YOUNG ECO-WARRIORS
ABOUT 100 bright young students from St Clare’s Primary School are building solarpowered lights for children living in energy poverty in Papua New Guinea on Tuesday.
Joining a dozen schools from across Townsville, the St Clare’s students will become eco-warriors for the day as they take part in a number of workshops to explore biodiversity, sustainability, restoration, renewable energy and communication.
The 10th annual Eco Warriors Day is a collaboration between Townsville Catholic Education and Reef Ecologic, and focuses on global citizenship.
As part of the Solarbuddy activity, the year 4 to year 8 students from 13 schools across Townsville Catholic Education will harness their STEM skills and knowledge to give back to those in need.
They will learn about the power of renewable energy and construct solar lights to help children living in energy poverty to read and study when the sun goes down.
Only 6.3 per cent of the rural population in PNG has access to grid electricity.
This severely hampers the education opportunities of children, making them unable to break the cycle of poverty.
The students from St Clare’s Primary School will build solar lights to add to more than 130,000 already distributed through the Solarbuddy program, almost 5000 of those through the Origin Energy Foundation partnership.
These lights will allow rural PNG families to reduce expenditure on expensive lighting like candles and batteries, while reducing dependency on dangerous and unsustainable sources of fuel like kerosene, diesel, wood or candles.
St Clare’s Primary School teacher Nicole Lennox said Origin Energy Foundation volunteers had given students an innovative learning opportunity.
“These Solarbuddy lights will help children living in energy poverty to continue studying long after the sun goes down, improving their education outcomes and overall health and wellbeing,” she said.
“We’re so pleased to be able to offer an activity that is so authentic and engaging to our students while helping them to develop empathy and introduce them to STEM in a compelling way.
“We thank the Origin Energy Foundation and Solarbuddy for giving our students the opportunity to make a significant difference in the lives of children living in poverty.”
Origin Energy Foundation volunteering program manager Ruth Lee said volunteers were excited to inspire more young people to pursue a career in science, technology, engineering or maths.
“Origin volunteers find it incredibly rewarding to see the impact STEM education has on school students as they become global citizens for the day, discovering how simple renewable energy technologies can make a real difference to energy poverty,” she said.
“With the introduction of Solarbuddy lights, children in PNG are studying 78 per cent longer and reliance on kerosene and other dangerous fuels has been reduced by 80 per cent.”
Ms Lee said that since these fuels were also the single biggest expenditure for households, that money could now be spent on food, health and education.
“Since 2018, the Origin Energy Foundation has introduced the Solarbuddy program to more than 80 schools around Australia,” she said.
“This has resulted in the distribution of nearly 5000 solar lights to schoolchildren living without electricity in PNG and
Tanzania, giving them a pathway to a brighter future.”
Solarbuddy general manager Billie Murphy said the program was dedicated to educating and empowering the next generation to change the lives of children living in energy poverty.
“Education is critical for all children, particularly when their lives are disrupted by violence or unrest,” he said.
“We want schools all across Australia and the world to give the gift of light and change the futures of one child and one community at a time.”