Sudan Power Blackouts: Lost Productivity - Let me count the ways

Sudan Blackouts: Lost productivity - Let me count the ways

Sudan blackouts continue, with most of Khartoum waking up to no power these days while outside the capital, power supply can be MIA for days.

What does this mean to a normal person trying to go about their day in Khartoum? Let me count the ways:

1. Wrinkled clothes - for people in say, dress shirts, a lot of morning scrambling will occur, with alternatives ranging from spritzing with water to a charcoal iron, to admitting defeat and throwing on a casual t-shirt.

2. Telecommunication signals lost. No phone calls, no emails, which also means no work/conference calls or online meetings. Missed deadlines and information gaps and delayed action.

3. Traffic lights stop working. The law of the jungle becomes the rule of the land. Best case scenario, slowed traffic from congestion, worst case scenarios, traffic accidents at every intersection, resulting in missed appointments and high tensions.

4. Productivity and Operations Halt. Computers won't compute and phone batteries will run out and back-up power supplies won't be turned on all day, every day, in most work places.

5.  Elevators won’t elevate… For many of us, living and working on higher floors means re-thinking going out or staying in, with some people now avoiding elevators altogether, in case of a sudden blackout, they worry about becoming trapped :-/

6. Food – with an acute shortage of cooking gas in Sudan (ostensibly due to a maintenance issue with the national supply) electrical alternatives are also dismissed when there’s a blackout. I was just reading a post in a mother’s group, one member asking what she could prepare for her children to eat when they come home from school, that won't require gas or power, a dilemma harking back to ancient times.

7.  Doorbells. A friend just texted to call her when visiting, in case the power is out and doorbell isn’t working. This won’t just impact our social lives – but many offices in commercial buildings will now leave their doors open, and bear the associated security consequences.

8.  Air conditioning and ventilation systems. Sudan is a hot country. Right now, in the midst of winter, it’s 38°C. Add to this mosquitoes (and flies) and many a Sudanese family will be up all night, drenched in sweat, swatting at pests.

9.  The National Water Corporation is struggling to provide water to residents, in light (excuse the pun) of the continuous blackouts. Not to mention that individual water pumps don’t work without power. Some people will have plastic barrels, jerry cans, buckets or pitchers strategically located in kitchens and bathrooms, as a backup supply. Showers, laundry, dishwashing and drinking water, in addition to the obvious toilet run, need to be strategized.

10. Radio channels go off the air. So, even if, by some miracle, you're in an air-conditioned vehicle, they take away your jam (or news update) leaving you with the sound of silence. 

11. Last but not least, light. The dark… Navigating spaces via phone lights, if charged, dangerous candles or lamps, or nothing at all, if not. Things that go bump in the night will be your shins and knees.

 

 

All these factors, come together, chipping away at your day and your energy; resulting in lost work and lost sleep and lost time and a sleep deprived, irritable, exhausted populace. We’re trying, we’re trying but some days, it's just too hard.

Note: This is the case in the capital, Khartoum... the peripheries have it much, much worse, which why my day job consists of sustainable development towards improving the lived reality of Sudanese citizens all over the country.