ahi maté (electricity dead)

As mentioned in my previous post, ahi maté is a great excuse to stop work and chat. You might care to complain about the government, the dodgy generators they’ve bought, or anything else that’s bothering you. The acronym of the current coalition government is AMP (Aliança com Maioria Parlamentar), but some wags claim that it really stands for Ahi Maté Permanenté.

This is a little unfair, as most parts of Dili only get ahi mate a couple of hours a day, which by developing country standards is pretty good. There is even a schedule, not that they seem to keep to it. In fact, we’re pretty lucky in Dili. In the foho (lit. hills, but shorthand for poor rural areas) you’d be lucky to get a grid connection at all. Even in other towns there’s usually only power for a few hours in the evening.

Most of East Timor’s electricity comes from huge oil-powered generators. Recently, these seem to have been breaking down more often. It’s also rumoured that there’s more ahi maté towards the end of the year because at that time the money for fuel is running out. The government is investing big-time in old Chinese heavy oil generators, but this is being criticised in some quarters as short-sighted. One of the country’s leading NGOs, La’o Hamutuk, writes persuasively on this issue, see here.

We have a generator in the WaterAid office, which means that it doesn’t all grind to a halt for us. However, the house I’m staying in is not so blessed, so I’m drafting this post by candlelight. It’s actually quite good to live without power for a while. It reminds you that this is the daily reality for the 1.4 billion people who don’t have access to electricity, and indeed for most people here in East Timor. If you’re interested in rural energy, I thoroughly recommend the work Practical Action are doing around the world, see here.