For four months now, I’ve lived without a fridge. That means no cold water, no leftovers, no milk, no meat and no ice cream. Given this, I was pretty excited when a beautiful new gas fridge showed up at my house a week ago. In celebration, I even went to the grocery store and bought a box of (long life) milk and a box of Kellogg’s bran flakes (though I didn’t notice until I started snacking on them that they expired last month – always, ALWAYS check the expiration date before you buy food in Nam).
Having never even lit a gas stove before coming to Nam, I didn’t feel qualified to connect the fridge myself so I put off the set up for nearly a week because there never an older, adult male around to do it (just me, the memes and the kids). Finally, under pressure to report back to the ministry about whether it was working or not, I asked my 18 year-old brother to set it up last night. As he worked with another younger boy to connect it to the gas and get it lit, I tidied up the kitchen, fetched water, brought some dirty dishes from my room and generally watched from the sidelines. After it was going, I checked a few times to see if it was feeling cooler (it wasn’t) and decided I’d have to be patient and wait til morning to reach a real conclusion.
Due to the fact that there’s no electricity (therefore not a lot to do after the sun sets) and I’m one of those people that NEEDS at least eight hours of sleep to function properly, I usually head to bed around 9 or 9:30, read for a bit and then fall asleep. As I was reading in my bed around 9:30, I heard a bit of commotion and the word “omeya” (water) outside but I didn’t think anything of it – there’s often commotions happening outside my window. A few minutes later, there was a knock at my door and the message, “Miss, you must come see this.” I walked outside to find the fridge on fire.
Eventually, the burning fridge was dragged outside, tipped on its side and sand used to extinguish the fire. Thankfully, the only other damage was a scorch mark or two on the painted cement-block wall. After the flames had ceased, we spent a time standing around marvelling in disbelief (at least I was) and investigating the charred backside to figure out what had caused the fire. As most everything was said in Oshiwambo, I’m still not exactly sure what started the blaze, but from what I gathered, I think the hose connecting the gas tank and the fridge had been too close to the heating element and had melted.
Having had nothing to do with the set up, I did not have to endure the horrible pangs of guilt that I doubtlessly would’ve felt had I been the one who put it together. Instead I stood there in disbelief, alternating between feelings of amusement and amazement. Obviously, it is worthless to become upset over something that is completely out of your control. The excitement over and the damage already done, I decided to go to bed.
Apparently, however, my acceptance of the situation was only conscious, not subconscious. That night I slept horribly! A few hours after falling asleep, I awoke to find myself at the end of my bed, sitting on my mosquito net (luckily I did not pull it out of the ceiling), putting on my flip flops and attempting to unlock my door (now I realize that locking the door is more of a precautionary measure to protect me from myself than to protect me from others). After the sleep walking incident, I tossed and turned to bad dreams, including a bad substitute teaching incident and my computer being stolen.
What will become of the fridge situation, I’m really not sure. Obviously, it will be returned to the ministry because it won’t function anymore, at least not safely – and we don’t need ANOTHER fire! I’m not sure how kindly the ministry will look upon me after I destroyed their brand new fridge. I’d be shocked if they willingly offered up another one. A nearby volunteer has offered me her unused electric fridge, but we have to go through the ministry to get approval for that.
Perhaps I was just not meant to have cold water or perishable food in Namibia. Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise...After all, how many people can say they lived two years without a fridge?
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