challenges!

There are many challenges to living here. As many of you know, events over the past fourty years have brought this country to it's knees, and Karanda has not gone without noticing it. ZESA, which stands for Zimbabwe Electric Sometimes Available, has been sporadic at best. I'll start with the advantages of ZESA.
 For obvious reasons, if ZESA is running, everyone is happy. The hospital air conditioners can run, surgical equipment, lights, internet, and most importantly the water pumps can run. But just last week, ZESA was off for five straight days. We've seen it off lots, but never that long yet-- knock on wood.
 Which brings me to my next point. The hospital owns two large generators. If needed they run from eight AM till two PM, so that surgeries can happen. The large one runs the water pumps, too. Bonus!! But the smaller one has to be monitored closely, it can overload, then we shut it down, run through the hospital, yelling "lights off!", and then try it again.
 Problem 1 -- the locals didn't plan ahead, and the big one needs servicing, and there's no ZESA
 Problem 2 -- there's apparently a shortage of diesel across the entire country.
 Problem 3 -- the water's almost gone
 Problem 4 -- the power in our guest house has been off for more than 24 hours, the fridge seems to be getting  warm, and we don't dare look in the chest freezer, so instead we threw blankets over it to help insulate.
 Solution---- Thank God, Zesa came back for a few hours last night. Today, our lorry showed up with  1000 litres of diesel fuel that they found in Harare, three hours away. God always provides.
 Like sands through the hourglass, these are the days of our lives....