High School students continue their efforts to light up villages after successful first distribution!
Typical huts in the village of Pamuwisan, in Mindoro, where the Philippines team will be distributing next April.
After distributing solar lights to 250 families in Catanduanes, Philippines, these student volunteers are continuing their efforts to an even larger scale. With a generous grant from Energizer, these young people will be delivering more than 2700 solar lights for many communities scattered around the Philippines. These lights will change the lives of more than ten thousand people by providing clean, electrical lighting to their lives.
The organization has had the absolute privilege to work with Tricia Peralta, Mark Lozano, Sierra Fan, and Ben Turner. Tricia and Mark are students living in Manila, Philippines. Sierra Fan is a senior at Gunn High School in Palo Alto, CA, and Ben Turner is a student at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in Canada.
Read about last year’s project experience with “Stories from the Field: Philippines” and “Sierra’s Reflections.”
Young People Making a Difference
Solar Lanterns: 1752 pcs/Solar Bulbs: 1000 pcs
A Catanduanes resident shows off a candle she uses for light
Learn More About It
- Communities such as the Kalinga, Apoyo, and Mindoro provinces, are home to hundreds of thousands of people living without access to electricity
- Partners included: students in Palo Alto, USA, Canada, and the Philippines as well as local Philippine Government officials
- There are more local villages in need. After this distribution, we plan to continue this program to even more locations
- A family, composed of 5-7 people, earn around $90 a month. Of that money, about 30% is used to buy kerosene for their lighting needs. The rest is used on food and education, among other expenses.
- Solar lights will allow families to allocate their budgets to more important matters such as education and nutrition.
- These lights are also safer than open flames, preventing dangerous accidents especially in areas without modern healthcare.
- Frequent tropical storms damage homes and livelihoods, making development very hard.
A group of children in the village of Centro in Mindoro, where the team will be distributing next April.
Contact Mark, Tricia, Sierra, and Ben about this project at [email protected]
Special thanks to Rotary Club of Nisku-Leduc, the Rotary Club of Edmonton West, the Calmar Secondary School Interact Club, and Gunn High School, for their generous support of this project.
Thanks to Philippine Airlines for providing international shipping free of charge for hundreds of solar lights in previous distributions.
And last but not least, a very special thank you to Energizer, who graciously provided support with all aspects of this project.
