I had the flashlight/torch in my mouth, under my arms, between my legs, strapped at various locations, and so on.
Sometimes I even had multiple ones on me.
I would joke around and say I could write a book titled 101 Ways to Hold a Flashlight and one of my friends jokingly volunteered to do the graphics for the book.
Mind you, I could not think of 101 ways but I did find many ways other than the standard holding it in your hand.
I lived in a community in Ghana, West Africa.
"Community" because it was too small for me to call it a "Town" and the people would have been insulted if I called it a "village" so my compromise was "community".
Considering I was in Ghana, I could not call the flashlight a flashlight.
They had no idea what a flashlight was.
To them a flashlight was a torch.
However, since many of the readers may think of a torch as a fire at the end of stick and not simply a flashlight, I think I will continue with flashlight.
I liked where I lived and I even liked the people more than I thought I would.
Everyone was good to me.
I had a nice home in a nice lush setting.
People took care of me.
All that was great but the community did not have electricity.
Ask most "Obrunis" (white people/foreigners) serving in Ghana as volunteers what they missed most from home and they would probably first respond family and friends.
Once past that they would continue down a list of other things they missed.
Many of you may be surprised to find out that lack of electricity or running water is often much further down the list than expected.
For me generally it did not make the top ten except for the damn flashlight.
Mind you, my list was different than many other's lists anyway.
What I missed the most was my mobility...
to just jump in my car and drive off to somewhere else.
That explanation can be a separate article in the future along with a cool story about running water.
This article is about the flashlight.
Without electricity folks tend to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier when there is just enough light.
I tried and often succeeded in following this type of schedule but sometimes it simply did not work.
I would come home and it would be dark.
I would turn on a kerosene lantern, which when you are used to battery operated lanterns or electricity, is a joke...
a kerosene lantern is just slightly better than a candle in providing light.
Candles would probably smell better.
Maybe if I had another ten of them I would have some descent light.
If I wanted to cook or read in the evening, the lantern just did not work well enough.
Reading by kerosene lantern light was a major strain on the eyes.
Here is where the flashlight came in.
Have you ever tried cooking and preparing ingredients for your meal with one hand because the other one is not available? The other hand may not be available because it is holding the flashlight so you can see what you are doing and can cut up the food without cutting up one of your fingers along the way.
Now if you really want that other hand but really need the light, you need to find creative ways to hold a flashlight.
If you set it down, invariably you will need to move and the light will not move with you.
So if setting it down does not work, you learn to hold the flashlight differently.
My favorite was actually in the mouth because I had the best control over where the light went.
The problem would be that it was hard on the mouth and it severely limited my capability to speak.
Unlike holding the flashlight in one of my armpits, which also got tiring, the flashlight in the mouth could be controlled in all directions.
Now, if I was talking to someone and expressing myself a bit too much, I would need to hold the flashlight between my legs but moving around was awkward and the light was usually to low.
Once I actually strapped it to my head with rope, actually it was a piece of Kente cloth but I figured many of you would not know what Kente was.
Once I did that it came to me, which is also the moral of this story, wear a headlamp.
You may think it looks dorky but think of your fingers.
Personally I don't mind looking dorky if I can save my fingers.
Sometimes I even had multiple ones on me.
I would joke around and say I could write a book titled 101 Ways to Hold a Flashlight and one of my friends jokingly volunteered to do the graphics for the book.
Mind you, I could not think of 101 ways but I did find many ways other than the standard holding it in your hand.
I lived in a community in Ghana, West Africa.
"Community" because it was too small for me to call it a "Town" and the people would have been insulted if I called it a "village" so my compromise was "community".
Considering I was in Ghana, I could not call the flashlight a flashlight.
They had no idea what a flashlight was.
To them a flashlight was a torch.
However, since many of the readers may think of a torch as a fire at the end of stick and not simply a flashlight, I think I will continue with flashlight.
I liked where I lived and I even liked the people more than I thought I would.
Everyone was good to me.
I had a nice home in a nice lush setting.
People took care of me.
All that was great but the community did not have electricity.
Ask most "Obrunis" (white people/foreigners) serving in Ghana as volunteers what they missed most from home and they would probably first respond family and friends.
Once past that they would continue down a list of other things they missed.
Many of you may be surprised to find out that lack of electricity or running water is often much further down the list than expected.
For me generally it did not make the top ten except for the damn flashlight.
Mind you, my list was different than many other's lists anyway.
What I missed the most was my mobility...
to just jump in my car and drive off to somewhere else.
That explanation can be a separate article in the future along with a cool story about running water.
This article is about the flashlight.
Without electricity folks tend to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier when there is just enough light.
I tried and often succeeded in following this type of schedule but sometimes it simply did not work.
I would come home and it would be dark.
I would turn on a kerosene lantern, which when you are used to battery operated lanterns or electricity, is a joke...
a kerosene lantern is just slightly better than a candle in providing light.
Candles would probably smell better.
Maybe if I had another ten of them I would have some descent light.
If I wanted to cook or read in the evening, the lantern just did not work well enough.
Reading by kerosene lantern light was a major strain on the eyes.
Here is where the flashlight came in.
Have you ever tried cooking and preparing ingredients for your meal with one hand because the other one is not available? The other hand may not be available because it is holding the flashlight so you can see what you are doing and can cut up the food without cutting up one of your fingers along the way.
Now if you really want that other hand but really need the light, you need to find creative ways to hold a flashlight.
If you set it down, invariably you will need to move and the light will not move with you.
So if setting it down does not work, you learn to hold the flashlight differently.
My favorite was actually in the mouth because I had the best control over where the light went.
The problem would be that it was hard on the mouth and it severely limited my capability to speak.
Unlike holding the flashlight in one of my armpits, which also got tiring, the flashlight in the mouth could be controlled in all directions.
Now, if I was talking to someone and expressing myself a bit too much, I would need to hold the flashlight between my legs but moving around was awkward and the light was usually to low.
Once I actually strapped it to my head with rope, actually it was a piece of Kente cloth but I figured many of you would not know what Kente was.
Once I did that it came to me, which is also the moral of this story, wear a headlamp.
You may think it looks dorky but think of your fingers.
Personally I don't mind looking dorky if I can save my fingers.
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