Solar Troubles

Sunday was one of those days. Everything seemed to be going wrong, and yet – it was okay. I had planned to meet with the wife of one of my fellow teachers. She wanted me to see her church [last week I went to a friend’s church and now EVERYONE is upset that I haven’t been to theirs]. Getting to her house in the morning though she didn’t seem to be there. Neither was the teacher. Mmmm. It took 20 minutes for their children to tell me that they had actually left yesterday to visit a sick patient ‘kwanu’ (at their original home). But I went to church anyway – with one of the students staying with them. We walked about 5k to a United Methodist Church that was in the middle of nowhere … just behind a little hill. Gorgeous. But it turned out there was a funeral so only a few people showed up, making it more of a bible study than a church service. They’re making me come back next week for the real thing.

I am in town at the moment for our midterm holiday –- which happened a bit spontaneously and with a complete disregard to my requested time off; which means that I will have to miss 3 days of class next week … which I am bummed about and my students will be disappointed about as well. But I am working on teaching materials for them while I’m in Lilongwe this week … so I hope that redeems me. I am also trying to figure out how to get my school to obtain electricity. I ran around to various suppliers’ offices yesterday in an attempt to determine cost and feasibility –- and then determine which grant proposal I should start writing. It seems like it would be simple enough. There is some paperwork to fill out and then when I am in town again next week I can get a list of reliable contractors for the wiring of the school. But then, do I want the school reliable on the often-corrupt corporate giants? Would it be sustainable? The grant proposal would at best cover the initial hook into the power grid and the wiring of the school buildings, but monthly payments wouldn’t fall under grant provisions. Even with powering cell phones or showing films, the sustainability question is plaguing me. So then I started to think about solar power –- which, although more expensive to install and more complicated to operate and explain would outlast my two years here and actually serve as an income generating possibility for the school. But it’s more time intensive and won’t benefit the students as quickly. I have all the forms from the electrical supplier, so I need to talk to the school –- teachers and the committee –- to see what they think we should do.

Yesterday I made the mistake of looking at food-porn and now all I want to do is bake something amazing.