This past week or so has been a real test of my perseverance and patience. I fear I am not passing with flying colours.

First, I NOTICED THAT CERTAIN KEYS ON THE KEYPAD WEREN’T WORKING.

Thinking it was cat hair or dust I was upset but not panicked. I took it to school 3 days after learning of the problem. The computer teacher could not fix it. I took it to town on Saturday. That in itself was an experience. I’ll write about that in a separate post.

Finally, a week after I first noticed the problem, a technician came to my house. He took the computer apart, cleaned, blew air in and it still didn’t work. He thinks it is a short in the wiring. I am upset but knowing I could get an external keyboard or Azikiwe’s computer if necessary made me feel better. I’ve been away from internet for 12 days. I now have this keyboard and hopefully tomorrow a dongo which will allow me to go on the net.

On Wednesday night I woke up to a strange gurgling sound coming from the toilet. The water had been off most of Wednesday and on and off on Tuesday so I assumed it was just the water turning on. Eventually I got up to find air blowing out of a pipe into the tank of the toilet making the small amount of water in there gurgle. I lifted the pipe so I only heard the hissing of air and went back to bed. This was at 3:45. At 5:15 the cat woke me, as usual. When I went to the bathroom the floor was covered in at least an inch of water. It was spraying out of the toilet. The water was going into the next room. I couldn’t find a tap to switch off the toilet so I had to go outside and switch off all water to the house. As I started to bathe, in a
basin, the power went off.

The toilet is not yet repaired. A plumber has been here three times.

Once he came just to look. The second time he came with a part but the part was too big so he came back with a smaller part the following day. I went to Ntcheu this weekend believing that the toilet was fixed.

When I came home noticed some small puddles of water lying around. A note from Pilirani, the girl who cleans my house said that she waited for the plumber to finish his work on Friday but then got a call from the housekeeper of the neighbouring house that water was coming out my door. She came back and mopped it up and switched off the main water supply again. Hopefully tomorrow a plumber will actually fix the problem. I hate being without running water. I have to get water from a bucket I keep outside. The good thing is that the floor is made of cement so any water that can’t be mopped up just soaks in.

Meanwhile I have an almost debilitating pain in my right shoulder and middle back. Last weekend it caused me such pain that while lying in my bed I couldn’t roll over without attempting the feat several times.

Most times my accomplishment was accompanied by a yelp of pain.

Moving from lying to sitting positions was equally painful and challenging. I couldn’t even reach over my head to hang clothes. Brushing my teeth and shampooing were almost unbearably painful. On Tuesday, after 3 days, I went to the clinic. By this time the pain was getting a bit better. The doctor told me I’d just slept on it wrong and gave me some painkillers which I was to take 3 times a day.

Out of desperation I took them even though the brand was unknown to me and there was no listing of how many mg of the drug each capsule contained. They did alleviate the pain a bit but the next day I was nauseous. I’ve stopped taking them. The pain is still there but atleast I can function without yelping.

So, all in all, a rough few days but I guess this is life no matter where I am.

Tags: itatu, itatu orphan care, jennifer douma, malawi

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