The rains come down and the power went whooooop!

So the rains came on Tuesday, albeit two passing storms. Since then its rain farily consistently. Since then the electricity has gone, fairly consistently. For the last two days we've had no power at the hospital, save two hours. Speaking to my good friend, Mr. Henry, the relatively new manager at Zambian Electricity Supply (ha!) Company (ZESCO), he advised me that in the first two hours of the rains coming, 3 electricity poles had fallen. He reckons that about 80% of the poles in our district need to be replaced because they are so old and unstable. It's not looking good for the rain season.

Still, it was the same manager who called me in August to congratulate me that we had reached the point that for the first time in four years, we were paying the electricity bills from the same year we were actually in (ie in August we were paying January's bill). I took this as a kind of compliment, although I'm sure it was a back-handed reminder on his part.

The same Tuesday the rains came, my accountant and I went to a District Health Management Board meeting, of which we are Chikankata's members. We had notice that the meeting started at 10.30. Knowing 10.30 Zambian time could mean anything, we left for Kafue Gorge Hospital just after 10 and arrived at a few minutes past eleven. We were the first ones there. Everyone else arrived at five to one, 12.55, fifty five minutes past 12 !!! So the meeting eventually starts at 1pm, only 2 hours and 30 mins late. No one even said sorry - it seems it's acceptable to come when ever you fancy and keep everyone else waiting and wasting their time. No wonder I don't wear a watch and my hair is going grey!