Everyday acts... depend on the availability of essentials such as water, light and food, items whose acquisition, at least in the vast rural areas, is rarely straightforward.
As a Peace Corps volunteer, I spent 1.5 years in Africa (Botswana), in a village with no electricity. Lighting at night was a really problem. I could read or work for up to an hour, tops, with a paraffin (kerosene) lantern, before the fumes and bad light gave me a headache. A solar-powered overhead light was set up in a community building, and suddenly the adults who worked during the day could take classes at night.
Another very simple technology that even more dramatically changed life in the village was a water tank. The village had a few standpipes, supplied by a pump that often went out for a few days at a time. After the tank was built, the system had enough capacity that you no longer had to worry about stockpiling enough water to last through a few days.
As a Peace Corps volunteer, I spent 1.5 years in Africa (Botswana), in a village with no electricity. Lighting at night was a really problem. I could read or work for up to an hour, tops, with a paraffin (kerosene) lantern, before the fumes and bad light gave me a headache. A solar-powered overhead light was set up in a community building, and suddenly the adults who worked during the day could take classes at night.
Another very simple technology that even more dramatically changed life in the village was a water tank. The village had a few standpipes, supplied by a pump that often went out for a few days at a time. After the tank was built, the system had enough capacity that you no longer had to worry about stockpiling enough water to last through a few days.