Electricity Comes to the Villages

We don't talk politics, but this is humorous . . . and perhaps universal in application. Politicians have for years garnered votes in the villages by promising electricity.

Years before, poles were installed along many of the roads. These poles have tipped and rotted and were replaced during the most recent election campaign.












But lo and behold, insulators were installed after the election, and recently wire was strung.



Our hopes soared that perhaps a promotional price would allow Idigima to be on the grid. Sadly, we recently found out that there was not enough of a customer base in Iyula-B, our nearest village, to warrant a transformer.






And, Idigima is too isolated from the transformers in Iyula-A and Idiwili to allow us to join either of them.




Back to the good old diesel generator. We've purchased a household regulator in hopes of providing some safety for laptop use.

Although we are able to charge our laptops by solar panel, it takes a couple of days of good sun to get above 80%, and with us being away from the house teaching during the heat of day, we've not felt good about leaving this technology sitting outside for the children and wondering livestock to investigate.

You may recall our post from December 2011 that spoke of our solar panel: http://grenell.blogspot.com/2011/12/dont-let-sun-go-down-on-me.html

We will get along, as always, by the grace of God.

Your Hands & Feet in Tanzania,

Gary & Joanne