Have you ever lost power in your house during a thunderstorm? What did you do in the dark? Did you dig out the flashlights? Or maybe your family has a generator to keep the electricity on. One unfortunate part of life in South Africa is daily scheduled power outages called loadshedding. South Africa is home to many different people of many different backgrounds, but in loadshedding, everyone has one shared experience!
Loadshedding is a part of life and community that anyone living in or visiting South Africa will be very familiar with. During loadshedding, the power goes out in homes and businesses in particular sections of the city. The schedule rotates, so different areas are without power at different times. This means that at this time, the lights do not work, fridges stop runnning, wifi is down and you cannot charge your devices. Some businesses and homes have generators so they can continue to operate normally, even during loadshedding.
Loadshedding occurs because in South Africa, there is not enough power to go around. In order to keep the electricity on as much as possible, the government must make sure not to overload the systems. Therefore, neighborhoods have to take turns taking breaks from electricity.
