water & electricity

At least once a week, the power goes out. How long the power will be out for is always a mystery…sometimes it comes back on after 10 minutes, and you hear cheers coming from all throughout the hostel, while other times it is out for four days. Earlier this week, the power went out from Monday morning to Wednesday evening. The other international hostel has a working generator, and so they had power….everyone in my hostel was looking longingly across the parking lot to the all of the light in ISH 1 (International Students Hostel 1)! However, our living conditions are some of the best in Ghana, not to mention the best on campus. Many of the other dorms on campus haven’t had running water all semester. These students have to travel to other halls with buckets to bring water back to their rooms for washing their hands, showering, washing dishes...

I learned in my geography class that 43% of Ghanaians have electricity and that 18% of Ghanaians have access to sanitation. These two statistics are correlated. For example, in my hostel, if the electricity is out, the water will always go out in the next 20 minutes. Why? The water tanks are powered by electricity. Generators are hard to come by in Ghana and often do not work. So, for three days this week when we had no water or power, I never washed my hands. Because I come from a rich country and have enough money, I had anti-bacterial soap with me that I could use after going to the bathroom and before eating. I have never seen anti-bacterial sold on the streets here (which is saying something!) and I highly doubt even if it was available that many people would be able to afford it, especially for the amount they would need during the frequent power outages.

When we drove back from Kumasi, my eyes were glued to the window (like they always are here!) I was horrified at the conditions in every village we passed. At one village, I saw children gathering water in dirty buckets (that had probably been used for food, laundry, carrying random items, etc). Not only were the buckets dirty, but the water they were scooping up was also dirty. It honestly looked more like sewage run-off than any sort of clean drinking water. And this water is used for drinking. It is no wonder that diarrhea is the leading cause of childhood deaths in the developing world and that infectious diseases are so common.

Some facts about water and electricity:

• 1.1 billion people have inadequate access to water
• 2.6 billion people lack basic sanitation
• At least 1.6 billion people live without electricity
• On average, women and girls in developing countries walk 6 kilometers a day, carrying 20 liters of water
• About 4,500 children die each day from unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation facilities
• In 11 countries in Africa, more than 90% of the population goes without electricity
• The amount of electricity consumed in one day in all of sub-Saharan Africa, minus South Africa, is about equal to that consumed in New York City

Why the worldwide electricity shortage? There are numerous causes: economic instability, war, poor planning, high oil prices, drought, lack of money to strengthen infrastructure, national debt. Drought in Ghana, for example, has hurt gold and aluminum production and set off blackouts in Togo and Benin, because both of these countries buy power from Ghana. People depend on electricity for heating, cooking, and their water supply. Without consistent electricity, a nation cannot industrialize. The lack of water and electricity is further trapping people in the cycle of poverty.

My professor for my Strategies of Development in Africa class received his Masters degree from a university in America. He told a story on the first day of class that exemplified the disparity in wealth between Ghana and the U.S. He said that as soon as he got to his room and saw that the tap water was running, he grabbed a bucket and filled it up, because he was certain from his previous life experience that he would need that water when the power went off. He said that his American roommate stared at him, asked him what he was doing, and then laughed and said that there would never be a water shortage in the United States. My professor didn’t believe him, and so kept the bucket of water in the bathroom just in case. After this story, he explained that many Ghanaians, especially in the rural areas, have never even seen running water....