 | Daughters of Sysiphus |
 |  | Infrastructure - physical and social |
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Electricity
Female-headed households were the least likely to have a metered electricity supply with less than half of the female heads interviewed having this facility (see table 21). Electricity obviously contributes in many ways to a household. Refrigeration and safe lighting are just two examples. One of the greatest dangers faced by low-income households with children is the use of kerosene lamps and candles in board rooms where children sleep and play. Nearly every week the local papers report deaths of children when wooden houses are burnt down as a result of accidents with kerosene lamps or open fires.
Auntie
They have no electricity in the area and the fish is preserved in an old freezer which they pack with block ice that they buy off the ice truck each morning.
Kerosene lamps are the only source of light at night.
Table 21. Percentage of different types of household by main source of light
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Type of household |
Source of light |
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Electricity |
Kerosene |
Gas lamp |
Candle |
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Female-headed |
49 |
35 |
14 |
2 |
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Male-headed |
56 |
28 |
11 |
5 |
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Joint-headed |
57 |
35 |
7 |
1 |
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Overall |
54 |
33 |
11 |
2 |
Deula
No electricity. uses lamps.
Lena
"I applied for a meter and got light early because I didn't like the darkness but I never did get a meter."
Letty
She has metered electricity.
Megan
They use electricity from an illegal connection.
Pam
Pam shares her light bill with a woman who shares the same house. They often argue.
"I don't really have a problem with the light because if she don't pay it I just go ahead and disconnect it because it comes from my room so I control it. The light bill come to $200 and she pay $20 for a bulb and she quarrel still."
Verona
Light is provided by means of an illegal electrical hook-up which is pulled down when men from the Jamaica Public Service Company come into the area and then put up again as soon as they have gone.
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