Look around you and take in everything you need electricity for – to make a cup of tea with the kettle, your X-box for afternoon’s entertainment or to plug in your hair straighteners…now imagine not having electric.
It’s amazing how much we use electricity and how much we take it for granted so this post about electricity may not seem like a big deal to you, but trust me, it is.
As I mentioned in an earlier post we’ve been lucky enough to have an electricity connection at Matandani School. We are the first rural school in the whole of the rural Zomba area (over 200 schools) to have electricity. This was a major breakthrough as it usually takes anywhere from 6 months to a couple of years to get fully connected by the government electricity company ESCOM. Due to persistence and meeting the right people, the District Engineer for ESCOM, we applied for connection September 1st and by November 1st (8 weeks) we had lights and sockets working!
With this being a bit of a surprise to have it so soon, we had to start thinking about what we were going to do to take full advantage of having electric.
One of the first things the school did was to invite a nearby school to play a game of football and netball, and after the matches the teachers organised a disco in one of the classrooms. I thought this was a great idea as it was a great opportunity for the children to enjoy themselves and have some fun after the competitive games.
Other changes we have made now we have electric have been installing lights in Standard 7 and 8 classrooms so when exam time nears, the students can study and get extra lessons well into the evening. It also enables adult classes and general village meetings to take place after 6pm too.
Electricity has also improved security as we’ve installed a light outside too.
All in all, having electricity has ensured a brighter future for Matandani by providing numerous opportunities for both the teachers and students.
We’ll have more updates on the electricity projects and their progress soon.
