Load shedding shuts down single mom's online teaching business after students quit over disruptions

[rvZA]

A Free State single mother, who earns a living by teaching English online to international students, is shutting her business down after 80% of her clients quit because their lessons were constantly disrupted by load shedding.

The 33-year-old Lungiswa Xhamela from Virginia has blamed Eskom for destroying her livelihood.

Xhamela said her students grew tired of her unreliable service as a result of the electricity crisis in South Africa.

Speaking to News24, she said disappointed students from Latin America, Turkey, Ukraine, Belgium, and France quit her classes and left bad reviews and ratings on her profile because ongoing power cuts interrupted her sessions.

The bad reviews chased away any potential students who were keen on booking a class, she said.

Load shedding shuts down single mom's online teaching business after students quit over disruptions | News24

A Free State single mother who earned a living by teaching English online to international students is shutting her business down after 80% of her clients quit because their lessons were constantly disrupted by load shedding.

www.news24.com

 

[rvZA]

If you have an online business, you need to plan better. Generator. Petrol. Fibre. If you do not have that in your town and cannot afford it, find a job. You are not really cut out to run a business.

But, bottom line, thank the ANC and thank Eskom.

 

[porchrat]

yea I feel like if you're running that sort of business you really need some sort of backup solution.

A UPS for the Internet router and a laptop capable of surviving the load shedding slot on battery at minimum.

 

[Sensorei]

Our failures are always someone else's fault and responsibility in South Africa. We're all in the same boat. You can get a very cheap UPS backup solution for a router and to top up laptop battery life. Adapt or be poor.

 

[Hemps]

Even with a UPS or Battery bank, internet dies after 2hrs and LTE goes 30min into load shedding.

 

[backstreetboy]

If you have an online business, you need to plan better. Generator. Petrol. Fibre. If you do not have that in your town and cannot afford it, find a job. You are not really cut out to run a business.

But, bottom line, thank the ANC and thank Eskom.

Lol a generator to keep a router and 1 light on?

 

[ForceFate]

Even with a UPS or Battery bank, internet dies after 2hrs and LTE goes 30min into load shedding.

Some areas are worse than others.

 

[zolly]

We're all in the same boat.

Living in SA doesn't mean we all have to deal with the same ****. I live in the WC and I have to deal with far less kak than my parents do in KZN.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

adapt or die, sadly a Generator or UPS is required if your gonna have a Buisness,
same too if you employ Whites, need to have credible explanations to get your BEE certificates.

 

[Drifter]

My wife also does online teaching. During load shedding, she does a video call with her cellphone.

 

[My_King]

I love these success stories

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

My wife also does online teaching. During load shedding, she does a video call with her cellphone.

way to adapt ,
make lemonade from the lemons.

not sit and cry Load shedding,

invest some of your earnings into a UPS/Inverter and carry on.

 

[Gyre]

Our failures are always someone else's fault and responsibility in South Africa. We're all in the same boat. You can get a very cheap UPS backup solution for a router and to top up laptop battery life. Adapt or be poor.

How cheap? Bear in mind that a solution could be anything from a quarter to a tenth of a person's income, and changes can happen in as little as a month.

 

[rvZA]

make lemonade from the lemons.

Not everyone knows the recipe.... so there is that too.

 

[Gyre]

way to adapt ,
make lemonade from the lemons.

not sit and cry Load shedding,

invest some of your earnings into a UPS/Inverter and carry on.

Why don't we fund her a UPS if it's cheap? Then she can pay us back monthly?

 

[rvZA]

How cheap? Bear in mind that a solution could be anything from a quarter to a tenth of a person's income, and changes can happen in as little as a month.

With no money you cannot start a business. Find a job. Her story is evident.

 

[Gyre]

With no money you cannot start a business. Find a job. Her story is evident.

You can have money, you may just not have ENOUGH money. How much does fibre and a laptop cost?

 

[Flanders]

Even with a UPS or Battery bank, internet dies after 2hrs and LTE goes 30min into load shedding.

I know someone doing the international english teaching thing and this is exactly the problem they face as LTE is the only option at present.

Everyone feels the pain and especially those who work for themselves. You can be backed up to the hilt but if your internet goes down regardless then what does it help?

I'm fortunate in that (for now) my fibre connection behaves itself during load shedding as I'd be truly fscked if that were not the case.

 

[Nerfherder]

If you have an online business, you need to plan better. Generator. Petrol. Fibre. If you do not have that in your town and cannot afford it, find a job. You are not really cut out to run a business.

But, bottom line, thank the ANC and thank Eskom.

Its the real cost of load shedding.

Not everyone can scale it up like that unfortunately so not everyone is going to survive.

 

[rvZA]

Its the real cost of load shedding.

Not everyone can scale it up like that unfortunately so not everyone is going to survive.

Correct. Find a job.