Power failure

[ . BACK to TOP . ]
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Power failure, power cut,
electricity rationing, blackout

***** Location: Kenya
***** Season: Long rains, short rains
***** Category: Humanity

*****************************
Explanation

In Kenya, we have power failures all year round, sometimes for days on end -- but when the rains start pelting down, we actually expect the power to go... (see First rainfall).

The rainy season brings power failures or power cuts, most commonly in the form of the sudden disappearance of electricity. The tropical rains being so heavy, vulnerable power lines can be damaged by the force of the floods caused by rainfall, and sometimes even masts come down. Electrical teams are in high demand at such times, and work around the clock to restore electricity as soon as possible.

Much of Kenya’s power is in the form of hydro electricity. The force of the rainfall can also damage dams, again leading to power cuts.

When generating capacity is damaged to such an extent that not sufficient power can be produced for the country, a period of electricity rationing may be declared. Newspapers carry the times when the various parts of the city and the country will not have power, and people organise their lives around the times when electricity is available. As the generating capacity of the country has considerably risen over the past decade, such periods are now few and far between.

The major schools and businesses have generators on stand-by, and these spring into action automatically, once there is no power coming through. Normal households enjoying electricity supplies have older fall-back technologies, in common with those not yet connected to the grid : candles, kerosene lamps, jiko (kerosene or charcoal brazier), gas cookers. The real nightmare is for those with fridges and freezers, as a power cut of more than 24 hours probably means that all the contents will be spoilt.

Most Kenyan homes, schools and small businesses do not yet have electricity (although this may soon change, as power lines are being expanded to many new areas) -- so that power cuts are really not all that important in the lives of ordinary Kenyans. Those homes which are connected, usually have few demands on electricity supplies -- the most important of these being light -- hence the frequent use of the word blackout to describe a power failure.


Kerosene lamp in action

Text and photo © Isabelle Prondzynski

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


*****************************
Worldwide use


power outage –
barks spiral around
the neighbourhood

- Shared by Johannes Manjrekar -
Joys of Japan, 2012



*****************************
Things found on the way


© www.wap.org/journal/blackout/

A blackout is more commonly a war time occurrence, when there may be lights used in the houses, but people try to make sure that none shows outdoors, so that the enemy planes cannot see where the houses are, where the factories or barracks are located, etc... I cannot remember this... but being a European, it is part of folk memory in that part of the world, and my parents remember it well.

~ Isabelle Prondzynski

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


We had the black out from 1943 to 1955 in Japan.

black out
remembering War time
winter seclusion

Sakuo Nakamura


*****************************
HAIKU

after the rain --
cooking by candle light
in silence

power failure --
all the more visible
the full moon

candle night
hand in hand up the stairs
to find the bed


Cooking vegetables with a jiko

Haiku and photo © Isabelle Prondzynski

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


work pending
as blackout rages --
dark office

visitors arrive
think no one is in school --
blackout

Adelaide Luvandale


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

power failure again !
the ironing wallah grabs
for the charcoals

Gabi Greve, visiting India, 1980


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


power shortage --
torches glimmer in the
dark night

dark night --
people walk in the dimly
lit streets


Kelvin Mukoselo, Kenya
August 2009


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


candle light
glimmers in a dark room-
power rationing

Siboko Yamame
Kenya, August 2009


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


due to the current power crisis many people have resolved to the opposite
of doing stuff

power rationing--
a woman lights an old lamp
at the market

power rationing--
a long queue at the
old barber shop

water shortage--
a man whistles to a water
supply man

water shortage--
a zipless jacket abandoned
at the dry sink

two ducks feed
at a drying water pool--
dry august

hunger--
a broken pot deserted
at the well

hot terrain--
dry tear stains on the young
pokot boy


dry august--
two pokot girls battle
over wild berries

Hussein Haji, August 2009
pokot a pastrolism tribe in north kenya.

. . . CLICK here for Photos !

The Pokot people
(commonly spelled Pökoot, and called Suk in older literature) live in the West Pokot and Baringo Districts of Kenya and in eastern Karamoja in Uganda.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


I grope for
our door knob-
black out

Andrew Otinga, March 2011


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


power failure --
does the moonlight
outdo the candle's?

James Bundi, June 2012


*****************************
Related words


***** Jiko (both stove and brazier)

***** First rainfall, imminent rain

***** Candle Night


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Back to the Worldkigo Index

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::