“For years, my mother sacrificed her sleep to give me and my sisters cool breeze through hand fan at night. But now she also sleeps when we sleep. Life has become comforting for her,” shared Abdul Waleed thankfully.
USAID has enabled deprived villagers to illuminate their homes through green energy.
Abdul Waleed feels ecstatic. His village has been provided with electricity. His home and his school are brightened up. He and his family, including his 2 little sisters sleep well in the night because of the cool breeze of the ceiling fan.
Zahran – Dad Shah Bazar, the village of Abdul Waleed, is located 300 km away from District Gwadar in Baluchistan. With over 30 house-holds, the village can be reached after 48 hours of non-stop drive from Karachi city. It is an area where no telephonic service works.
In the current times, when life without electricity is unimaginable, village Zahran and its adjacent villages do not have electricity. The villagers’ lifestyle is an illustration of ancient times when men were living in caves. Villagers use kerosene lanterns to get light and use hand fans for airflow. In this day and age tube light and ceiling fan are nothing short of a luxury for them.
To facilitate Abdul Waleed and other villagers, USAID through Small Grants and Ambassador’s Fund Program gave a grant to a local NGO – Rural Community Development Council (RCDC) to provide electricity from green energy to five villages of Union Council Suntsar in District Gwadar, including Zahran.
Under the grant, solar energy units were installed in 341 houses, 5 public schools and 3 basic health units in the five villages. Each solar energy unit contains 1 solar panel of 70 watts, 1 charge controller, 1 deep cycle battery of 12 volts and 1 inverter of 500 watts. On 8 hours of sunlight charging, the solar unit generates 70 watts of electricity which can be used for 5 hours. Now, each family has installed 4 energy saver lights and 1 fan.
The villagers have encompassed the idea of solar energy well. Each household has contributed 5% of the total cost of solar units which has been used for electrics, fans and energy savers and a small part of which is pooled for any maintenance needs after the project completion.
“For years, my mother sacrificed her sleep to give me and my sisters cool breeze through hand fan at night. But now she also sleeps when we sleep. Life has become comforting for her,” shared Abdul Waleed thankfully.
Abdul Waleed’s house is made of mud and roofed by dry leaves. But with USAID’s support, lights and fan have been installed in his house. This small step has meaningful impact on Abdul Waleed’s life.
“Now, even after sunset, I can study and assist my mother in making mats and other accessories with dwarf palm leaves. Thanks to USAID, now I can utilize more time in a day,” says Abdul Waleed with a smile that lights up his face.
