India's women bring solar light to villages
source: http://us.oneworld.net/article/363793-indian-women-bring-light-villages
-
-
- JanforGore
- added this
The solar power initiative is run by the Barefoot College in Tilonia, a village in Rajasthan, India. Founded by Indian activist Bunker Roy in 1972, the college helps Indian villagers become self-sufficient and puts special emphasis on developing women's skills.
"Many have been inspired by women in nearby villages who left for Tilonia with hope and returned grasping the power of light," reports Sathya Saran in an article for Ms. Magazine. "Most of the women are unlettered, extremely poor and often widowed or abandoned. But their eyes blaze with newfound confidence."
Rural women from India, Afghanistan, Ghana, and Syria are trained at the college and then dispatched to train other village women -- who in turn pass on their knowledge -- to construct and run solar energy units.
Writes Saran: "these 'Sunshine Warriors' comprise a force for change that the college sends out to transform lives around the world."
-
- groups:
- Community, Tech, Green, Earth and Science, 3 more
-
- tags:
- News, Green, Tech, Earth and Science, 7 more
-
- recommended by:
- Vierotchka
-
-
JanforGore
-
-
This is such a wonderful initiative. Teaching women who might never have had the chance to do anything or to even be acknowledged because theyare women how to set up solar systems is a fantastic goal. These areas of the world also use wood stoves which cause black carbon. To bring solar energy to these remotest areas not only helps the environment it gives people a sense of purpose.
- 2 years ago
-
JanforGore
-
-
JanforGore
-
-
Website for the Barefoot College:
'The College addresses problems of drinking water, girl education, health & sanitation, rural unemployment, income generation, electricity and power, as well as social awareness and the conservation of ecological systems in rural communities.
The College benefits the poorest of the poor who have no alternatives.
The College encourages practical knowledge and skills rather than paper qualifications through a learning by doing process of education.
The College was entirely built by Barefoot Architects. The campus spreads over 80,000 square feet area and consists of residences, a guest house, a library, dining room, meeting halls, an open air theatre, an administrative block, a ten-bed referral base hospital, pathological laboratory, teacher's training unit, water testing laboratory, a Post Office, STD/ISD call booth, a Craft Shop and Development Centre, an Internet dhaba (cafe), a puppet workshop, an audio visual unit, a screen printing press, a dormitory for residential trainees and a 700,000 litre rainwater harvesting tank. The College is also completely solar-electrified.'
- 2 years ago
-
JanforGore
