After weeks of watching mostly celebrities and TV personalities doing the Ice Bucket Challenge, I thought it would be cool if I tried it as well. However, I quickly realised that it is indeed a challenge. First of all, I hate cold water and I find it hard to even brush my teeth with it, so the thought of having a bucket of cold water poured over me was terrifying. But the bigger problem is that I don’t have a refrigerator to freeze the water. Fridges are expensive, as you all know and unless you have a family, children, love to cook and preserve some of the food or regularly entertain friends who like cold drinks, all of which I don’t, a fridge is not one of those things I feel I have to buy right away because I wouldn’t fully utilize it. Then there’s the issue of power. You know how this cash power system works, especially if you share a meter. Where I live, I and the other tenants came up with an arrangement that works for us, most of the time anyway. We take turns paying for power and also try to save as much energy as we can. We don’t iron or boil at certain times, especially late at night because sometimes, whoever is supposed to have bought cash power may have forgotten to do so and you’re not going to find as many places open where you can pay up. We know about mobile and e-payments but most people still find it easier to walk to an Agent or shop. It’s widely believed that water freezes faster overnight so I’d have to walk up to one of my neighbours with a bowl of water and ask them to leave their fridge on overnight. I imagine the conversation would be something along these lines. “Oh Hi neighbour, you know there’s this ALS challenge on YouTube which requires participants to pour frozen water over their heads so can you please freeze this for me? Thank you, I will pick it up in the morning.” I find it hard to ask for sugar or salt, even when others ask me all the time so there’s no way I’m going to do that. Next hurdle is the challenge itself. Most videos I’ve seen show participants in their backyards, pools or ultra modern bathrooms, again, none of which I have. So where would I stand before splashing the icy water and who would film it? Many of my friends have cameraphones and I guess we could record with those but I’d have to convince them of the relevance of my action. I would then need to get the software to convert the clip to a format compatible with YouTube and then try to upload it. We have Internet at work but it’s kind of rationed. Every now and then, the supervisor will check to see if anyone is downloading a movie or doing something not work related, hence slowing the network and I wouldn’t want him to catch me wasting company resources. I guess I’d have to go to an Internet Café, which would require more time and money. Speaking of money, nearly everyone who has taken on this challenge has gone on to donate at least $100. I wish I could give the same amount away easily but to do so would mean subjecting myself to a tough month ahead, seeing as that is nearly half my salary. Besides, getting the money to the ALS Association all the way in the US would require me to use a money transfer service, and that comes at a cost. See how tedious the whole process is?
