Electricity

Recently when I went down to the parish centre for Choir practice before mass I realised that the electricity was out in the area. As it was not back by 11.30 our choir performance at 12 mass was cancelled but mass itself went ahead. I thought the priest would be fine as he had one of those small mics that attach to clothing and was run on battery but when he got to the alter I realised he did not have it, maybe the speaker the mic goes out over needs electricity or something, or maybe he was showing solidarity with the readers at mass who would have no mic. I dunno, technically things like that are not my area of expertise.

As Fr Tom began the mass I could not help but think back to my time in Uganda and the power outages we encountered, life must go on. When I was going over I was not entirely sure what the electricity situation would be..... Still, this scout went over without her head torch! Overall I don't think we experienced too many outages. I vaguely remember our first outage on our second or third night in Uganda. This one lasted just a few hours. Then there was one (the following week I think) that lasted a bit longer, it was gone all night. I am sure we experienced at least one other outage, as we were told they were a regular thing losing power becomes the norm and you only remember the first one and the ones that happen when you are at something important or have to go to bed without power.

After one of the outages, I remember one of the locals telling us that power outages are a regular thing in the areas as they turn off the power. I remember thinking at that stage this was strange but okay.... 'we are in a third world country, maybe they have to turn off the power to save money' but then it hit me...... 'what do they care if people cannot afford their bills'. So, I had to do a bit of research to find out if this is a Global issue or not.

The first thing that surprised me was that in 2012 only 10% of the population had electricity. This figure was up to just over 20% in 2014. So electricity availability is growing. In the school that we were in we only had a very small bit in the staff area, they could not afford to power every room. The country finds it difficult to meet the demands for electricity and this is part of the reason for the outages. "Load- shedding" is common in Uganda. This is when power is cut on part of the grid in order to prevent a shut down across the whole system. They need to do this because the demand on the supply is too much. But this is being worked on and hydropower is now used. This is where dams are built on rivers to power the deliverance of electricity. But is there more that the Western world can do for our African brothers and sisters? I remember seeing a Chinese company doing something over there but can not remember what it was or if it was linked to giving them electricity. I should have paid more attention. The country is still poor in many parts and the people cannot afford electricity. On a country level can our Governments provide money to invest in a 1st world electricity supply for the country? Our can we supply the resources that they need to build this infrastructure? Can we help they supply power that would be more affordable for its citizens? I always say that there is no point building these things for the people and leaving them. We need to train them how to maintain it.

But there are other reasons too for power outages, for example, lightning can lead to an upsurge in voltage which causes power to go. Also if a pole falls it cuts supply. Also if oil is low in the transformer supply needs to be shut off to prevent a fire in the transformer. Technical faults also arise from vandalism.