Autumn Shroyer volunteered last summer at a Presbyterian Church mission near Mwandi, and is shown with her favorite preschooler, Doris. Shroyer is a senior studying journalism and anthropology at Grand Valley State University, and her parents are members of Midwest Energy Co-op.

It has been a crazy week in Mwandi. Friday, the mission compound experienced an electrical power surge that resulted in the loss of most electricity, Internet access, and the water pumps to the compound’s houses. All of the hospital systems gave out.

There is no telephone service in Mwandi, so there was no way to call any electrical or repair companies for assistance. And with the weekend approaching, it was doubtful there would be any service people working anyway.

The funny thing was nobody seemed to be concerned. People here do not get worked up over small inconveniences, such as lack of electrical power and running water. Most villagers have neither service in their homes so do not consider them as foundations of civilization the way we Westerners do. When I asked hospital workers how long they thought it would be until things were restored they answered, “Oh, maybe a month.” A month?! I began to feel sorry for myself.

Luckily, the electricity returned much sooner. However, the hospital’s water pump was unfixable, as the motor had burned out. There is simply no money for a replacement or a backup pump. Without water, the hospital could not function properly, so men and women workers flocked to the nearby Zambezi River to haul buckets of water on their heads back to the hospital.

That night, a village woman went into labor and needed a Caesarean section. But because there was no running water, the operation could not be performed in Mwandi. She was to be taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital, an hour away in Sesheke. In true Africa fashion, the hospital ambulance had no gas and the nearest station was just as far away as the Sesheke hospital. So the mission house’s doorbell rang late Friday night. I opened the door to find the doctor and ambulance driver standing on the front step. They asked to siphon gas from our Land Rover’s tank so they would be able to make the trip to Sesheke. Unfortunately, the Land Rover has an anti gas-theft device so the gentlemen were left to seek gas from one of the other few vehicles in the village. I felt sorry for the poor woman who had to wait for gas to be scrounged up while she suffered in labor!

After much work, the mission house’s pump was working, but the hospital’s wasn’t. For several days our small pump was the sole provider of water to the entire hospital compound. During this time only small, weak, droplets dribbled from our showerhead. The lack of water pressure also flushed up dirt in the pipes so the meager amount of tap water came out the color of tea. With a large American mission group expected to arrive soon, this was no time for the water to conk out! Tensions were running high among Westerners, who were constantly finagling with the water levers and gauges.

Meanwhile, the villagers were watching the scenario as if it were a three-ring circus. “It serves them right,” I imagined them thinking. “That’s what they get for relying entirely on machines to do the work.” At that point, I viewed the villagers as quite clever for carrying water on their heads.

Monday, the visiting group of nine people arrived. Miraculously, that day the hospital pump was semi-repaired. (Some wire is temporarily holding the pump together; so it could go out again any day now). The mission house’s water soon cleared up and the pressure increased.

Things are back to normal now. Or as normal as they can be, anyway. The hospital hallways are still lined with buckets of water, just in case they are needed again. We all seem to be holding our breath for the next time the water pump goes out again, this time for good. That wiring will only last so long. When a visitor asked, “Why doesn’t the hospital just buy a new pump?” The administrators only shook their heads and smiled sadly in reply.

This water situation is like so much else here in Mwandi. It’s difficult to plan ahead and prepare for the future when resources are limited and only allow for today. And just barely, at that.