Black Out

Most of the inhabitants of Guinea have no electricity. To be able to study, many young students walk to places where there is light.

Of the more than 10 million inhabitants of Guinea, only one-fifth has access to electricity. And even these lucky few face frequent power outages that last many hours. This is a disaster for the economy, but also for the future of the country’s children. During the day, there is hardly any time to study, but in the evenings there is no light to read by. Director Eva Weber makes a link between the inventiveness and determination of the students and the changes taking place in the rest of Guinea. A good education is the only chance these children have of having a better future than their parents. So as soon as exam season arrives, they go out every evening looking for light to study by. This makes for some special scenes: hundreds of students in the street busily thumbing through dog-eared books, concentrating hard and mumbling their lessons to themselves. The children hang around anywhere they can: at gas stations, in parks in the rich part of town, and above all at the airport, the biggest provider of light in the area. They often end up walking for many miles in the middle of the night.