The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Helping to light up people’s lives
The importance of the sun to life on earth has been recognized for many centuries. Now, with the innovation of solar power, the sun can actually be harnessed to help change people’s lives.
Deepings Rotary Club is at the forefront of an ambitious project using modern technology to enrich and enhance the lives of people in remote communities of Nepal, in particular the children.
Picture a typical school. What do you see? A brightly lit building full of children with access to computers and the resources they bring. Imagine schools without electricity to power computers, or even provide basic electric lighting.
It is hard to believe that in the 21st century there are still countless remote areas of the world without access to a national grid.
For such communities what alternatives are there?
Solar power can be fairly easily installed, is easy to use, easy to maintain and is above all reliable.
Four Deepings Rotarians met with founders of the Nepal Remote Villages Trust (NRVT), a small charity working to get solar power installed into schools in isolated com- munities in Nepal.
Inspired, they applied for a grant from the Rotary Foundation (Rotary’s own charity) to match money they had raised to support the work of the charity, and enabled solar power to be installed at Rhupangmare School, Lower Solukhumbu. Rotary Foundation provided a grant of £500 and, with £500 from club funds, £1,000 was put towards the £2,000 project cost. Rotarian Carl Midgley said: “Education is a way out of poverty, so we are delighted to be able to help a school in this region.”
Providing the money was possibly the easiest part.
Getting the solar panels to the school was a bigger challenge with rudimentary roads being impassable due to rain. But get there they did, even though the panels had to be carried by hand for some parts of the journey! Installation was tricky!
Now installed, the solar panels will make a life changing difference to the children and the people of the village.
Such simple things as switching on a light, being able to read after dark, and all the benefits of electrical power we take for granted will open up new avenues of learning and future opportunities they never had before.