Earlier in the year, just before the elections we had loadshedding. At the time I started doing something on Youtube called Power Cut Stories. I wrote a blog post explaining the idea:
You may know this, but in South Africa we are experiencing unprecedented loadshedding. I don’t think it has ever been this bad before and I don’t think it is going to end any time soon. Apparently it is because of a cyclone that hit Mozambique. The disaster has caused immense damage so I do not want to take that lightly. Read up on that and genuinely pray for those affected by the cyclone if you will. Also if you have the capability to give some real help, please do.
Nonetheless, In South Africa we do not have much electricity. In 2019 sometimes it feels like there is nothing one can do when the lights go off in the evening. On Monday night, I saw that the power in my area was going to go off between 8–10pm and for reason, I just got inspired to create some content. Just before the power went off I went for a walk to see if I could get any good content. While I was walking home an idea popped into my head.
What if I literally just told a story by candlelight? I thought back to stories by the camp fire or scary stories we used to tell each other as kids and thought why not bring that back just online? And so Power Cut Stories was created.
With Power Cut Stories, I am hoping that people will film themselves telling a story by candlelight. Here is the first story that I told:
All that is needed is a selfie camera on one’s phone, a candle and if you drink alcohol a glass of one’s beverage of choice as one tells a story. The first story I told was very much inspired by Stephen King with South African flavour. It follows the journey of 4 people who gym together everyday. Their lives are disturbed after a dead body is found in their gym.
The second story is a bit more of a political allegory, by the name of Sizani. you may have read the story before but if not, here is an audio version of it:
The goal of this, is for us to look at a pretty bad situation (loadshedding) but to let us find a way to find joy within that. As humans we have always been intrigued by storytelling and I am hoping that various South Africans can come together and tell each other stories. So if you have a power cut and a story to tell. Come through.
Loadshedding is apparently happening for a different reason this time. However, we can still have some fun with it. If you want to tell a story by candlelight do it and send it through to me and I will post it on Power Cut Stories.