Let there be Light

One of the undeniably unique experiences in Zimbabwe today is ZESA. It is one of those acronyms ( pronounced Zeh-Sah), that you can really get your teeth into; it kind of sounds like something starting up and also coming to an end. This is appropriate because ZESA stands for Zimbabwean Electricity Supply Authority

They are behind-the-scenes, in power, pun intended, on their metaphorical Mount Olympus, they decide when we have ZESA and when we don't. Who has it and who doesn't.

In my own life experience, not having electricity is a relatively recent development. Electricity used to be just there, when you flicked a switch. Obviously, for many thousands of years, it wasn't there at all. To a new arrival, however, what happened before is fairly irrelevant. In the postmodern world, architecturally speaking, into which I was born, electricity was the kind of magic that everyone had already become so accustomed to, that it was just expected to show up. And it did.

Admittedly, there would have still been dark spots on the planet, like Timbuktu, where my mother sometimes suggested she would go, to get away from us children. It probably hadn't occurred to her, that when she got there, there would be no electricity.

On the odd occasion, one would marvel at how incredible it was that in the old days, people had lit the streets lights with a ladder, in London and Paris. And that all ovens had been wood-fired and now only pizza ovens were. We humans, quickly adapt to inventions, when most of us have no clue as to how they came about. We then sit back looking into the future, for what is coming next - like flying cars!

In this type of environment, it comes as a shock when we start going backwards. Ironically, Zimbabwe, and probably most of the 3rd world, are ahead of the pack in this respect. We in Zimbabwe feel that we are the pioneers of the "power cut". Instead of it being a rare event, the aftermath of a storm, for example, when a fallen tree has damaged the line. It is now just as likely to have power, as to not have it, at any given moment. It is difficult to say exactly when this came about, but it is now the norm for ZESA, ( ZESA has become vernacular for electricity), to just cease to be, at any time, without warning. The same applies to its return.

In other parts of the world, where the power cut is possibly starting to trend (even in the 1st world), they produce a schedule detailing when electricity is going to cease to be magically there, and when it's coming back. In Zimbabwe, ZESA stops when it stops, it is something that just happens, making you realize how much you had been taking it for granted,just a few moments before. This is accentuated by the fact that you have no idea when it will be back. It has become almost like the weather. In some parts of the country, even in towns, one hears that ZESA has still not returned; in the same way as one hears it hasn't rained in a certain part of the country, this year.

It goes without saying, up on our hill, that we don't have a problem with ZESA. There used to be ZESA and it wasn't even ZESA that stopped us from having ZESA. Someone stole the cables that ran up the hill, from the ZESA box. Replacing them is an expensive option and then we would still be in the dark, as to when ZESA was going to flick the switch. There would also be the added risk, that the thieves might use the opportunity of ZESA's absence to cut the cable again.

Being off the grid is also becoming quite trendy. This is where Zimbabwe has at least 10 years on everyone else, including Elon Musk. When being off the grid is a fact of life, and not a choice, you make a plan.

Solar is the answer, but solar panels are light and portable. As part and parcel of the system, the batteries are heavier but are still quite compact. Relative to their weight and size they still have " ATM ". This is another acronym which I would guess stands for Automatic Teller Machine? Cash machine is the name often used. When goods are referred to as ATM, by some people in Zim, it implies they are almost as easy to change into money, as using an ATM. Assuming, of course, that you actually have a bank account with money. Many having this conversation do not have either.

This is one of the reasons we are not going solar. We do have some small solar panels for charging portable lights, that can be moved around and removed, or locked up when we are away. For the main event, we have another option, one we can use at will and switch off when we wish. This gives one the feeling of being in charge, pun again intended, of one's life after dark. Even if we usually go to bed quite early.

The option is a large, ex-military generator that is so heavy it comes on its own trailer. The motor is an old Perkins diesel, which isn't what usually comes to mind, these days, when one speaks of being off the grid. It's not pretty, it's noisy and smelly (downwind), but it is off the grid. Another big positive is that it is not ATM, unlikely to be stolen, as it's not something with which one can easily walk off. There is also something " safari" about the clatter of a generator in the African night and then there is the peaceful silence that rushes in, when you shut it down and go to bed.