Installment12

Installment 12
Sunday night, we’re in the veranda. It’s almost 7:00pm and it’s been dark for about a half and hour. The kids are wound up tight and the Aunties are feverishly trying to get the little ones undressed and into their pajamas….remember how much fun that was at your house. I’m telling you, it’s a site to behold…clothes aflyin’, diapers swapped faster than the smell can keep up, and just like that, 70+ little crotch smashers are in their PJ’s and headed for bed. Crotch smashers? You ask. These munchkins are just about inseam length, and can run and hit you at just under warp speed….”hug! Babu!” they plead. “Mercy!!” I manage to squeak out in my best falsetto voice. While this is all happening, the guys that keep the electricity tank full must take their dinner break, because it seems that darkness falls in it’s entirety just about the same time every night. Not every night, but a lot of them. The Aunties that come in for the morning shift can tell which nights it occurs, as the clues aren’t that hard to follow….two kids in the same jammies, bottoms over heads, arms in leg holes and legs in arm holes. So, back to Sunday night, right on schedule the power takes a powder and there we are, dressing by braille…which isn’t all that bad except for the dirty diapers, which as you know, is why I don’t do babies….ask Sandy. Oh, I’ve changed dirty pants before, but mostly they were mine. Anyway, off to bed we go feeling our way. “It’ll be better in the morning”, Jeff’s voice comes from somewhere. (He likes the power company because it give him reasons to wake up every couple of hours and call them) Morning comes…no power, which normally wouldn’t be so bad, except here, morning comes before morning, like in the dark time that you and I might still call night. I got up a bit later, but knew that the power was still off as I saw a 3 yr old walk by on his hands…”hey wait” I say, “he isn’t walking on his hands….he has a shirt on for pants”…and then I notice a whole herd of similarly dressed kids….yup, no power. In fact, no power as the day progressed, night fell, morning arrived, day progressed and evening came. The one good thing that came out of it was Jeff was pretty well occupied on the phone to KPLC…which I think stands for ‘Kenya Power Likely Cancelled’. He call them every couple of hours and it was the same every time: Hello, this is Jeff Picicci with Instep Children’s Home in Sebonga, our electricity is still out” “Hello, this is KPLC, thank you for calling us. We want to serve you well. You say you have not any power? “Yes”, repeats for the 18^th time, “I have told you many times today. When can I expect the repair people?” “You say you have not any power. The men are on their way, in fact they are already at your property.” “Then please call a doctor for me, as my vision is failing and I cannot see any KPLC people.” “Yes, and you say you have not any power?” ….and you think that I am using one of my famous exaggerations, not so, ask Jeff…this is almost verbatim….every call….call after call. Now by hour 35+ Jeff actually goes to KPLC office. “Hello, I am Jeff Picicci from Instep in Sebonga, I have been calling you for over 35 hours to get you to respond to the power outage.” “Oh, this is the first we knew. The repair team is now at your property…..where was it, again?” “ I have 90 kids that depend on water from the borehole and food that isn’t spoiled” Jeff pushes. “And so what is your situation?” Staller replies. “Do you know where Victor is?” Jeff sighs as he walks out. Not to be stumped, Jeff tracked down the president of KPLC in Nairobi and explained the situation. A few minutes after getting off the phone, oddly, Alex called and asked for specific directions to Instep. I don’t know what kind of power a president of a company has, but it worked for us. 47 hours later power was back. There is more than 1 miracle in this, but I will tell you about one……..next time.