The Argument for Solar

For rural Tanzanians, access to electricity can mitigate many daily hardships and can immediately provide a drastic increase to their quality of life.  I recently read an interview from theworld.org where a Tanzanian women describes the role that solar electricity has played in her life.  The woman tells the interviewer a sad story about a young school child who fell asleep studying with her candle lit and it caught her bed on fire, killing the child and 14 other children.  Also, she tells of doctors that perform emergency medical procedures at night by holding flashlights in their mouths for light, promoting pathogen exposure.  There is a seemingly endless list of specific ways in which electricity can increase ones quality of life, many of which we fail to realize because we take electricity for granted.

It is obvious that a rural society can benefit from electrification and I believe that the best part about it is that it enables communication to the outside world.  Without electricity villagers are burdened with the challenge of charging their portable electronic devices and without these devices they have no link to the outside world.  It all goes back to the old proverb "'give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime." Communication is fundamental to learning and it provides people with a means to access an unlimited source of information.  Thus, electrification enables communication which enables learning and now the Tanzanians have the power to control their own destiny.  The work I plan to do with Solar Hope this summer will enable Tanzanians to learn and unlike traditional forms of humanitarian aid, it will provide them with a means to help themselves.  

I have included a fun video for your enjoyment.