I was originally going to call this series “First World
Problems,” mostly because my complaints are kind of stupid, not unexpected and
easily solved. Nonetheless, they are
inconvenient and worth grumbling about.
However, I realized most of my issues are unique to impoverished
countries, so I had to rename it. I
think it might help a person who had never been to Rwanda better understand how
people live here.
So my first Developing World Problem is about the
power. Let me restate my disclaimer
above that I’m being ridiculous. Very
few Rwandans homes have electricity, particularly in rural areas. And I have power. But the lights go out almost every
night. Perhaps it goes out during the
day too and I don’t know because windows are the main source of lights
(electricity is very expensive so it is not wasted on light during the
day). A few times I have seen a teacher
using a projector that stops working and he has to improvise and plan for that
in his lesson.
But honestly, the main reason this bothers me is because my
flashlight absolutely sucks. Look at
this picture. The left is my roommate’s
mini flashlight and the right light is mine.
Can you even see that miniscule amount of light on the wall? I think it needs new batteries. But batteries are not available in Nyamata, I
would have to go to Kigali, the capital and who knows how much they would be
there. I found a flashlight at market
with rechargeable batteries (I believe that is the norm here) but I was too
stubborn and frugal to buy it.
What makes my whining even more ridiculous is there is a
generator for Maranyundo. If it is after
6:30 pm they will turn on the generator after a few minutes of darkness and
life will go back to normal. So I am
really saying that I have nothing to grumble about.
For
most Rwandans this unreliability of electricity has a greater cost than that of
a flashlight. Fuel for generators is expensive and much income is lost for
businesses on that expense. The example
in this World Bank article is a barber who made $4.75/day and paid $3.17/day
for fuel. Similarly, restaurants lose money when food
spoils without refrigeration. Health
centers waste money on unreliable electricity and are unable to safely store
vaccine and medicines, not to mentions the difficulties that would come with
practicing medicine in the dark. Schools
are deterred from teaching computer classes in school when they do not know if
the computers will be functioning at any given time and students are prevented
from studying efficiently if there is minimal light during the evenings. Perhaps most importantly, people do not want
to invest in a country where electricity is unreliable.
Does
this sound hopeless and frustrating?
Actually, what is developing in Rwanda right now is really
exciting! Access to electricity is a key
priority in Rwanda and from 2008-2012 it increased from 6% of the population to 16%. Even
the number of schools connected rose 70% from 2009-2012. They aspire to connect 70% of homes by 2017!
How will they do this? Currently their main sources come
from hydropower, methane gas and peat. Domestic and International efforts are
working to achieve this goal through several different sources of
electricity. Based on the Rwandan
government’s track record, I would say it is very likely they will achieve
their goal!
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