Skip to main content

This Little Light

-->
One of the things I take most for granted in the UK is definitely electricity. In the village we are working in, 85% of homes do not have electricity and those that do, mostly generate it themselves from solar energy. Using the sun as a source of energy is obviously a sustainable way of generating electricity but the issue is that the whole village cannot access mains power and is not part of any national energy grid.
Electricity is not one of the highest priorities for the village, so it is not something we will be working on in the short time that we’re here but it is something that the community could campaign on themselves now that we’ve started developing stronger links with local government bodies. Currently the more urgent issues are access to primary health care and a clean drinking water supply as well as getting the access road to the village paved.
My host home does have electricity, which I’m very grateful for as it gets dark very early, very quickly here. It does mean you can see to do those last minute jobs before bed as well. For me, this means doing some last-minute bits of work, writing in my journal, reading a book or having some free time playing badminton with the boys outside. For my host family, this could mean weighing vegetables to take to market early in the morning or watching a little TV, the news or a dubbed Indian soap opera being the preferred options.
Initially it was quite frustrating that the electricity goes off every night at some point and often at several times during the day as well but we’re not normally at home then. I’ve got used to this now and always make sure that I know where my torch is once it gets dark. Random darkness does force me to be a bit more social some evenings as well since you can’t hide in your room when there are only two rechargeable lamps in the house and an oil lamp is hardly practical whilst sitting under a mosquito net! Yesterday I managed to find a rechargeable torch and lamp combination in Chitalmari market, which has come in pretty handy already.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fun things

These are the times when I love my current role. Part of my job is helping people de-stress and recharge by helping to organise fun things and doing little trips to places. I can’t go with them for all of them but I do get to help make them happen. If you don’t have a car the North Coast can be a challenging place to visit as the public transport system is dire (unless you’re heading to Giant’s Causeway that is) so I get to help make those little trips happen to places you can’t get to unless you’re planning to walk everywhere for a very long time or have a car. I’ve taken people to watch the sunset at Kinbane Head, dropped people off at Murlough Bay to walk back over Fairhead, gone to explore some caves in Cushendun and many other things. This may all seem pretty irrelevant but actually helps people unwind when the entirety of living and working at full capacity gets tiring. It’s about saying we care about helping you de-stress and we heard the wish when you said you’d love ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Programme Videos

Here are the videos from each ICS team from the January-April group: Chardakatia: South-West Sat Vaia Para, Khagrachari: Chittagong Afjalpur: North-West
Post a Comment
Read more

Goodbyes, farewells and welcomes

One of the most challenging things about this place is the goodbyes. It’s part of the rhythm of life here and whilst you anticipate the dates, it doesn’t make saying those goodbyes any easier. The summer is a particularly challenging time for the lived community as people come to volunteer for short periods of time and can have a huge impact, and then there are goodbyes to the people who have lived here for a year or more. There are things about living here which are hard to explain to those who’ve never experienced the intensity of it. The impact a small group of people can have on your sense of yourself, your personal growth and professional development is astounding. The ways that I see the world have been challenged again and again this last year and whilst there are people I have shared experiences with who I will probably never see again, there are also those I know will be some of the closest friends I have for years to come. It’s strange to anticipate another year here ...
Post a Comment
Read more