No delays or cancellations!
I am staying with one of the women I met when I was here in March. She picked me up from the Johannesburg airport.
As we drove from the airport, I quickly was reminded of things we have to be grateful for, that we take for granted.
She told sme that, as a woman, she does not stop at “robots” (red lights) or have her car window down because of crime. As we were driving all the “robots” stopped working and the streets were dark. She said it was load shedding.
The South African energy crisis or load shedding is an ongoing period of widespread national blackouts of electricity supply. They usually last 2 hours but can be more. She said that tomorrow there will be 3 load shedding periods from 4am-6:30am., 12pm-2:30pm and then again 8pm-10:30pm. During that time there is no electricity and water doesn’t work.
It’s in the 90s here, their summer season. They don’t have air conditioning. Thank God for fans!
Some other fun facts are that they drive on the other side of the road and so the driver and passenger sides are opposite. $1 USD is about $18 ZAR. As an example, we stopped at the gas station and I purchased a 1.5 L water bottle for $1 USD. South Africa is 7 hours ahead of us (EST), so I am writing this post at midnight South Africa time.
Happy Thanksgiving! Today I am grateful for arriving safely, electricity, clean water, air conditioning, safety and for all your prayers. Thank you so much! I could feel the peace and stillness as I traveled.