The negative effect of load-shedding on our children
“Who wants to order pizza tonight, looks like we have load-shedding again.”
“Mam I’m so sorry, we had no power again so I could not finish my homework”
“How am I supposed to sleep or study with that generator just going the entire night?”
Regular takeaways, the sound of generators haunting your dreams, and a learned feeling of helplessness for children who want to study or do homework at night, are just the start of the dramatic influence that load-shedding has on our children.
SADAG’s New Load Shedding Survey Results
Just after Eskom’s long-term load-shedding forecast in January 2023, the South African Depression & Anxiety Group (SADAG) sent out an online survey to the over 30, 000 members of the SADAG community. A total of 1 836 respondents reflected on the ways that load-shedding impacted their daily lives, their fears, their feelings, and how they were managing to cope with this crisis.
Feelings of helplessness were often reported, with one respondent sharing that load shedding “has made me feel that I cease to exist, basically. My life feels it’s at a standstill – What can I do? What must I do? I hate the feeling of pressure it puts on me…”.
Load-shedding effects on our children
All of this does not sound strange in the slightest. It sounds frighteningly normal, but should it be normal for your child? How does the fact that they can’t study at night affect their study or work ethic long term? How does having a generator going 24/7 affect the health of kids still growing by exposing them daily to noise and air pollution? How does not being able to have a homecooked meal around the table affect how these load-shedding children interact with their families and the world around them?
The Increase in Load-shedding
- 105 days of load-shedding in 2015
- 14 days in 2018
- 30 days in 2019
- 54 days in 2020
- 75 days in 2021
- 206 days in 2022
- 178 in 2023 and counting
These statistics pulled from loadshed.theoutlier.co.za is frightening to anyone, but even more so if you are a responsible parent of a young child. If there have been 662 days with load-shedding since 2015, a child born in 2015 has had 23% of their life disrupted by load-shedding (so far).
The value of your child’s future
So how much is a child’s time worth? How much is their health worth and how much will it cost them in these crucial years to not be able to live up to their potential or experience all life has to offer?
“It was a no-brainer for me,” explains Christél Rosslee-Venter. “When I decided to make the investment in a solar system in 2022, I had a son in Matric and two students who were still studying from home, thanks to Covid. And yes, it does make a massive difference in my own business if I can work uninterrupted. The added advantage was that NuEco Solar whom I have finally decided on as a supplier, offered me a modular system where I could start small with the option to add modules if the need arise.”
The Next Step
Thanks to load-shedding, investing in your child’s future has taken on a whole new meaning. If you are located in the Gauteng area, NuEco Solar would like to invite you to get a quotation for a solar system. You might be pleasantly surprised.
