Things we take for granted

how we live — By Bob Riel on July 25, 2007 at 1:03 pm

Like, um, light. I was struck by this Associated Press story about students in the African nation of Guinea who spend their evenings in the airport parking lot so they can study under the street lamps there.

The sun has set in one of the world’s poorest nations and as the floodlights come on at G’bessi International Airport, the parking lot begins filling with children.

The long stretch of pavement has the feel of a hushed library, each student sitting quietly, some moving their lips as their eyes traverse their notes.

It’s exam season in Guinea, ranked 160th out of 177 countries on the United Nations’ development index, and schoolchildren flock to the airport every night because it’s among the only places where they can count on finding the lights on.

Groups of elementary and high school students begin heading to the airport at dusk, hoping to reserve a coveted spot under the oval light cast by one of a dozen lampposts in the parking lot. Some come from over an hour’s walk away…

Only about a fifth of Guinea’s 10 million people have access to electricity. Even those that do experience frequent power cuts. With few families able to afford generators, students long ago discovered the airport…

The students at the airport consider themselves lucky. Those living farther away study at gas stations and come home smelling of gasoline. Others sit on the curbs outside the homes of affluent families, picking up the crumbs of light falling out of their illuminated living rooms.