Left Below

Aug 07 Posted by Slobodan in slobodan 

 

The vision that most people in the West have of Africa is probably biased towards images of remote places tens and hundreds of miles from any signs of civilization. And, there are certainly places like that; we have visited some of them on our surveying mission to find suitable schools and hospitals. 

 

 But, as the students will soon see, we have also chosen some locations where civilization doesn’t seem that far away and the high-voltage transmission lines are right in sight, sometimes dominating the scenery. As these electrical grid lines stretch from one corner to another in even one of the poorest countries in the world, the electricity is delivered to big city centers only. But the reality is that the vast land below these lines will likely never get electricity from these power lines.  The people in 80% of Tanzania can probably see the lines, but can only dream about getting electricity themselves. For them, the civilization is so close, they can almost touch it, but at the same time it’s hopelessly beyond their reach. These are the people that are “left below” the others:   Below the progress, and below the elementary standard of living. They can “see” electricity, but they still don’t have the lights nor can they sterilize their medicine or provide treatment to sick children at night. They still use kerosene lamps or candles to read; and they still die when those lamps catch fire. It doesn’t matter that the electricity is passing above them. These are the people left below. They are forgotten by their own countries and by the rest of the world. We don’t want to know that they exist; and we ignore the fact that they are so close and at the same time so far from us.

So, we have decided to help some of those left below the power, and we have chosen some locations where the poverty and lack of basic necessities are juxtaposed against the image of technology and progress.  We have chosen places where every time the people see the power lines, they are reminded of their own lack of power in this often divided world.  It is my hope the students and our friends and supporters back at home will appreciate this paradox of life in modern Africa.