Friday, March 29, 2024

In The Dark: Electricity a ‘Luxury’ In Poor Madagascar

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By Daily Nation

Raymond Rakotondrasoa surveys the charred remains of his mud and thatched-roofed house in Madagascar.

“I left a candle burning on my bedside table,” the 70-year-old says. “It fell and set fire to my clothes before spreading.”

The retired construction worker is lucky to be alive.

“If it had happened during the night I could have died,” says Rakotondrasoa, who lost all his worldly possessions in minutes that terrible day in August.

Only 15 percent of the country’s 26 million inhabitants have access to electricity.

Everyone else, like Rakotondrasoa, relies on candles, oil and kerosene lamps.

KEROSENE vs CANDLE LIGHT

Says Rakotondrasoa: “I can’t stand the smell and the fumes given off by kerosene, so I use candles and an oil lamp.”

His neighbour Louise Rasoahelinivo prefers kerosene because it is cheaper.

“I use two candles a day, whereas one litre of kerosene lasts more than a month,” says the 70-year-old seamstress.

Candles cost between 6 and 12 euros cents (Sh13, 13 US cents) each in the island nation off of southeastern Africa, compared with 50 cents (Sh51) for a litre of kerosene.

The difference is significant in a country where two-thirds of the population lives below the poverty line. Read more>>

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