Finding my way in the dark

Once upon a time in a land far far away, on the southernmost tip of Africa, there lived a people who called themselves Souf Effrikans. In this land, the powers never let them down and the lights never faded. I know it sounds like a fairy tale to those poor people who stumble around in the dark these days, but it's true!

The main reason for being left in the dark in those years was if you did not pay your electricity bill. Well, then you'd be cut off for sure, although the powers that be still pretended to be polite and would call warning you to pay your bill by the end of the day, or else!

Nowadays some people get away with not paying for their electricity and I will tell you about that just now!

Those three dots with the halo around it is reflecting on to the Television screen which cannot be turned on no matter what, yet we still sit in front of it hoping the power will return sooner rather than later!

As you see in my photo, the power has been taken away and I will tell those who live far far away why this happened now, in the twenty first century nogal, and how us brave Souf Effrikans survive.

One thing's for sure, we never let anything get us down and we sure do not lose our sense of humour, even in these dark times!

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How the power was lost

• Cable theft - I know this is not part of the brief, but thought I would share it with you here.

Yes the baddies are now risking their lives by stealing electricity cables, not only leaving entire roads in the dark, but also destroying Televisions, Microwave Ovens, automatic Gate motors, etc etc, as they first remove the neutral wires which then sends high voltage power to our little homes, literally frying many electronic appliances!

They then use those stolen cables to illegally connect people living in informal settlements on to the power grid. The connections often leave high voltage wires exposed and have caused many deaths already.

This electricity is free once the unfortunate people called squatters have paid dearly for their illegal connection.

I know you don't believe me, but this is a true story or as we would say in Afrikaans Die reinige waarheid! translated to English This is the truth, the whole truth!

• Loadshedding

So what is being shed I hear you ask; shedding a load, what on earth does that mean?

Electricity of course, leaving not only households in the dark, but also big industries. These are planned electricity cuts as the people in charge of our government-controlled power utility called Eskom not only colluded with a crooked family called the Guptas to fill their pockets, but also got rid of many of their skilled staff in a rash fashion, neglected maintenance of power stations, refused to buy coal from reliable sources plus a whole host of other reasons.

I know it sounds unbelievable, but it's true, Die reinige waarheid!

This power utility called Eskom actually discourages its consumers from using its product!

How do we cope here in South Africa?

Well we curse and swear as we stumble around in the dark when we forgot that it's our turn to have our electricity shed, and of course curse again if our cell phones or laptops are about to die and we forgot to charge the power packs!

We have learnt a new skill nowadays, something we were never taught at school, and that is how to survive Load Shedding.

Basic Load Shedding Survival Kit

• Emergency Rechargeable Lamp

• Battery operated Lamp

• Candles & Matches in case the above fails

• Cell phone power pack

• Mobile WiFi Router

To explain how the powers-that-be do this - firstly there are Stages of loadshedding:-
Stages one to four - almost sounds like a Cancer diagnosis!

When it's Stage 1 you will experience one two hourly period without electricity per 24 hours; Stage 2 will be two periods etc etc, it currently goes up to Stage 4. Now they're talking about Stage 5 & 6; heaven forbids that it goes to Stage 12 as we will be left in total darkness!

Where I live, they've divided us into blocks and somehow we've ended up in one that rarely has Loadshedding, but all around us people are being left in the dark as regular as clockwork!

There's been some spin-offs for some businesses - generator sales have soared, as have Solar power, Gas stoves and battery operated torches and lamps often are sold out. If you would like to make money, export any of those to South Africa if you're a manufacturer, you will get rich for sure, especially if you befriend someone in the government or in Eskom.

Charcoal sales as well as Diesel sales have also spiked to keep the Generators running as well as the Braais - BBQs

Braais and Potjies have become popular during loadshedding but I would not advise you to do this in the dead of the night, unless you've hired security guards and have good emergency lighting.

On that note, make sure you've secured all doors if you're alone as there are opportunistic criminals who take advantage of loadshedding!

There's a useful and reliable App that one can download on your cell phone, EskomSePush.

This app does push notifications informing us of the different Stages and the times our Block is supposed to go out so we can plan our days and nights.

If you are familiar with the Afrikaans language, you will immediately understand the name of this App, the guy who designed it was real tongue in cheek, a very cheeky name in fact as he's cursing Eskom!

I do hope you've learnt something from this, my entry into @princessmewmew's challenge to all Souf Effrikans Load Shedding Contest to tell how we survive this Guzbucking thing called Load Shedding.

🌸 HOW IT WORKS/HOE WERK DIT 🌸

write a post of your own telling either of a funny/scary/just plain kak experience you have endured because of load shedding

OR write a post with your top tips for how to survive loadshedding

OR write a post with your thoughts on the load shedding issue

🌸 RULES/REËLS 🌸

upvote and resteem this post

you must use the tags #loadsheddingiskak and #contest

please tag/nominate as many South Africans as you can in your post to get the word out

Note - the word Guzbuck was invented by a man known as @sultnpapper so anyone who is familiar with his blog, will know what it means.

All credit for using that word therefore goes to Mr Papper, and I fully agree with @princessmewmew, Load Shedding Is KAK!!!

Spread the word to as many South Africans as you can

@jaynie @fionasfavourites @freetissues @lizelle @joanstewart @morkrock @therneau @shadowolfdg @chekohler @breezin @kiligirl @campx4 @tim-beck @vanessak @cerise @woe-is-meme @alishi @sweetpea @cape-town @johanvdwalt @p1eter @dewallenband @dse @bigbear @dianadee @braaiboy @teamsouthafrica

@papilloncharity @anneke @aliciasteyn @artywink

Please spare a thought for us while you enjoy uninterrupted power in your country - my thoughts and prayers go out to other countries less fortunate especially Venezuela!

Update to my post
We went from Loadshedding Stage 4 to no loadshedding, overnight! Elections are coming up in May, can we expect no loadshedding till then, but what about afterwards?
Could not resist this funny that's gone viral in SA:

Original Content by @lizelle

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