Despite living in isolated villages, a growing number of women in developing nations are leading an energy revolution.
Many of the women, highlighted in a video posted on Youtube by Barefoot College, must overcome obstacles such as poverty-stricken upbringings, language barriers and – in many cases – illiteracy to learn the ins and outs of solar energy.
After six months of training, graduates of Barefoot College are taught to build charge controllers and inverters, install solar panels and create cycled batteries to help power their own communities. For most of these women, their isolated communities would otherwise have had no access to electricity.
The women range in age from young adults to grandmothers and leave their families and responsibilities to take part in an immersive learning experience at Barefoot College.
The non-governmental organization aims to teach those in rural communities in developing countries such as India, Sierra Leone, the Gambia and others to become self-sufficient.
In the Youtube video posted by Barefoot College, 35 ‘solar warriors’ from Bhutan travel to the small village of Tilonia for their training. They did not speak the regional dialect and learned through sign language.
The education they received enabled them to install solar units in 500 homes across 48 Indian villages that had previously been without electric power. The women also arranged for the implementation of 18 rural electronic workshops in 13 different districts to allow for maintenance and repairs.
Barefoot College founder Sanjit ‘Bunker’ Roy believes technical expertise is not reliant on costly formal training and that, with the right teaching techniques and hard work on the part of the learners, even those with a limited education can excel.
“If you ask any solar engineer anywhere in the world they will say it is technically impossible for anyone who hasn’t gone through a formal education to fabricate a charge controller,” he said. “But when I say an illiterate grandmother from Africa can do it, it is just mind boggling for them – and she’s not only an engineer, she’s a fabricator, an installer, a repairer and a maintainer.”
Roy said Barefoot allows and even encourages trainees to learn through trial and error, espousing the underlying principle that those who are not hemmed in by formal training take more chances and are more willing to improvise. Making mistakes only helps stir curiosity while teaching humility.
“There’s nothing preventing you from becoming an engineer or an architect or a dentist,” he said. “It is just a question of providing an opportunity and the mental and physical space to be able to develop.”
One of the solar warriors shown in the Barefoot College video, 30-year-old Chandra Maya, said the training has made a seismic change in her life. When she left for her training, she was illiterate and had never travelled beyond her village. Now, she is known and recognized to those in her community.
“Villagers know I had training in India and now I am a well-known person in my village,” she said. “I have now become a solar engineer. I am proud of myself.”
In addition to teaching those in rural communities how to create a solar energy system, Barefoot College also offers instruction in a variety of other vital areas such as health care, water infrastructure and education.
