8
 Things I Have Learned Living Under the Gaza Electricity Crisis

1

Math

I am 24 now. I was 13 when the siege on Gaza began so electricity breaks have been accompanying me since childhood. To understand the way electricity is distributed in Gaza you first must understand there are several timetables, each accurately allotting power sessions in every part of the strip. For example, there is the “8 hours on/ 8 hours off” schedule, in which according to the power is on between 7 am and 3 pm, followed by a break until 10 pm when the electricity goes back on until 7 am the following day. In other parts it is inversed. When we have electricity on at home – they do not, and when they have power on, we have a break.

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2, 4, 6, 8 hours of electricity – one must get used to these hours to survive in Gaza. You must excel in math to live here and properly calculate the hours of electricity in each area.

Take for example an ordinary day in July. In Gaza city, in the center of the Strip, you may wake up happy and relaxed because you enjoy electricity from morning to 3 pm. A few kilometers away, people in Jabalya – a city north to Gaza Strip – wake up to a morning with no electricity until 3 pm.

The second timetable is that od “6 hours on/ 6 hours off” according to which the power goes on from 6 am till noon in some regions, it then cuts off until 6 am the following day. In other parts, they will have electricity between 6 pm and midnight.

The third timetable – “2, 4” is the worst. This basically means we might get electricity in the morning, afternoon or night for that matter. It makes it impossible for you to plan your day or your routine.

2

Guests are here for the electricity

A funny, yet practical means of adapting has developed under these circumstances. Visiting friends and relatives became dependent on the question of “when do you have electricity?” rather than “when can you welcome us?”. If we find out our friends are on the same timetable as we are, there is no point in visiting them. People prefer staying home to charge their laptops and phones, watch T.V and do their house chores. Who would want to visit friends when you can enjoy electricity in the comfort of your home!

I can safely say that electricity has become our sovereign. It controls our lives, our visits, our studies, childhood, business meetings, weddings and futures. You cannot accomplish anything without knowing the timetables. Students are not able to focus and risk failing exams, and teachers with no access to electricity are not able to prepare for exams.

When you do not take the timetables in consideration you risk in turning a festive dinner to a catastrophe – you will not have ventilation, music or even food.

3

No weekend plans

Everyone waits eagerly for the weekend and who does not love those couple of days of relaxation. For the people in Gaza, weekends are completely different. The anticipation for the weekend is worthless if you do not calculate properly. Weekend equals staying up at night, reading a favorite book, dancing, watching a movie or spending time with friends… all impossible without electricity. This means that to enjoy the weekend you must plan carefully, which is what my brother and I do.

We begin counting the power hours of each day according to the known timetable of course. Starting with Saturday when the power goes on at 7 am until 3 pm and then back on from 11 pm throughout the night. On Sunday the electricity cuts off in the morning and night, and goes on midday. My brother and I count days until Thursday, and before we know it we lose power and our weekend plans get postponed.

Electricity even controls our sleep schedule because when we know that there will be power on at night, we turn to bed early. Everyone in Gaza sleeps during the day and wakes up at night, like vampires! one brother uses the internet for his Master Degree research, another brother studies for his tests, my sister knits and I spend the time reading. We all know that the next day we will have power only during the afternoon when we are all at work. A day with power during the afternoon is a lost day.

I prefer reading books at night. But with circumstances controlled by electricity, I can read very little because reading to a flashlight hurts my eyes. This unfair life often keeps us away from what we love, yet we are persistent and reading a little is better than not reading at all.

4

Children adjust to everything

I remember the first time when my nephew began shouting aloud while jumping around the house: “it’s back! The electricity is back!” and then continued: “we can now watch my favorite cartoon”. The poor kid had to watch this cartoon in parts having to wait for the power to keep coming back. He learned patience at a young age. I smiled because I realized he possibly understands our living situation better than most adults, yet I was sorry he had to grow up in a reality such as this.

5

Electric appliances need continuity

You must to work, wash, clean and iron at night. As the youngest sibling I am responsible for helping my mother with the house work so when I hear her call “Huda!”, I know the power is back. “Hurry! Charge all the phones and laptops and come help me with the laundry”. We sometimes wash the laundry and take showers at 3 am. When there is no electricity, there is no water as well.

Let us talk a little about our refrigerator. Our poor, incompetent little fridge. In the Gaza I live in, you must buy food for house every single day. The fridge is now useless since the power breaks spoil all the food. Sometimes, my wish is simply to drink some cold water.

In Gaza, not only the people suffer from power breaks, appliances complain in their own way too. The nonstop electricity breaks keep cutting off the appliances which basically breaks them. We had to fix the fridge several times, as well as the washing machine and television. And this has happened to all two million citizens of this tiny prison. I personally had to change the battery in my laptop five times, so have my brothers and sisters, other relatives, and every person in Gaza for that matter. The electrical current is so abrupt that is destroys all appliances.

Many of the citizens in Gaza have learned to use the electricity in their workplace. I, for instance, work at an organization in which we have a massive generator, so I use it to charge my laptop and phone while I am at work. Many of my colleagues do the same. People in Gaza all charge their phones at work, and people who are unemployed simply ask their friends to charge their appliances for them.

6

Every household has 
a night soldier

The night soldier is a new job that runs between family members and it cannot be the same person all the time. The night soldier must stay up at night when there is power and charge all the appliances while the rest of the family is asleep. In my house, this is usually my younger brother, who is 17 years old. He stays up at night waiting for the power to go on, and as soon it does he quickly connects everything to the electricity and wakes some of the family that need to work. I sometimes fill that role myself.

7

What should we bring to the wedding? A flashlight!

We love parties in Gaza, we appreciate joy and create it amidst our misfortune. Yet it is difficult to fall in love, get engaged and marry in Gaza. Feelings here lose their universal legitimacy. The daily problems interfere with love.

People in Gaza go everywhere with flashlights. This reminds me of my cousins wedding, when the power went off. In an instance all guests froze, the bride and groom waited for the music that did not come back, and the guests watched the scene with the help of their cellphone. When the power went back on, the bride’s make-up was ruined and she ran to fix it.

8

Necessity is the mother of invention (or: batteries are life)

Citizens in Gaza become more creative as troubles continue. We cannot have the electrical shortages prevent us from having a full meaningful life. Our creativity is brought forth in numerous aspects, and a crucial one is turning electric appliances to battery dependent. We currently use small fans that work on batteries and charge during power currents. Families who cannot afford fans, spend most their summertime outdoors. Fresh air is free and there is no way to cut it off.