Everything Is Non-Automatic

As mentioned previously, one of the little delights of living in a third-world nation is that things tend to break down and stop working. The Hostel is no stranger to this, so we have been living without some comforts that we take for granted in the first world. While it sucks that it happens, it is always a humbling experience and it is fun to see how different people cope with it. Here's the basic rundown:


WATER:
In a country where there is a rainy season and a dry season, water is very precious. In the hostel, there is frequently no water, for whatever reason. I learned this on my first full day, when all of the men's rooms had no running water. This means no showering, no working toilets and no water for washing hands anyways. Guys were starting to raid the women's showers on the other side of the building! After the third day, I decided "screw it" and went in myself. A girl came in and showered in the stall next to mine, but she didn't seem to care. Ghana is a place that is pretty loose (even for a religious place), or so I've witnessed. The first floor men's room has water and the reason why is interesting: the water from the courtyard (where people handwash and dry clothes) can be connected by hose into the building, through the laundry room and into the men's plumbing, so that's how I showered! Sometimes, people will fill up their old waterbottles with tap water just in case it runs out again.

ELECTRICITY:
More rarely, the power goes out. Thankfully, it has only happened during the day, and since I didn't bring a personal computer, I haven't noticed much. However, sometimes the fans just shut off randomly and things don't work. This is felt most in the computer lounge, which brings us to our final area of malfunction...

THE INTERNET:
In Africa, the vast majority of dorm rooms aren't equipped for broadband internet use, especially here in ISH. So, we go to the computer lounge on the second floor and access the internet (for a small fee), which is already slow by Western standards (it's on a network, but is about the speed of dialup). It is cheap (it's about 80 cents per hour) and convenient (the free ones at the international student office are a nightmare), but the network has the quirky habit of going down often. Sometimes for 15 minutes, sometimes for hours on end. A popular phrase around here is, "Any internet today?" The most common answer is "No."

Yes indeed, we are roughing it here in Deepest, Darkest Africa. But hey, whilst trying to articulate my reasons for coming here to Maleaha, I told her, "I want to go to a place where the power goes out... where water isn't always there when you turn the tap on..." I guess I'm getting what I bargained for. Such is life.


Sidenote: Coincidentally, I am currently reading Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. It's about the downfall of tribal Nigeria as seen through one man's tragedy. Dave lent it to me before I left and I recommend it for all y'all Westerners.