no power
Our power just went out. I should really say, our power was on for four hours today. Power being on is noteworthy, power being out is the norm. Throughout Kampala, constant outages are a part of daily life. This is a fairly recent development, beginning about three months ago. The Uganda government, which exports power to several neighboring countries, is unable/unwilling to supply everyone on the grid in the nation’s capital and surrounding areas. In class we talked about adjusting to life here, and life without power was a big topic. Some people were of the opinion that families manage just fine, their daily activities uninterrupted. If you look closely for even a second you can see this is not true. Others of us, myself included, found this to be romanticizing the “simple life.” Similar to the saying that people in Africa and impoverished areas “may be poor, but they’re happy.”
Small businesses, including grocery stores, without generators lose money and products due to outages. Families who have electric appliances are forced to abandon the conveniences they worked to afford. Other families can’t iron clothing, some can’t boil water, or watch the news- all of which are key to health and working. As one of five children now doing homework around an oil lamp every night, it is not very conducive to learning either. Much worse, hospitals may have some generated power, but certainly not enough for all wards if they have a generator at all. People dependent on any sort of machine for life really do die. Doctors who are asked about the situation are resigned more than indignant. Some people protest, but who do you turn to when you no longer have faith in your government to stand up for you and provide basic services? My host-mom has been fuming about our electricity bill since in came yesterday. We have been billed for 15 more hours of power than we actually had because they meter was kept running. This is regression for a nation that had already developed beyond this point. As Becky’s host father said, it really isn’t about how you get by, he is willing to pay for the power, why shouldn’t he have it? Who is anyone to say he can get by just fine without?
