A "POWER"ful Update

As alluded to in the earlier post, Gibeon is without power and water in a crackdown on deliquent accounts. When asked how much money the village of Gibeon owed, a spokesperson for NamPower said, “I demand the sum ... OF ONE MILLION DOLLARS!” Curiously, he included a strange arm spasm and appeared to scratch his lower lip with his pinky finger.

Yeah, well apparently Tses, Berseba, Bathanie and other villages in the Karas Region also owe $$ to NamPower. I found out today that we're scheduled to be powerless on Monday. Sounds like the money the village owes isn't an inconsequential amount (but the amount is just rumor so far). Who knows if it will happen or for how long? I'd told my learners that if they saw my two friends walking around to ask them, “How's the power in Gibeon?” My, how the tables can quickly turn. Sorta ironical, eh? A little difficult to cook, refrigerate, shower and what what when you don't have any power, and the area isn't prepared to do so without, unlike those in the North.

The silver lining in the cloud? I'd been planning on making a trip to visit friends up in the North (would be the Northern part of the South according to definition of “North” and “South” here). Maybe I'll have the chance to do that sooner than later?