During January 2020, I went to Sierra Leone for what can only be described as the best fucking travel experience in my life. I had lots of fun with my friends and met with the local government officials (some side stuff). I tried Casava leaves (tasted a little like curry) stew among other local cuisines. I went to a night club in Freetown and somehow ended up in their VIP ‘room’ drinking and partying with random people. I spent a few days with my friends living with the locals before I gave up and went to a hotel myself to enjoy things I’ve been taking for granted all these years in a developed nation. Things such as a working shower, air conditioning, and just having electricity to charge my devices in general (and wifi… holy shit the internet was bad over there). Overall, I had a blast.

Outside of all these fun, I also had a chance to dive into the real lives of the everyday people living there. What struck me the most was how energy poor they were over there. Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone, constantly had blackouts due to energy shortage. They even have a boat near the shore that generates power via a diesel generator to make up for the gap. Ok, I know I say boat, but it’s actually a ship and it serves its current purpose quite well.

Now, looking at the neighbors of Sierra Leone, they do not have any energy crisis. In fact, they have surplus energy. This brings me back to the original point of water. Water is not distributed evenly across Africa. Countries with fast flowing rivers running through them enjoys the benefits of hydroelectricity. This is a privilege not every country can enjoy. Furthermore, water is required for industrial production, which will further increase the growth gaps between nations.

“What about solar power?” you ask.

Ahh… as usual, the uninformed yet keen readers of mine asks the right questions. The issue with solar power isn’t so much that it is difficult to build. It is the fact that it cannot generate energy stable enough throughout the year. Taking Sierra Leone once again as an example, they experience around 2 months of non-stop rain every year. This brings us to a weakness of solar energy. Clouds. Or to be more general, anything that will prevent sunlight from hitting the solar cells. This makes the geography of any sites very scarce. Areas with heavy foliage will be impossible. Can’t have a steep gradient, or a gentle gradient, or a gradient… And it also can’t be very far from the energy grid, if that location has a grid at all. Otherwise, a mini-grid connection or off-grid system needs to be implemented before the energy produced can be used by the households.

I’m rambling a bit off topic now so I’ll bring it back to water. So the lack of water means no cheap energy, and more expensive costs when it comes to industrial production. This puts them behinds economically when trying to develop and pull their people out of poverty.

So once again, it seems that investing in water doesn’t necessarily need to actually be investing in water to reap the benefits…. just some food for thought, that’s all. I’ve been a bit tired lately so this is gonna be a short one.

Yours Sincerely,

The Uninformed Trader