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Beatrice Tonhodzai-Ngondo Make A DifferenceElectricity is crucial. It is even more crucial in this urban set up where we find ourselves in. While those in rural areas might also argue the same and be justified to do so, in this day and age where they also want to power their refrigerators, watch television and listen to the radios; in the urban areas, a day without electricity is the absolute pits, not only at personal but at business level too.
I visited an elderly relative, in her 70s, earlier this week during my lunch break after I learnt that she was sick. On arrival I found her all covered up in blankets.
While it was a bit chilly, I was somehow disturbed to find her in bed. She told me was cold.
Pointing at the lights, she said; “when there is no power, the house is cold.”
Her other reason for sleeping was because she was hungry. I did not understand why she would starve for we had sent her some groceries a couple of days back.
She explained that while the food was available, the challenge was in cooking without power. I asked why they could not have cooked using gas, firewood, gel or even a paraffin stove. She explained that most people her age, did not have money to buy all these extras.
She said the assumption would be that a granny at her age with a four-plate stove has all the basics covered. To get extra money to buy firewood or gel for cooking was something only a few could do.
As a result people would rather cook one meal than three meals. The consequences however, would be starving as she was.
While she would have wanted a hot cup of tea to ward off the chill brought about by the cold weather we faced earlier in the week, she had to make do with just a plate of sadza at lunchtime.
To say my heart broke after hearing her tale is an understatement. Only then did I understand just how important power is. Yes, I have also been experiencing my fair share of power cuts, like everybody else.
These days most of the posts on Facebook by all my Zimbabwean-based family and friends are about the inconvenience and hassle they are going through as a result of power cuts, which we are being subjected to daily. Power goes as soon as you wake up.
In the evenings you come back to find the neighbourhood in darkness. The generator, meant as a back-up in the rare occasions when power is not available, has become a daily nuisance with all the noise it brings to the neighbourhood.
I have since looked for a gas stove so that the family can still eat and eat well-cooked meals even when there is no power. That is me trying to cope. But the granny’s case shows others have it worse.
Many people today tell tales of going without eating because the hassle of lighting a fire, getting a gas stove or anything else is too much.
Some have resorted to the unhealthy takeaways, whose safety is now even more unquestionable since the takeaway outlets are also reeling from power cuts.
Stomach bugs have become common because these days you cannot keep anything in the fridge anymore and trust its freshness. Many others have had their electrical appliances and gadgets damaged as a result.
My sister was telling me of how her new fridge just started making a funny noise after power was restored.
Since that day it no longer cools up enough to keep her food fresh or chilled. That means the fridge, like several other people’s electrical appliances, is buggered.
The tales are many. Others tell of food going bad. In a bid to save, many people prefer to buy their groceries in bulk. This includes meat and vegetables.
While a brief interruption in power supplies may not cause any damage to the food, intermittent power cuts and power cuts that last as long as 12 hours, as has become common in the past couple of days, definitely lead to food going bad.
So many have found themselves throwing food away. Now, anyone who is old enough to work for their money will tell you that there is nothing as painful as wasting one’s hard earned cash.
But that seems to have become normal.
With the powers that be and Zesa officials saying this prevailing situation is likely to persist until end of month, I tell you, there is just no joy.
What makes it worse is that for many, the minute one arrives at work, power immediately goes too.
Those companies that have not invested in heavy generators are singing the blues as lost production has become the order of the day. As a result workers, who should be spending the day working, find themselves spending the day loitering and whiling up hours.
That is not healthy for the development of industry and for the development of the country.
There is also something about the bright lights that signal that one is in town. I remember visiting the rural areas when we were growing up, and people would always greet us by asking how the city was; “kwakadii kumagetsi?”
The city was known for its bright street lights. Today the city is known for dark streets and equally dark households. When there is no power in a home, there is no life.
A friend was telling me of how her children and husband grow sulky and just slink off to bed when there is no power, which is virtually every day now.
A male friend was saying his wife even threatened to leave him declaring she had not signed up for hardship by marrying him. He quickly bought a generator and peace returned to his home.
I wonder though as we power up all these generators, at times even in flats now, despite the proximity to the next unit, how safe these things are, especially for daily use? Are they not harmful to our health and to the environment?
I pray that the powers that be deal with this power crisis urgently. That may be the difference that a grandmother who is now going without food may need to live longer.
That may be the difference that the ailing factory in the industrial site needs to recover.
It may very well be the difference between a good and better life for us all or a bleak one.
Online Reporter