I woke up in the middle of the night to yet another rain storm! Apparently this is unheard of here. Breakfast was veggie scrambled eggs, French toast, and juice. Of course there is no power again so I am yet again worthless in terms of accomplishing anything on the computer. My biggest challenge will be trying to find something gainful to do with my day.
We found out that we are not alone in being without power since the ENTIRE COUNTRY OF TANZANIA is without power! How can this be?? Well, Tanesco, the state-owned power distribution company, purchases power from three IPP’s (Independent Power Producers) and has failed to pay them for a long enough period of time to where they have decided to stop generating power to contribute to the grid. I imagine with the amount of people discussing what’s going on with the power that we will see something interesting happen politically. Who knows, maybe this will trigger more enthusiasm behind privatizations in Tanzania. Historically Tanzania has had bad luck with privatizations and since 2006 the country has mostly been opposed to the idea. The opposition party is using this as a time to rally as all businesses either pay for expensive diesel to power their equipment or temporarily shut down. Employment regulation here is very protective of the worker and short-term layoffs are not generally accepted. Something needs give way and soon. I think I’ll keep getting the paper.
I’ve heard that the clinic is running the generator to do some dental procedures so I’ll go up there and try to siphon off some of the power to charge my computers and do a little work. I also have a file I used when writing a paper this semester with a section called “Tanzanian Power Privatizations.” I’ll see what I can learn about the current mess.
I woke up in the middle of the night to yet another rain storm! Apparently this is unheard of here. Breakfast was veggie scrambled eggs, French toast, and juice. Of course there is no power again so I am yet again worthless in terms of accomplishing anything on the computer. My biggest challenge will be trying to find something gainful to do with my day. 
We found out that we are not alone in being without power since the ENTIRE COUNTRY OF TANZANIA is without power! How can this be?? Well, Tanesco, the state-owned power distribution company, purchases power from three IPP’s (Independent Power Producers) and has failed to pay them for a long enough period of time to where they have decided to stop generating power to contribute to the grid. I imagine with the amount of people discussing what’s going on with the power that we will see something interesting happen politically. Who knows, maybe this will trigger more enthusiasm behind privatizations in Tanzania. Historically Tanzania has had bad luck with privatizations and since 2006 the country has mostly been opposed to the idea. The opposition party is using this as a time to rally as all businesses either pay for expensive diesel to power their equipment or temporarily shut down. Employment regulation here is very protective of the worker and short-term layoffs are not generally accepted. Something needs give way and soon. I think I’ll keep getting the paper.
I’ve heard that the clinic is running the generator to do some dental procedures so I’ll go up there and try to siphon off some of the power to charge my computers and do a little work. I also have a file I used when writing a paper this semester with a section called “Tanzanian Power Privatizations.” I’ll see what I can learn about the current mess. 
I could've told you Tanzania was dark, buddy, but don't worry sometimes it's fun to be the minority, ha
ReplyDeleteI hope you had a fun 4th of July, very interesting I'm sure.
Send me that video if you ever get power long enough to record it, or upload it from your camera and e-mail it...Landau140@hotmail.com