photo is courtesy of Pixabay - actual photos coming in a few days

I was just so beat after the supply run, that I went to bed and fell into a deep sleep until 12:25 am! The power went out! Not good news.

Everyone is awake. Time to double the guards. Everyone is aware that there have been night raids happening close to us.

We get the children back to sleep and I go back to my bed for a few more winks. The guys have the guard duty all figured out. All is well until 2:30 am when we hear a very loud explosion. Everyone is up and waiting on alert to see what will happen. The children are awake but no-one makes a peep. It is deadly still. Even the animals are quiet.

We are all pins and needles when daybreak finally comes. Nothing more has happened and we start planning on what to do about the electricity. We are not completely off the grid and we need that connection. Two guys go out a daylight to see if they see the problem.

They return in about a half hour to say one of the high voltage switches is open. It will have to be closed for us to have power. We call the electric company and they don’t answer the phones. So it will be like the last three times, we will have to fix this problem ourselves. First, we need to find an electrician or someone who is familiar with working on high voltage wires.

The two guys go out on the hunt for a person capable of helping. They came back at noon with the news that they have found someone but they can’t come until after 1 pm. We have to settle for what we can get and the electrician will be expensive.

In the meantime, our little mama goes into labour! We may need that electricity sooner rather than later… We send out to the midwife and hope she can make it.

Our electrician arrives and has no trouble replacing the switch until two more blew open. Obviously, there is a short circuit in the system! It took another two hours to find the short which was caused by the electric company. They had sabotaged our line!

Our two intrepid gents went out and collected whatever anyone could donate so they could help pay the electrician who was very happy to have the work.

By 4 pm we had a new little baby girl! She was born all pink and rosy. Very healthy looking. Mama is happy and tired. The only concern I have is that the baby is not nursing well. I hope that changes. Tomorrow we have a doctor coming to check mama and baby. The guys will go out and meet her to make sure she gets here safely.

Today is a day of rest and hopefully no more excitement for a while. Everyone is getting into the groove of working cooperatively. When some of the young guys came, they weren’t going to do women’s work, which most chores here. They have lost a little of that machismo since coming to live here. Mama Castor doesn’t put up with too much nonsense. You want to eat, then you need to work!

I will post photos of mama and baby in the next few days.