Solar Lights for My Village

My service in Peace Corps is coming to a close in the next few months, but I am trying to take advantage of the time left and do my best to contribute to my island community in any way possible. I know that many of you are already aware of my basketball court project and have contributed generously to fund its construction. The building of the court is moving along nicely, but they still have plenty of work to do in order to transform a jungle hillside into a legitimate basketball court. I will keep you all updated on its progess as it nears completion.

The majority of my attention is focused on the construction of the court, but as a volunteer I often have half a dozen community development projects happening simultaneously. One of the projects that I am working on now is providing solar lighting to the people of my village. We currently have no electricy on our island and most people spend their evenings and nights in darkness.

I wanted to address this issue of lack of power and lighting on my island, so I began to search for options to alleviate the problem. I have extensively researched solar technology and discovered a reliable and efficient type of small solar lamp that would be affordable to the people of my community. Through a partnership with a local NGO and the Kopernik foundation, I have put together a fundraising effort to bring light to my village.

If you visit my website at http://kopernik.info/en-us/proposal/light-remote-fefan-island-micronesia you will be able to see a description of my project and have the opportunity  to donate towards the cause. As with the basketball court effort, I do not expect all of you to personally contribute large amounts of money for the project. Instead I hope that you will help spread the word and let other people know about the website and project. So please take a look and feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.