Hujambo!

I was just riding the matatu to work when an mlevi (drunkard) got on the bus. As soon as he saw me he started shouting, “America!” and then something indistinguishable about Jesus. I don’t know if it was in English or Swahili because he was slurring. By now he had put his teddy bear in my lap (I know, what the hell?) and everyone on the bus was obviously staring at me. When I finally understood that he wanted me to say, “Amen” I just smiled and looked nervously around.

How can you out wit a charismatic drunk man with Jesus on his side? I admit I was at a loss for words… all I could come up with was, “I don’t say ‘Amen’.” I didn’t say it too loudly because I didn’t want to start a debate. I guess I shocked him but it didn’t matter because after a few seconds he went on shouting about America and Obama.

Today was International Women’s Day and ILRI held a few events to honor women in science. In addition to listening to speeches and drinking coffee, seventy girls from local high schools came to tour the labs and talk to our female scientists. In the afternoon we watched a few videos, one of which, by writer and activist Isabel Allende, was very moving. The speech was given as a TED Talk in 2007.

If you want to see more inspiring videos, check out ILRI’s video archive on blip.tv or head over to the TED Talks website.

I took some time off work on Tuesday morning to get my electricity issues sorted out. I had planned on going all the way to Nairobi and waiting in a line for hours at the KPLC office. I decided to stop by Westlands to pay my rent and mentioned my problems with electricity to one of the guys there. Almost immediately he produced a large fuse (“Is that something behind your ear?”) and said it would do the trick. “Can you meet me at your house in 30 minutes?” Sawa sawa (ok)!

Because I had long-since paid said my bill, I showed him my electronic receipt to make sure we could both rest assured that what we were doing was semi-legitimate, but I’m not sure that counts. It all went down like he said it would, and I was back in action just like that! Six days without electricity and all I had to do was buy a $3 fuse? What the hell was I thinking? As long as you haven’t gravely offended KPLC (I merely forgot to pay my bill, and had my fuse removed as a consequence), just pay some fundi (handy man) a few hundred shillings (a few US dollars) to bring a fuse over and get you back into the 21st century.

Note: I am not a lawyer but that is my humble opinion.

And I always loved toast with peanut butter and honey. I forgot to pay my electricity bill on time and KPLC came and disconnected me. That was almost a week ago, and I am still trying to figure out how to get it turned back on. Surprisingly, my hot water heater was hot for about a day, and then luke warm for another day beyond that. Hot water is great for shaving, but lighting the bathroom with a candle really sucks.

I guess my internal “pay the bills” clock was off this month (probably because I was in Ethiopia for two weeks), but the system still totally sucks. I always wait a few days to pay an electricity bill after I get it, which would explain why I never quite know which month I’m paying for. I blame it on KPLC. I had the bill sitting under my door when I got home on February 19th, but my housing agency stamped that they received it on February 10th (who knows when it got to my apartment), and the “due date” was February 6th. It doesn’t make any sense, but I’ve still learned my lesson: don’t mess with KPLC bills because getting it reconnected is a pain in the ass.

Nevertheless, having no power for the past five days has been a hoot. I’ve gotten to know my neighbors (“Do you guys want this food from my fridge?”), I’ve been eating my favorite breakfast food for dinner (toast and peanut butter), and I’m a pro at taking cold showers, something I’ve always known I could do, but never had to (except that one time in Jaipur with Randi). Not to mention I feel like a volunteer again… haha.

What is really lame is that they don’t answer their phones during business hours, and I can’t go to their office because I have a day job. These people don’t make any sense at all. I’m going to take a bit a of time off work in the morning and try to go see if I can sort all this out. Wish me luck.