The thought of living without water, electricity, and cooking gas is an unthinkable one. But to be honest, most of us would cope very well without having one or two of these supplies for a month. However, it is going to be total hell to lose all three of them.
Among the three items, the one that would really deal with me is the absence of water. Like, how can one survive without a water supply for a whole month?
I have stayed without cooking gas and electricity before, and I saw different ways of improvising. But water? Hey! The last time I lacked water to the extent that there was nowhere to fetch water in an entire community, it was unbearable.
It was during my service year in the eastern part of Nigeria, where the water table is very far underground. This makes only a few people able to own boreholes, and only a few compounds have wells within their premises. My compound was among the few that had a well, which gave me maximum comfort with water—until the dry season during March and April, when the well dried up completely.
We started going to a faraway borehole to buy water until one particular weekend when the family that owned the borehole travelled and locked up everywhere. The next available place to get water was very far, and all the people who used to fetch from the family that travelled redirected themselves to the next available borehole. Because of the crowd, we had to queue before we could fetch (or buy) water.
That Friday, the pumping machine developed a fault, and that was it—no other way to get water. I was lucky enough to have fetched just one gallon of 25 litres, and you needed to see the way I economised that 25 litres for the entire weekend—for cooking, bathing, and washing. OMG! It was my first time experiencing that kind of life.
In my state and community, we have water in excess, and in cases where we cannot fetch from the tap, there is a channel of River Ethiope in the community. Even in the town where I schooled, with ₦50,000, one could drill a borehole (as of then) because the water table is not far from the surface.
For electricity? Naaah! I am used to it. I have stayed a whole year without seeing public electricity. We survived by using generators to generate power. Even as I type this, my city has not seen electricity for about two weeks, and no one is bothered.
Honestly, I would not feel the absence of electricity because one can get power through generators and fuel, or through the very common and trending solar systems. Or are there really people who depend solely on public electricity for their daily life endeavours? If there are, those people must be living in heaven.
As for cooking gas?
Yes, I can live without it. I grew up using firewood as a means of cooking, and I can still easily use it. The only challenge I would face is the stress of washing blackened pots.
So, can I live without the three?
I can cope with the absence of electricity and cooking gas. But water? No way!
Thanks for reading.
Photo is mine
Posted Using INLEO
