Simple Job of Changing a Light

The light in our office stopped working.  It, like most of the things original to the office, was old.  Old walls, old doors, old lights.  The light that stopped working was a fluorescent light.  Having switched out a couple of lights at our house I knew that fluorescent tubes cost quite a bit and for the same price I could buy a new LED light.  I’ve installed them before by myself, so I thought I could do it at the office too.  But things are rarely that straight forward here on the islands.

One of the newer LED lights at our house

I climbed up a stack of plastic chairs to replace the light, and started to strip the wires in order to make a new connection, only to find that one of the wires didn’t appear to have any copper in it.  I can’t say I’ve ever seen that before.  It was bizarre.  I pulled out a bit more of the wire but it was the same another 4, 6, 8 inches down.  There simply wasn’t any copper in the second wire.  I am no electrician, so if you electricians out there know what was going on, feel free to email me and explain this phenomenon, because I was flummoxed.

At that point I knew I needed to call the landlady and ask for her to send an electrician.  The morning the electrician arrived, I explained to him the best I could the strange thing I had discovered.  I told him I think we needed to put in a new wire.  But he didn’t seem to believe me, so he climbed up the pile of plastic chairs and checked himself.  

After a little checking he told me, “Here’s the problem—there’s no metal in this wire.  It’s not going to work.”

“You’re the electrician.” I replied.  He then proceeded to look further and further down the wire for a place with copper, but the wire was so old and so brittle it was breaking apart in his hands.  This went on for about 20 minutes.

“Maybe we should get some new wire.” I suggested, “How much would it cost? $20?”

“Yeah, about $20,” he said.  “But if I put the lamp over there, we can bypass all this bad wire and then the job would be done.”

“You’re the electrician,” I acquiesced.  “It’s okay with me.”

So he got to work putting the lamp on the other side of the room.  He got it all set up, another 30 minutes of work.  Only when he installed it, it still didn’t work.  The wire on the other side of the room wasn’t much better than the wire he had bypassed. 

“Maybe you should go out and buy some new wire?” I proposed.  But he was already off on a new solution.  He decided to use a section of wire he knew worked, only it was much too short to reach across the room.  So his solution was to ask if he could move the light and the light switch from one wall to the other.  This would require less wire and would actually put the light switch in a better location…

“Your’e the electrician,” I sighed, “go ahead.”

As he worked away he spoke to me, obliterating any chance I had of getting any work done.  We talked about weather and religion and life on the islands.  It didn’t seem like he was really interested in hearing anything I had to say, he just liked to talk.  Another hour later, my morning was completely shot, but he flipped the switch and the light came on.  I thanked him profusely for his hard work and he was on his way.  

It took much longer than it needed to, but in the end he found a solution that didn’t require any new wiring, and saved me money.  I tried the light a few times to see that it was really working and reflected on the differences in priorities between different cultures.  The important thing was the light worked.  Time to go home.  As I started locking up I noticed the outside light was on. Strange… He must have flipped it when he was working.  I flipped the switch back.  Nothing happened.  I flipped it again. Nothing.  I flipped a couple of other switches.  Nothing.  Ugh…Looks like he rewired something wrong.  I guess I need to call him back.

But then I thought about it…We don’t use the office at night.  We never turn on that light.  It’s got an old fluorescent bulb.  Quickly I hauled the pile of chairs out on to the verandah and removed the fluorescent tube.  Light’s out.  Problem solved.  I locked up the office and headed home.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We were able to watch a recording of our son’s play— he and his classmates did a great job! The men had their gathering at a local brother’s house and went okay— Tom even brought Muki and Mtsa to it.  Ma Imani’s kids are feeling better. Our daughter has been feeling a lot better physically lately.  We had a nice visit from a short-termer visiting from the big island. Megan hurt her ankle on Saturday and we weren’t sure how serious it was, but we are very thankful that it seems to be healing quickly (praying for full recovery). 

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Yesterday there was a horrible bus accident coming from the plateau (where the medical team is based)— at least 11 people lost their lives. Fatal car accidents are not common here. Pray for the grieving families and communities. Pray for Ma Imani— while her kids are feeling better, she is having lingering symptoms— pray for a full recovery for her. Continue to pray for our older two kids as they near the end of their school term— that they wouldn’t be stressed as they prepare for exams and as our daughter works on college applications. Pray for the teams on the islands as they deal with teammates gone for different amounts of time, especially those whose return plans are uncertain. Pray that God would help them get used to the different dynamics of different sized teams and that everyone would continue to feel cared for and supported.