sunday morning
Sunday morning, I am reading in bed as the sun rises and day breaks. Without notice, the room is suddenly silent – the background whirl of the a/c is gone. Not ten seconds later, the reliable sound of an engine revving as the diesel generator comes to life. And add another ten seconds and I am once again blessed with the cool breeze of the air conditioner.
It is strange. In a city where only half of the population is even connected to the national grid and where a small number of these – major office building, industrial park, western hotel, and any residence housing diplomats/expats/and the Tanzanian upper class at least are equipped with a diesel generator. (Interesting enough, the Confederation of Tanzania Industry suggests that the unreliable supply of electricity is the main reason the country cannot be business competitive in East Africa; business have to focus first on costs involved with back-up power, or repairing damages incurred during the almost daily outages, many which are planned load sheds though often without any notice).
Yet here we always are, the expat community, grumbling when the power goes out. We rant that to have access to water, electricity, and the internet all at once is a rare blessing and should be celebrated. These conversations always leave me feeling awkward and uncomfortable. How many people in this country don’t have access to safe and clean water (32% says CARE Tanzania) grid electricity (10% according to the UNDP) and, the internet (CIA Factbook states 580,000 in 2008 – out of 40 Million)? Not even for a few pressure minutes a day, are the essential services that are no longer a privilege but a basic human right available. Most folks I have spent time with realize how ridiculous their whining sounds, but the ‘take for granted mentality’ is easy to slip back into when you are surrounded by the comforts of home.
It’s a shame to think that businesses will always go that extra mile to ensure that tourists and visitors to the country are comfortable during their stay, so we can get a comfortable night’s sleep in air conditioned rooms, write our blogs and email our home, take a hot shower as many times a day as our guilt ridden stomachs or blissfully ignorant heart’s desire, and suck back 1.5L bottles of water to stay hydrated. It’s a tough reality to swallow (along with my Anti-Malaria drug) some days.
And yes, I realize it is Wednesday. I would have posted this earlier, but my internet connection has been down.
Tags: energy4everyone, musings, tanzania
This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 at 10:37 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.