No water, no electricity - Where has the power gone?

As usual, on Monday I went to my internship at the Rehabilitation Center for Addiction Disorders.

But shortly after arriving, nothing was as usual anymore. First, no more water came out of the faucet, and a few minutes later, there was no electricity.

Due to the rain of the previous night, a power cable had disconnected from the main distributor, leaving the entire center powerless. Without electricity, the water pump that brings water into the center also doesn't function.

Every hour we hoped that the problem could be solved, but ultimately it turned out that the problem was bigger than expected, and so the repair took the full three days that I spent at the center.

Fortunately, there was a cistern from which we could use water for washing and cooking. In the meantime, we drove into the city to buy drinking water and to charge our phones and laptops, so that we could at least make phone calls and write emails. And in the evenings, everyone went to sleep at 9 o'clock, as it was pitch black!

Since the complicated situation continued, on the second day we started to transcribe all the necessary documents by hand instead of printing them. In addition, we did all the work that could be done without electricity: patient conversations, evaluations, and assessments.

Shortly after my departure on Wednesday evening, electricity and water were thankfully restored, and everyday life can return. What I learned from this: Even if every day you think you can't go another hour without electricity and water, in the end it is somehow possible to get by for 3 days without them and still make progress with your work!

Because here in Peru, people simply accept the problems that exist and find solutions without wasting time complaining. And I really liked this attitude, which gave me the motivation to also adapt to the difficult situation!