Electricity

I have mentioned before that we have no electricity at JCCM. There is some electricity in town but the poles don't reach us yet. Even the light in town is really hit or miss. During the dry season we can go days sometimes weeks without light. It has been changing a bit and Bo and Kenema seem to have light more often than Freetown but even at that it can come for only a few hours that will have to last for many days. Now that the Rainy Season has come we have light more often. Kenema has a hydro plant and they service Bo as well. Still this does not help us at Jonathan House. I have a generator thanks to the ONe-by-ONe team, but I don't run it all that often and even at that it is only strong enough to feed the hut.Kerosene lamps are still in use here, but it really is not the best thing for the kids. No worries we have some smart boys. Here Abdul Kareem has learned to make his own light. With an old sheet of zinc, some large batteries and wire, and the light from a 50 cent flashlight he goes to work. After creating a box for each set of batteries he goes to work wiring each room in the big house.

He is able to connect a couple rooms to each set of batteries. It is not the brightest of lights but enough to see in the room and enough for the kids to be comfortable at night- NO ONE here likes darkness. They are all shocked that I like to sleep with no lights on.And let there be light. We have success. Of course this is a short term thing and we hope in the future we really do have electricity but for now this is a big help. I am amazed at how these kids figure these things out. It is beyond me.