ENERGY-HONDURAS: Let There be Light

By Thelma Mejía Reprint | | Print |

Thelma Mejia

SAN RAMON CENTRO, Jul 13 1999 (IPS) - For the first time in their lives the 843 residents of this remote southern village are enjoying the benefits of electricity, brought to them through a solar power project operated by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Marvelling at the six street lamps lighting up the village square Pablo Zambreno said “I grew up with lanterns and never imagined that I would see this moment.”

San Ramon Centro, in the southern region of Choluteca, some 220 kms from Tegucigalpa, was chosen by UNESCO for a pilot project to bring solar power to many other villages in Latin America and thus improve the quality of life for people in remote areas where electricity is still only a dream.

Jorge Lagos, of UNESCO’s Tegucigalpa office, told IPS that the concept of solar villages was approved at a UN assembly in Harare in September 1996.

Under the initiative, UNESCO will attempt to “extend social and economic development to the population” through facilitating the use of solar energy in underdeveloped communities around the world, Lagos said.

The agency selected San Ramon Centro because of it receives a high concentration of the sun’s rays and also because it was one of the communities ravaged last year by Hurricane Mitch, which wiped several villages and one large town off the map in southern Honduras.

UNESCO has installed four-kilowatt solar panels that presently provide enough power for the central plaza, the local school and health centre in San Ramon Centro.

In inaugurating the project, Honduran President Carlos Flores, thanked the United Nations for selecting his country for the pilot programme, which he called “an ambitious and rewarding initiative for all Latin America.”

“We Hondurans feel proud and dream of seeing solar villages installed throughout the country, which will aid the development of the nation and, above all, promote education and culture in remote towns,” Flores affirmed.

The system operates through panels that collect the sun’s rays during the day and converts them into power which is then stored in batteries, like those used in cars, for distribution throughout the communities.

The project has meant that the little school here can now operate modern computers, video and other equipment to foster learning, also supplied by UNESCO.

“I had never even touched a computer. I had heard people talking about them, but I had never seen one work. Now I have learned to make little doll figures and other drawings that I like,” said 10-years-old Oscar Umanzor.

UNESCO hopes that the project will help end illiteracy in towns like San Ramon Centro that exist elsewhere in Latin America.

Eventually, all buildings and homes here will be electrified and the people in the community understand it is a matter of patience. “What’s important is that we have light, we understand it and know how it works,” said0 one resident, Margarito Castillo.

For Honduras, where the demand for electricity is very high and 40 percent of people who want power do not have it, solar villages offer a solution to those areas suffering from a scarcity of even basic necessities.

But for now, the residents of San Ramon Centro, a zone that is difficult to access due to the poor state of its roads and the steep ravines that surround it, are content to take advantage of electric light to sit and chat each night under the bright street lamps. (FIN/IPS/tm/mj/dv/ks/mk/99)

ENERGY-HONDURAS: Let There be Light

By Thelma Mejía Reprint | | Print |

Thelma Mejia

SAN RAMON CENTRO, Jul 13 1999 (IPS) - For the first time in a Mejia
(more…)