The Zesco Guessing Game

sans Zesco dinner set-up
(photo taken after Zesco returned!)

Here in Zambia, we call electricity Zesco, because Zesco is the company that supplies our electricity. “No Zesco” is a common phrase to hear peppered throughout conversations.

Most of the time we have Zesco, but it’s frequently off for some minutes or hours at a time. The most inconvenient times to lose Zesco are 1) when hosting guests for dinner (and of course the stove is electric), or 2) when there’s office work that needs to be done, but can’t be completed without computer access.

Sometimes when Zesco will be out for the whole day, they notify customers ahead of time. But… then there are the other times. The times when you were planning to cook something special but Zesco is out. You aren't sure if you should wait till Zesco returns or revert to a Plan B (i.e. peanut butter and bread). Sticking with Plan A means you risk waiting all evening to no avail for Zesco’s return and finally go to bed grumpy and hungry. However, there’s also the chance that five minutes after you chose to wait, Zesco will return. In which case, Plan A would obviously be the best choice. Sometimes Zesco also sends teasers: off, on, off, on... off. It’s all a guessing game.

There are the times I’m in town and have nothing else to do except wait for Zesco to come to finish my errands—so I weigh my options: Do I drive back home and return to town later once Zesco returns, or do I just find a cup of tea somewhere in town and wait however long until Zesco returns (however… if there’s no Zesco tea may be tricky to find unless the shop has charcoal cooking facilities).

There are times like tonight—when I returned home after three hours of driving, tired and hungry and trying to think of something satisfying to cook, only to enter this big, empty house and discover it was DARK.

As I lit candles, I debated between my dinner options of scrounging up a shelf-stable meal or waiting to see if Zesco would soon return and I could cook a “real” meal. Hunger won out and just as I was finishing my bowl of fresh mango chunks, granola, and reconstituted dry milk (didn't want to open the fridge, because I didn't know how long Zesco would be out), Zesco returned.

Go figure.