It's been an eventful few days.
Monday as usual was my day off and, as usual, I went to the dining hall for lunch. It was then that school life took a sudden and unexpected change.
The headteacher, Uncle Jonno, had discovered a fire in the medical room. Right next to the dining hall and the table football where there were the usual crowds gathered. The area was soon evacuated and, being the next adult in the vicinity, I was sent off to find fire extinguishers.
The fire was concentrated around the electrical distribution board that serves 90% of the school. This was completely destroyed and the room was significantly blackened but thankfully no-one was injured. We also lost a few crutches and a waste paper bin.
So, the school's been without electricity since Monday lunchtime and we've been living by candle light both in the dorms and in staff accomodation. I've also been teaching ICT without computers. I managed to juggle the order of my lesson plans to survive one day without too much disruption but I'm hoping we'll be up and running this afternoon as I don't know what to do otherwise.
I said we we're only out 90%, the 10% that still has power is the workshop and the sports hall as they get their feeds before the fuse box in the medical room. I'm currently sat in the sports hall charging my laptop listening to the sound of a washing machine which has been brought up here especially for the dorms.
Whilst this has been a major disruption in some ways it's also been amazing to see God's provision in the way it's being sorted out.
On Monday afternoon Uncle Jens drove to Dakar to get replacement parts for what had burnt. He made it in to the capital in record time, the kind of time you only get very early in the morning. He was then able to buy all of the parts we needed (something unheard of in Senegalese shopping trips) before the shops closed for the day (a small window). He arrived home safely that evening and the electrician has been working solidly here all day yesterday and today.
To add to it all, the same vehicle that was taken to Dakar broke down yesterday on the way home from a shopping trip in Thies (a mechanic showed up that evening!).
In the car was Uncle Chris, suffering crippling back pain since the weekend, he'd been to the doctor in Thies for an intra-muscular pain killing injection. He hopes to resume some dorm duties today and maybe teaching by Friday.
Also yesterday, I was on my own in the dorm for the majority of the day as Jacqui was unwell (Tuesday is Chris & Brianna's day off) and had to do all the washing for 13 kids alone.
It's been quite fun without electricity nonetheless, playing cards by candle light with the teaching staff once the kids are in bed.
It seems now that we've lost the power to the remaining 10%, oh, it's just come back, I can hear the generator. It must have been a power cut, they're normal.
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