My Worst Experience With Power Outage So Far

My Worst Experience With Power Outage So Far

Photo by Cecilia Miraldi

The absence of three basic things could make me fall sick, power, food, and water. If these things would be available, I don't mind staying at home for a month without going out. For most of us, our lives revolve around our phones, laptops, etc, these gadgets have become our friends, our comfort, our source of income, and so on. I won't lie. My smartphone is one of the things I will forever be grateful to technology for.

Nevertheless, one limitation with these gadgets is their batteries need to be recharged in order to keep them working and that is where the need for power comes in. In most places power supply is good, but down here in Nigeria, the power supply is very poor. Sometimes we barely see steady light for three hours, I repeat, sometimes. That is why most people look for alternatives like power banks, generators, solar, and so on for backup.

Although the power supply is not that good here we still appreciate and treasure the little we get. it does a lot, even if it's just an hour that we see light on the bulbs it's okay compared to when it's not there at all.

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One of the worst experiences I had with a power outage was last month, it started on a fateful Monday. I am the type that loves watching movies at night to get some sleep. Most times movies are my pills for sleep. I watched movies that night till I fell asleep. The next morning which was Monday, I woke up and my phone was around 50 % and I wanted to go and see my mom. I decided I was not going to charge the phone till I returned home. On my way out, I listened to some music and chatted for a while and my battery percentage kept dropping. When I got back home, it was around 30 % and there was no light.

I managed the 30% I had, wrote a post on Hive, and engaged in a few posts. Then I dropped the phone hoping that they would bring light. I waited until night fell and light didn't come. It was already late, I couldn't go out again to charge it in the neighborhood because of the insecurity in our place. Gosh, I became so worried because I hadn't performed my task on Dreemport and I have another post to write.

To my surprise, they didn't bring the light. I already missed a lot from the previous day, I was not ready to go another day with the same experience. So I decided to take the phone to a charging center, In the evening, I went and collected it.

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When I got back home, I decided to ask my neighbors what happened to our light and they gave me the shocking news of my life, our transformer exploded. I felt bad because I know it's definitely going to take long before it gets fixed.

Photo by Jules Amé

I can't stay without my phone, let's even keep the entertainment aspect aside, but if my phone should be off, it means I am going on a break on Hive and other platforms where I work. And of course, you know if I don't work, there won't be money and if there is no money, there won't be food.

I have no option but to start taking my phone to the charging center every day, and the worst part is, I have to take a bike to the place because it is far from where I live. Sometimes when I don't have enough money, I have to trek down there to charge my phone and because I don't have money to transport myself, considering the distance, I would just hang around until my phone gets charged.

It was during that period I knew the value of a power bank, but to be honest I didn't get one. The reason is, I was not having enough money and I don't want to get a small power bank that won't serve me. It will just be like a waste of money.

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So, I continued going to charging centers to charge my phone for almost a month. It was such a difficult moment for me. Honestly, if not that the phone was of great value to me, I would have just dumped it and rest. I went through a lot of stress to get it charged. If it was a relationship, I am sure I would have ended it. I can't kill myself.

During that period, I didn't watch movies, I barely chat, and the phone became basically for business. I was just managing the battery, thank God, the battery is a bit strong, if I charge it 100 % I can use it for most of my work. I work during the day, and by night I am forced to sleep because my phone is off and because I have no power bank and I can't afford to spend money on transportation or trek a long distance to the charging center again, I have to accept my fate and sleep until the next day. That was the routine throughout that month.

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