The power never did come back on Tuesday night in Blantyre. I had a horrible night with no relief from the heat, and got maybe three hours sleep at the most. I ended up packing my bags by torchlight in the semi-darkness of early morning.
After we had a quick breakfast at 6am yesterday, Bishop Thomas’ brother picked us up to take us to the airport. We timed it well, arriving just before check-in opened at 7. I had three flights: the first from Blantyre to Llongwe (still in Malawi) was about an hour late. The second, from Llongwe to Lusaka, Zambia, was also late, and was a surprise as I had had no indication that the flight was going via Zambia. At least I didn’t have to get off the plane this time, just sit for half an hour while the cleaning crew went through and new passengers came aboard. The final leg brought me here to Harare, Zimbabwe.
I had some concern about the visa. I thought I would be able to exchange some Aussie dollars for US dollars at Blantyre airport, but none of the currency exchange places were open. However, the Immigration here were happy to accept my card, so there was no problem. Bishop Samson and his wife Valerie were waiting for me at the airport, and brought me to the hotel where they have booked me to stay.
I had hoped to stay with their family, but they have a full house at the moment so that was not possible.
When we got to the hotel, guess what? No power! The guy who runs the place assured me that he had a generator, and if power was not on by 5 he would get the generator going. By 5pm the power hadn’t kicked in. By 6pm the power hadn’t kicked in and I was getting cranky. Found the guy and he said “I will bring you a solar light.” By 7pm, no power, no solar light, and I was getting really cranky. At the same time, there was no water – I presumed this was because the water operated on an electric pump, but it turned out they had not filled the tank. Finally got a light and they brought some water for a bath, which I desperately needed, being hot, sweaty and stinky from the travel and the heat. The power finally kicked in around 9, and I was able to charge my phone and laptop, both of which were very close to being dead as I had not been able to charge them on Tuesday night.
One of the things I really have troubles with from my African brothers and sisters is their tendency to tell you what they think you want to know, rather than straight out telling the truth about a situation. If they had honestly said, “We don’t know when power will be on and we don’t have a back-up”, I would have been prepared.
Meanwhile, in the afternoon Samson and Valerie and I had a nice time of getting to know each other, then they came back in the evening to check that I was ok.
Today I am having a quiet morning. This afternoon I will go with Samson and Valerie to see their home and meet their family, and tonight there is a dinner to introduce me to the church. Tomorrow I begin to minister here.