TIA - This is Africa!

Nothing is easy in Africa. Okay, I really shouldn't say "nothing" because there certainly are some things that are easy here. But today is one of those days when that statement feels really true. On one of my earlier visits to this community, my friend who has lived here for a number of years told me "Michelle nothing here is simple or easy." And she really had a point.

Our electric shower-head (yes we do combine electricity and water here, and yes it is a bit scary!) quit working a few nights ago.  My hubby is off on an incredible mission for a few days (which I'll blog about when he gets back) so I'm here fighting cold showers and bucket baths with just a two-month-old for moral support. I decided to do the logical thing and call the electrician to come and take a look at it.

The last time I called an electrician, he took our money for new parts and disappeared for a few days. William had to hunt him down to get him to actually apply the money to what it was intended for. When he finally came and got the job done William wasn't home so he charged me twice as much as he should have for labor.  Seeing as I would like to use the shower sooner rather than later and William is not here to help me negotiate labor costs, I decided to call someone else.

After very quietly working in the bathroom for about fifteen minutes he came out carrying the shower head. The conversation went something like this:

Electrician:  So some of the holes are blocked, do you have a needle so I can clear them?

Michelle: Sure, but is that really the reason that the water is not getting hot?


Electrician: No, that shouldn't make the water cold. There was some rust inside, but I fixed it and it's working now.

Michelle: Can you show me how it is working?

Electrician: Okay let me just re-attach the head.  See it's okay, the water is flowing here.  (And the water certainly is flowing, in fact it seems to have flowed all over my entire bathroom.  I'm starting to wonder if there is a single square-inch anywhere in the room that is not covered in water.)

Michelle: But the water is cold.

Electrician:  It's not that cold, did you really need it to be hot? (Note, the water is COLD, not even lukewarm.)

Michelle:  Umm, yeah.  That's why I called you.  The water is not getting hot and it needs to be hot.

Electrician: Okay, let me work on it a little longer.  (Another 15 minutes and he re-emerges.)  So it's time for you to buy a new shower head.  This one is finished.  (Which is what I had kind of suspected from the get go.)

Michelle: Really?  It's only two years old.  (We finally got indoor plumbing exactly two years ago.)

Electrician: Two years! It's amazing it lasted that long.

Michelle: Okay well how much is the new one going to cost?

Electrician: Well you know that with the current inflation (which is a whole other blog post) it's almost double what it used to cost.  And he gave me a price range based on the different qualities available.

Michelle: Well I obviously need to get the higher quality one this time.

Electrician:  Oh you had the highest quality one last time, that's why it lasted you so long.

Sigh...... Sometimes you just have to say TIA (This is Africa!) and take a deep breath and go on with your day.