NEPA and the household
Door: Thessa
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18 Oktober 2006 | Nigeria, Abuja
NEPA, meaning the electricity, commonly referred to as “light” and better known as Never Expect Power Always, is a great contributor to the every-day challenges.
The average evening would go something like this:
At 7 PM it is completely dark and there’s no NEPA, but luckily we have a rechargeable torch to use while cooking. Some 10 mins later NEPA comes on. Big cheers, talks about having a party, running around the garden. The rice is quietly boiling. This situation lasts for about 5 minutes. Light goes again, but we have the torch. Till that one goes too... Struggling in a dark kitchen to find a torch. Hurting various limbs on the way to the small battery torch, but finally it is found and we can continue cooking with a bluish light. Rice doesn’t look good when you see it in a blue light… NEPA comes on again and the ventilator is working again. Was about time, cos the heat outside, combined with the efforts of finding torches and boiling blue rice, really make a person melt. This situation lasts another 10 minutes, but by the time the dinner is ready, you are just very happy if there is ANY light, no matter what the source…
It is therefore no surprise that, in this NEPA-country, we discovered an ant-like creature yesterday that mastered the art of generating light in its bum... Evolution is a wonderful thing…
Still, I think that even WITH continuous light, cooking wouldn’t be all that easy. Getting groceries in the supermarket is something for expats, so daily we find our way through the maze of muddy alleys in the market, hopping from stall to stall. Passing a cow’s head, bumping into various household items, dodging millions of people, wondering what kind of vegetable it is you see in the next shop... Even something as simple as ground nuts can be a challenge: the ones we bought seemed raw, until we discovered that they were cooked (and tasteless) and not at all what we had hoped them to be. Our neighbours shake their head over so much stupidity; they probably wonder why I don’t even know how to cook them vile-looking beans…
People, next time you buy something in a shop that only requires 10 mins of cooking instead of 2 hours: appreciate it! And when you have light to see what you’re eating, well: enjoy!
The average evening would go something like this:
At 7 PM it is completely dark and there’s no NEPA, but luckily we have a rechargeable torch to use while cooking. Some 10 mins later NEPA comes on. Big cheers, talks about having a party, running around the garden. The rice is quietly boiling. This situation lasts for about 5 minutes. Light goes again, but we have the torch. Till that one goes too... Struggling in a dark kitchen to find a torch. Hurting various limbs on the way to the small battery torch, but finally it is found and we can continue cooking with a bluish light. Rice doesn’t look good when you see it in a blue light… NEPA comes on again and the ventilator is working again. Was about time, cos the heat outside, combined with the efforts of finding torches and boiling blue rice, really make a person melt. This situation lasts another 10 minutes, but by the time the dinner is ready, you are just very happy if there is ANY light, no matter what the source…
It is therefore no surprise that, in this NEPA-country, we discovered an ant-like creature yesterday that mastered the art of generating light in its bum... Evolution is a wonderful thing…
Still, I think that even WITH continuous light, cooking wouldn’t be all that easy. Getting groceries in the supermarket is something for expats, so daily we find our way through the maze of muddy alleys in the market, hopping from stall to stall. Passing a cow’s head, bumping into various household items, dodging millions of people, wondering what kind of vegetable it is you see in the next shop... Even something as simple as ground nuts can be a challenge: the ones we bought seemed raw, until we discovered that they were cooked (and tasteless) and not at all what we had hoped them to be. Our neighbours shake their head over so much stupidity; they probably wonder why I don’t even know how to cook them vile-looking beans…
People, next time you buy something in a shop that only requires 10 mins of cooking instead of 2 hours: appreciate it! And when you have light to see what you’re eating, well: enjoy!
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
