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Life without lights in a Ghanaian village
The village of Wantugu, Ghana, has power poles but no electricity – yet. They keep the dark from encroaching with kerosene lamps, flashlights, and a little solar power.
from the October 4, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
Yet, Mr. Yakubu the assemblyman is confident that people would find the money to pay their electric bills, if only for one reason: football (soccer). When a Ghanaian football team plays, fans in the village pay the equivalent of about 11 cents US to watch the 90-minute match in the home of the one person who has his own generator and television. Yakubu believes that if electricity were available to all, people would instead put the money they now pay to watch football games toward paying for electric power and, eventually, their own television sets.
It's difficult to predict just when work on Wantugu's electricity project will resume, but Yakubu is hopeful. Recently, he has seen new low-tension poles being installed in a nearby village, and he says that a Tolon District Assembly budget created in May allows for 500 new poles to be placed around the district.
"But we haven't seen any yet," he admits.
So, after more than seven years, Wantugu's people are still eagerly awaiting the arrival of the electricity they have been promised.
Until then, flashlights, lanterns, a couple of generators, and a few solar lights are all that keeps them from being a village in the dark.
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