Then the lights are off, people think that my shop is closed.”
Then the lights are off, people think that my shop is closed.”
As the sun sets on Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, Emmanuel Simukoko explains why his business has suffered from the worst blackouts in living memory.
Usually he stays open until 11 pm and makes a healthy living selling groceries, snacks, and drinks to his neighbors in Kabwata, a middle-class suburb in southeast Lusaka. But this year, Zambians have experienced power outages lasting 21 hours, or even days at a time. The luckiest households may receive five hours of electricity a day, but it’s often at unpredictable times or in the middle of the night.
Simukoko, 33, can no longer sell cold drinks, his biggest money maker, or perishables like milk and yogurt. He can’t charge his phone, so he can’t take online payments. And without lights, he has to close early. “It’s never been this bad before,” he says. “I lost maybe 30 percent of my business. I had to spend all my money on candles. It was getting too much, so I had to take on other piecework to provide for the people who look up to me.”
Read more at: Yale Environment 360
Photo Credit: Coernl via Pixabay
