My daughters were sleeping over at their grand parents in Alberstville when the power load was shed for the area.  This happened while dinner was prepared, which had to be abandoned for other plans.  All went to bed early due to little to do while the power was off.  Grandma was later awakened by a smell of smoke in their double story home.  Everybody was soon alerted to the problem and was gasping for fresh air at the windows, while grandma lead the way in finding the problem.  She found the closed pressure cooker with oil overheating on the stove where it was still on and started cooking after the power returned while everybody was sleeping.  The top of the pressure cooker had already blown off and smoke was bellowing from the pot.  All the people had to be rushed to the hospital where they were treated for smoke inhalation and kept overnight for observation.  Although there was no fire, the smoke was very toxic and therefore very dangerous.  Fortunately they all recovered well and were discharged in the morning.  I shake when I think what could have happened if the smoke was only detected a short while later when everybody was too intoxicated which could have disabled them to take action, or the cooker could have exploded or run over to start a fire with everybody being trapped upstairs with windows covered by Spanish burglar bars! 

I’m so thankful to God almighty that my daughters and grand parents were safe together with their nephew who was also visiting.  We need to warn all citizens of the dangers that are brought about with load shedding.  It is fruitless to blame Eskom as this is now a fact of life and we need to deal with it.  With the shortage in electricity, we not only need to save power but also our lives!