The view from the top of the small hill opened up and an idyllic setting comprising several long buildings appeared. The space between the buildings was filled with trees arranged in a loose fashion. A whole class of about 200 students was spread in this area sitting in their desks brought outside for the purpose of conducting an exam. The students acknowledged the arrival of visitors in a coy, but curious manner and continued work on their exams. Here, about 30 miles from the nearest electricity line and paved roads, the time seems to be standing still and the rest of the world considered civilization is very far away. There are no TVs or video games here, the children don’t have cell phones and they don’t listen to popular music. They don’t wear designer clothes and they have never heard of any movie stars or famous singers. The days here pass by in simple graceful existence, quiet curiosity, and unspoiled joy for life. But, this pristine setting is about to experience a major change.
“Professor, here we are, this is Idodi secondary school”, Dennis, the program coordinator, declared in a convincing fashion. We parked the car and stepped out into a sun-filled mid-morning in Southern Highlands of Tanzania. We were between the town called Iringa and Ruaha National Park, a world-famous game reserve. This was the second school on our journey to install solar electricity systems on the remote schools. As we exited the car, we were greeted by the rest of the installation crew: Wambura, Fred, Morris and Matola. Together, we made an unforgettable journey to complete solar installations on eight schools. Kiwere, Idodi, Isalavanu, Zadraz, Ullembwe, Ikuna... We made our way through the Iringa region in 19 days with the hope that the lives of thousands of children would be changed for many years to come. While the necessity to honor cultural diversity and leave the innocence of this existence undisturbed must be taken into account, it is obvious to anyone even cursorily familiar with the subject that a strong desire for growth and improvement in the quality of life exists among these children. There is an innate and obvious curiosity present that is directed towards the larger life around them, which is in some ways so close, but still unreachable. This is expressed in the excitement of learning and through admiration of modern communication and technology. The improvement in the quality of life that could come as a result of better integration first into the communities closest to them and then to the rest of the world can be only driven by aspects of modern life such as access to lighting and communication. The ability to read at night, listen to a radio, or watch a movie; and expand their horizons in that way as something that was available to most people in the developed parts of the world century or more ago: or to communicate with friends and relatives through the use of cellular phone technology, are the forces of change that are enabling the integration of these segments of the population with the rest of the world. While it has to be made clear that not even all basic needs are always met for these children, it is also evident that advances in communication are going to be the catalysts for further growth. Paradoxically, this need for better integration and awareness of the larger world can be met more easily than securing permanent and reliable fulfillment of basic needs. The reason for this is that all means for improvement and growth depend on technologies that require use of energy, primarily electricity. As a consequence, it is currently much harder to secure reliable food supplies for example than to enable better communication (in the widest sense of the word) through enhanced reading, ability to listen to radio broadcasts, or through use of cell phones.
A few hours later at Idodi secondary school, the solar panels were being lifted on the roof. As we were watching, Dennis insightfully posed a question: “Prof., do you think we are making a difference for this country and Africa by bringing solar energy to these schools in remote villages?” Looking at the “big picture” it became obvious, just as the sun started shining on the solar panels, that in a struggle to create momentum for action in developing alternative and renewable energy source the expectations seem always to reside in the willingness of the developed nations and their economies to adopt new endeavors. Almost exclusively, the needs and goals of economically advanced nations are presented as being the most important factors that drive the progress. However, there are much nobler ways to bring prosper and progress to the world as whole. More important than the need to further increase already highest in the world per capita energy consumption in North America and Western Europe, is the responsibility to bring basic life necessities to those regions of the world that are underdeveloped and to those that have no means to produce energy at all. Ironically, the wheels of the future global economy relying on renewable energy may be best started in the third world countries through the greater humanitarian effort. Bringing the renewable energy sources first to school children in poor countries is more than anything a basic expression of the highest humanitarian principle to help those in need. Development of renewable energy sources could be one of the efforts that bring the world together rather than dividing it. In the true principle of sustainability the renewable energy sources will not cause geopolitical imbalance or social injustice. Besides humanitarian efforts to provide food and medicine to third-world countries, bringing alternative energy solutions to poor regions of the world independent of their religion or political affiliations can become one of those historical events in the human development. Ultimately living in the world where there is abundant energy for everyone remains the most noble of all endeavors and must be regarded as the highest goal of this generation. The answer to Dennis’ question came a few hours later when we officially handed the system to the school head master in front of the complete student assembly. The voices of jubilation that came out of several hundred students were a perfect expression of the gratitude for the gift of solar electricity and more than that for the opportunity to become more connected with the rest of the humanity.
n each school we visited, we were greeted with elation and admiration. The complete student assemblies were performing songs for us, they were writing esseys to describe the changes that solar electricity would bring to their lives, and most importantly they were showing for us that technology can be the universal, unifying way to bring people of different countries together and erase the importance of borders between the nations. A simple gift of solar light has sparked such a keen interest among students in all the schools we visited that has left us with the unforgettable feeling of incredible inner joy for helping others. In each of the schools we conducted an open class where we discussed the solar electricity with students. Dennis was in his best element putting the solar technology vocabulary in Swahili and by engaging in lovely discussion with the students. Occassionally, he would refer a question: “Professor, the question from the student in the back row has to do with the energy level of electrons in the outer shell of silicon that are excited by the light falling on the photovoltaic panel”. The level of understanding and more importantly the curiosity expressed by students have left us utterly impressed and notable ashamed of the arrogance often shown by some from the industrialized world. We knew, without a doubt that we were on the powerful journey to bring the gift of solar energy to Tanzania and we felt honored to be a part of it.
A couple of weeks later, as we were finishing the installations in this phase, we felt the joy of accomplishment and the sense of pride to be part of the effort to bring solar electricity and general awareness about solar energy to Africa. We reflected on the stories about all solar energy enthusiasts who contributed to these efforts and the circumstances that led to the final culmination of activities with the solar system installations Dennis and I were privileged to directly participate in. We thank them all for their passion to help people of Tanzania and for making the solar electricity installations on schools possible. And we thank all the school children from Iringa region for giving us the gift of gratitude, showing us their unspoiled curiosity, and making our journey an unforgettable experience.
With hundreds of children’s eyes focused on us, I heard Dennis’ voice: “Professor, can you now present the new solar electricity system to Ikuna secondary school?” The following words of bonding and sharing will always resonate in our minds: “Inawakabizi mfumo huu wa nishati ya jua kwa shule yenu. Hongera sana”. Thank you, Tanzania and Africa, we, are privileged to be here to bring the solar energy to you.
