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

[ForceFate]

She'll receive help from good samaritans. I wish her all them best.

 

[ForceFate]

You get what you vote for, no sympathy

What did she vote for?

 

[backstreetboy]

What did she vote for?

KFC

 

[surface]

He's used to taking it up the bumhole, we aren't...

heh. He is not - that is just his online persona.

 

[ForceFate]

KFC

Fortunately they're not on ZA ballots

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

heh. He is not - that is just his online persona.

I'll take your word for it...

 

[grok]

Lol a generator to keep a router and 1 light on?
View attachment 1389598

Funny how that was the exact expression we had when we realized that the ANC cannot fix Eskom because they were the ones that broke it.

He's used to taking it up the bumhole, we aren't...

Oh come on that's not something learned through years and years of painful struggle, one half an hour session & you'd be wondering what else you've been missing out on.

 

[surface]

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

I personally wouldn't because I am already funding a soccer class for one kid. I spotted him sitting alone on a Friday (when other kids were playing after school) in my son's class and asked teacher and she said his mom is recent divorcee and won't afford to do it.

If you are aware of surrounding and keep a watch, there is always someone in our own circle that needs help. In fact, there are so many genuine people that need help that it is heart breaking that we are never going to support more than 1 or 2 of these ones.

We don't have to rush to help out only those that are publicized like this woman. Only some are able to make it newsworthy and chances are that she will get the help due to this.

 

[Dan C]

You get what you vote for, no sympathy

And you know exactly who she voted for.

 

[Gyre]

I personally wouldn't because I am already funding a soccer class for one kid. I spotted him sitting alone on a Friday (when other kids were playing after school) in my son's class and asked teacher and she said his mom is recent divorcee and won't afford to do it.

If you are aware of surrounding and keep a watch, there is always someone in our own circle that needs help. In fact, there are so many genuine people that need help that it is heart breaking that we are never going to support more than 1 or 2 of these ones.

We don't have to rush to help out only those that are publicized like this woman. Only some are able to make it newsworthy and chances are that she will get the help due to this.

I didn't know her and I also wouldn't have funded it, it was just the principle at the time that what is cheap to someone may be very expensive to another. Even I'd like a UPS, but the past few months have been unrelenting - one month it's doctor bills, next month its vet, next month its a car service, next month it's an overseas trip, etc. I'm fortunate enough to back backup plans.

We don't need to be there for others, but we should at least be able to put ourselves in their shoes - and a huge thank you for taking care of a kid. For me kids and animals come first, even if they punch a financial hole through my pocket

 

[Lupus]

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.

A mini ups for a router is R400 to a grand, connect that to router, use phone for lessons?

 

[Craig_]

Cut the food budget in half and she would have budget enough to build solar capacity for the entire country.

View attachment 1389668

Nee fok ou man, why do you dislike us.

FFS man I'm trying to have lunch!

Mine almost came back up.

 

[epah]

That looks like an expensive weave she has on, Maybe she could pawn it and get braids instead.

 

[Progenix Oj101]

If you have an online business, you need to plan better. Generator. Petrol. Fibre.

See bottom comment.

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.

Maybe she started this BECAUSE she can't find a job. Jobs are scarce these days. She's in the middle of nowhere, so her chances are even lower. It's easier to say "move" but do you think someone giving online English classes is has the (tens of) thousands needed to relocate?

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.

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.

See bottom comment.

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

I started mine with R 200, so I disagree.

Before I got solar we ran the router off a 12v battery + charger with LTE. ZERO issues. not that difficult and cost less than R1k used this for almost 2 years.

See bottom comment.

Also how is this an issue now but not last 2-4 years?

See bottom comment, I'll merge my reply to this in there.

Load shedding has been a mainstay of the People's Republic of South Africa for 14 years. It's not as if it came out of nowhere. Her power demands are very light, so there isn't really much of an excuse IMO.

If it is a proper business, as in you have a business bank account, you can write off the cost of the UPS over 3 years and pay significantly less tax. R8700 isn't that much if you spread it over 12 months.
https://www.takealot.com/gizzu-518wh-portable-power-station-1-x-3-prong-sa-plug-point/PLID73887357

A UPS to run router/fibre/laptop is so cheap that she can invest in more than one to ensure at least 6hrs of uninterrupted power.
If you're running a business where backup power costs a fortune then you're entitled to complain.

A mini ups for a router is R400 to a grand, connect that to router, use phone for lessons?

I'm lucky that fiber has stayed up for 5 days of no power, but what about all those whose fiber goes down after an hour or two? On the flip side, I'm also unlucky enough to be in an area that loses all cell signal within 10 minutes of the power going out, and during those ten minutes calls fail. Two years ago when we moved here that wasn't the case, but mobile operates seem to have stopped caring to replace tower batteries.

I checked Virginia (as a whole) on a few fiber providers' coverage maps and it's not covered, so I'm pretty sure that her issue is LTE going down.

She could have infinite backup power, but if internet goes down there's not much you can do. If fiber went down, while I DO have the ability to keep the ONT/network/PC running for literally weeks (not for free) via the UPS, battery modules and generator, there's literally nothing I'd be able to do about it other than work elsewhere for the duration (I DO have the ability to travel to family in other surrounding areas).

The replies in this thread show how cut-off many people are from the way the majority lives.

 

[surface]

A mini ups for a router is R400 to a grand, connect that to router, use phone for lessons?

All these sub-1k mini-ups are like lottery. I returned 2 to geewiz recently but I have one that worked fine since last year.

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

I'm lucky that fiber has stayed up for 5 days of no power, but what about all those whose fiber goes down after an hour or two?

Move to where Vumatel is. We've also been down for days with no power but Vuma kept chugging away...

 

[Slaught3r]

She thinks that's bad.... I got low priority in Dota 2 as a result of abandoning a game due to loadshedding...

 

[surface]

I didn't know her and I also wouldn't have funded it,

yeah - I don't fund anyone unless I know them personally and understand real situation after chatting in detail. In my opinion, real needy ones are somewhat hesitant and only ask for piece jobs or some donations (not money but something they don't have in their house, like your old fridge if they got to know you are selling) etc.

Too many online chancers in my opinion.

 

[surface]

Move to where Vumatel is. We've also been down for days with no power but Vuma kept chugging away...

I don't think it depends only on fibre provider though. One of my colleagues has metrofibre but he complains about outages intermittently (especially during 4.5 hour load-shedding). We also have metrofibre but no outage this side.

 

[surface]

She thinks that's bad.... I got low priority in Dota 2 as a result of abandoning a game due to loadshedding...

I have no idea what dota is. I am probably too old or too middle class or both.