How Frequent Are Power Outages for You?

I wonder what year and century a third world developing country like mine will become a place where things that should be normal in modern times are no longer abnormal. And it makes me question the word "developing," because shit ain't developing here.

I don't always talk about our electricity issues where I am from because, well, we all have different problems across the globe and in different countries. This time, I want to put it in a journal or something.

Do I get electricity every day? Not really. Sometimes, nothing for days, almost weeks. When I get electricity, how long does it last? 1-4 hours, tops. Is the power supply predictable? Heh. Joke of the year. Heck, no! It's rather sporadic. How does that affect me? In every way possible.

It's embarrassing when I share with people that aren't from about the electricity palaver and they go, "Oh, yeah. That's a recurring thing I hear from Nigerians." Not that it makes me uncomfortable, but that's really the reality we live in.

There are alternatives we turn to for power. Most people own gasoline generators here. Some others own solar-inverter systems. Guess what, though? Gasoline is more expensive than gold. Solar-inverter systems cost a fortune now. In a place where you have neither, you're at the mercy of the power-holding company—like me.

Power banks have now become an extension of my being as I carry them around like an oxygen tank—for my phone, though. With the previous behaving unstable, I had to spend $25 on a new and bigger one. The poor guy is sitting on the table with only a 2% charge. Of course, you can't store what you don't get!

My PC, on the other hand, needs a mains power supply. When there isn't electricity, well, I just have to rely on its battery. Unfortunately for me, the information I have is that the battery is failing. So I am basically left with a "desktop."

A smartphone isn't the same as a PC. Some things are just 10x harder on mobile than on PC. How can you learn to code? That's one of "those things."

It doesn't add up why we can't get electricity for way longer and more consistently. There have been times when we'd be given way more electricity than expected, though. In those times, nobody died because of it, and neither did the world end. So, why not? It never adds up.

I can't begin to list the number of issues that arise from the lack of electricity. Imagine how important food preservation and preparation can be. Or imagine that I have to iron my clothes days earlier every time. What I know is that it is 2024, and it's so off to step out at this time, midnight, and see almost nothing—pitch black.

If aeroplanes didn't have their own navigation systems, they'd get lost travelling over a place so dark at night. Don't even bother looking down.

I'm looking to get a solar inverter system for my home, where my entire family lives. I don't know how long that would take, but it's something that has become very important to have in these times. I'd like to walk into 2025 knowing that we achieved that. Because all this nonsense can't continue forever. Let's see how that goes.

Where I am now is very far away, in another state. And I don't have access to a generator or anything. There's a place, a hotel, where I go to work every day. They run diesel generators and have electricity for many hours during the day. Recently, they changed their mode of operation.

There is now no electricity as before, and I'm often left looking and hoping that electricity from the grid will show up when I need it, at least. That never happens anyway.

I think I'll stop here. 3% is all I have left until God knows when. The power bank is empty. Before I go, however, how frequent are power outages for you?