake MI when I was little, but somehow things make a bigger impression when the power turns off due to a drought - and you're not just swimming in wonderfully warm bath water on the beach in Michigan!

We're currently on our two-week "fall break," if you think of it in terms of our seasons. I still think of it as spring. So when I went over to school yesterday to Skype-call a dear friend, I was surprised when no power was on. I assumed it had just gone off as I traversed the road crossing to school, but the power was still on at home when I returned later on. Soon I got a message from my supervisor at school saying, "I went to work for a couple of hours and was greeted with a huge boom and shattering lights. Transformer blew outside the school compound and sent a massive surge and blew lights and circuits up. Poor Costa (one of our amazing Tanzanian worker-friends) was hit by falling light fixtures... got to try and get things fixed before school starts on Monday."

I'm counting our blessings. Thankfully the boom was at school, and not throughout the whole city. Last year the city of Dar was out of power for over a week during the hot season after an incident similar to this that affected EVERYONE. It sounds like it was absolutely miserable! In the meantime, I'm thankful for external internet sources, for POWER (ceiling fans are amazing, literally!), and for my roommates being home again. And I'm trying not to let that sinking "end of vacation" feeling get me down over my last weekend...