life on the compound

Life on the compound is…..um…..interesting. I would say relaxing but then again it is kind of hard to really be relaxed in this context. You never really know what to expect when someone tells you that you’re going to live on a compound. I remember a classmate of mine was telling me about how she grew up on a military compound in the Middle East somewhere and this compound had everything! It was like a small American town and because of this no one ever really felt the need to leave the compound. My compound is probably the exact opposite. The electricity for the compound comes from a generator which is timed. The generator is on from 6:30am-1pm, 2pm-5pm, 7:30/8pm-12:30/1am. Naturally, my schedule is going to be dictated by the availability of power. Given that there is no air conditioning here, it becomes quite difficult to sleep because of the heat. I try to fall asleep before the fan turns off in the evening so that I will already be fast asleep before the heat encompasses me. I wake up sometime between 7-7:30 depending on the day (MWF we having morning announcements/devotions at 8), take a shower, get dressed, and walk the 30 or so ft to where my office is. The offices on the compound were for security measures and because they hadn’t acquire another place where an actual office could be constructed (they are now constructing new offices in “town” that should be finished soon, I saw them and its really nice!) , so the office is made out of old freight carriers. It is essentially a bunch of ovens if you ask me because when the heat rises the temperature in these “offices” becomes almost unbearable. Thankfully we have a fan and sometime a nice breeze to bring the temp down a bit. I share my office with a couple other senior management level people and two cats I named Freckles and Cosmos. At 1 we break for lunch and since the power is no longer running, it gives everyone a good excuse to leave their ovens and sit somewhere cooler. Due to the food insecurity and the scarcity of food, our meals are not the most exciting but they are filling and conquer the hunger. I have lived on the compound since Wednesday and I have eaten 11 meals that consisted of rice and beans. I was lucky that 3 of these meals involved green vegetables in some sort of form. There is meat available for some of the meals but the meat is usually stored in one of the deep freezers that is also running on the scheduled power time and therefore may reach unhealthy temperatures (I have worked in restaurants long enough to know when meat’s temperature is at the point of bacteria growth) and this place is definitely not the place for the bubble guts. So I pass, enjoy my rice and beans and remind myself that I should be grateful seeing as there are starving people living all around me. Since the office is hot and the sun outside is hot and there are bugs on the ground, I go back to my room and lay sweating on bed and try to take a nap until 2pm. I have begun playing solitaire as a way to relax and have played over 50 games since I’ve been here. As soon as the fan kicks on in my room, I get up go back to my oven and do whatever tasks I have been assigned to do until 5 when the power goes out and I go back to my room to play solitaire and sleep. Usually around 6-6:30, myself and a few others will take a walk out of the compound in the surrounding area. There is not much to see, a few Tukuls and some land but getting off the compound even if not far, reminds me of my freedom. When I come back from the walk I sit in the dining room watching TV, yes the TV still works when the power is out because it is the only thing that is hooked up to solar power (we have cable-these luxuries are provided to keep folks from going crazy). We watch a lot of news and Big Brother Africa. I enjoy a meal replication from lunch (rice and beans) and usually will sit outside and chat with a few co-workers before I head back to my room and into the shower and eventually into bed. I sometimes watch movies and can say that I have watched more movies here than I have in the past year in the states (Fight Club, Glory, He’s Just Not That in to You, God Grew Tired of Us-(amazing documentary that tells the story of the lost boys of Sudan who walked from south Sudan to Ethiopia back through Sudan to Kenya in search of refuge during the civil and shows some of their journeys to the states as refugees- a must watch!), Finding Nemo, Godfather Pt.I, Precious, a season of One Tree Hill, and 3 episodes of Family Guy). We have staff that clean the rooms Monday-Friday and guys that wash clothes then too, so on the upside I get some pretty nice services. I have ample access to the internet and have several more movies to watch so I think I just might survive 3 months (give or take some time due to travel) on the compound.

The power is out!

Peace!