Friends can be forgiven

tanesco-truck-topI made a resolution early this year to see Tanesco as my best friend, as friends can be forgiven more easily.

Hoping that instead of being frustrated by power outages I could take its ways as those of a good friend who will always be late any time we agree to meet — but it would still be great to see her.

Early in the year there was a proud announcement that the number of power outages countrywide had decreased from 2,322 cases in 2014 to 1,811 last year, with support of a Japanese NGO.

So I was hopeful for a good relationship.

Sadly, for a simple consumer the improvement is not noticeable.

One week there was a so called ‘planned maintenance’ in our area, meaning no power from 09:00 to 17:00.

Just after sunset suddenly lights went off again.

Just after sunset the lights suddenly went off again.

The ‘planned’ part is, as usual, unknown to us.

From 17:00, life started up again with water pumps pumping, fans cooling and the fridge battling to cool down again.

Just after sunset the lights suddenly went off again.

Strange thing, only the few houses around seemed affected, the rest of the street had no issue.

Calling customer service is a project in itself but that is for another story.

In the end, a complaint number of four digits was provided and the promise was given that the mechanics would solve the problem as soon as possible.

Six hours later finally power was returned to the few houses under this unfortunate line.

Why the long wait?

The reason given was that the night shift starting at 22:00 handles after hours emergencies and their night work needs first be registered at the police station before the actual repair can start.

So obviously it can take a few hours.

All in all this friend is not an easy one to forgive…

Report a typo: highlight the text in question and press Ctrl+Enter to report.

About the Author

Josie van den Hoek
Josie first visited Dar es Salaam in 2000 and is still here. She writes about encounters on her daily walks and Tanzanian life.