What to do when the power is out?

OK, so I heard about the tornadoes that hit N.C. last week. I am very happy to say that everyone that I know is alright and no major damage was done to their homes. However, I noticed some people posting about not having power and how hard that is. Seeing as how we are having power outages here left and right I started to think about how it differs here from the United States. OK to give you an example of how often power goes out here, every other night I have power at my house, then it gets turned off around 8am and I have to wait till about 5pm the following day to get power, welcome to living in a “city” in Africa.

So what do I do when the power is out?? Well instead of watching TV, my family has one and I download shows off the internet, I read, A LOT!!! Which is something I did occasionally in the states, but I know how much easier it is to just turn on the TV. Second, I actually spend time talking to my family and people in my neighborhood. This is especially enjoyable at night when everyone is out and not hiding from the sun. I can’t remember one time in the United States where I walked down the street and people knew me by name and check to see how things are going with me. This is one of the benefits of not having power, you have to talk to others, which I feel is something lost that in the US. Now I thought, what the heck am I going to do for light, I’m going to go through so many batteries for my headlamp, well I never noticed just how bright a full moon can be. When I’m outside and it’s a full moon I don’t need my flash light, I actually have to use my sleepy eye mask when I’m sleeping on my roof and the moon is out. I would have never realized this in the States. So through all the frustration that no power creates (trust me I can name a lot) there are a lot of benefits and that not having power for a while is NOT the end of the world, just be creative and do something different!!

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