As from few months ago, I never really paid much attention to electricity until I move to a new place where unfortunately electricity isn't available. At first I thought it was just something temporary but it has since been months I last saw a spark of electricity. In my new place the electricity supply has stopped being available and it made me understand that lack of electricity does not just mean darkness in the nights but what your life actually depends on.
It has now been six months without electricity in my residence, and what was at first thought to be a temporary issue, has become a fact which seems to affect my everyday life to a great extent. Worst part of it all is that nobody else living in my street is complaining and their silence tends to show a general acceptance that this is the way it is going to be from now, despite the inconveniences being experienced.
The biggest effect this lack of electricity has done to me is regarding my work. I rely on my laptop for my online work but I have not been able to power it on for over 6 now and because of that, have been forced to make my mobile phone do virtually everything which it is not best designed to perform. And even that comes with it own cost because I spend money everyday to charge my mobile phone and power bank.
It did not seem like a big deal at first, but over time, those little daily expenditures started adding up and taken a larger part of my monthly expenditure, and it became more frustrating knowing that something basic as electricity is the reason for these costs. And beside that, there are limitations to what I can do with phone.
As a matter of fact, I became angry today when I had the opportunity to turn on my laptop after months. I was really looking forward to what the device will do for me, thinking I might have found a short term solution to the electricity problem. I carried my laptop to my brother's office where they have a solar system and he allowed me use a small space where I powered on my laptop and tried to perform my usual tasks.
However the experience was so frustrating because what should have been done within minutes of turning on your laptop took so much time to perform due to not using it for a long time. Browsing, and performing usual operation was very slow, and pages were taking forever to load up. The poor performance makes me wonder if my laptop could behave like that, what will happen to my other electrical appliances at home which have not been put on for months will be like when electricity is finally restored.
I have therefore concluded that prolonged failure to have electricity has impacts not just on your comfort and productivity but on what you own as well as the lifespan of those appliances. They affect all aspect of our lives and what someone is actually able to do.
Electricity is not something that we should take for granted but unfortunately the people who should be responsible for providing us this utility are not doing anything about it and eventually what we have acquired that require the use of electricity are being destroyed and are consequently pulling us backwards.