One or two of our previous blogs have referred to power outages that we’ve experienced as a regular part of life here in Ethiopia, but it wasn’t always that way. You see, the electricity here is hydroelectrically generated. We arrived just a month before the rainy season was supposed to start, therefore the time of year when the rivers are low and not as much electricity is able to be produced. However, shortly after our arrival the government decided to regulate what had been an unpredictable schedule of “power-on” and “power-off” days to a consistent every-other-day schedule. Different areas of the city (or countryside) would have power while other areas would not, but we could reliably predict when we would have it. Finally, in the middle of June, the rainy season commenced, which unfortunately was a month later than usual, but our hopes for daily electricity returned.
The regularity of every-other-day electricity cuts changed at the beginning of 2002 (see previous blog to understand how 2002 just started last weekend). At first we thought the extra days of power were because of the holiday weekend. We thought, “The government must be giving out extra rations for the city to be able to enjoy celebrations together with friends and family.” The whole weekend with power came and went, without much surprise since it was the New Year. But when Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday came and went, all with power, we started to wonder, “is it possible that the power is back on to stay?” We aren’t holding our breath.
Just as the New Year has begun it seems that the consistent, daily rains have stopped. Why is it that when the rains stopped the power came back on? So now, a week and a day later we still have power…is it too good to be true? After more than 4 months of predictable, every-other-day power outages we can’t quite bring ourselves to believe that electricity is here to stay. It will be weird to get used to having power every day. Right now, it’s a luxury, though like most blessings, it will soon fade into just another thing that we take for granted, until it’s taken away once again.
Power ale?
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