SonLight Power brings water to thirsty Haitian community
Sometimes there just wasn't enough water. The well that served the village was 180 feet deep and sometimes the old generator couldn't pump it fast enough. Or sometimes the fuel to run the generator wasn't available or was too expensive.
On really hard days, the children resorted to drinking water from mud holes, risking disease.
SonLight Power had worked in this region of Haiti before, near the town of Gressier. The city, located about 15 miles west of the capital of Port-au-Prince, was ravaged by the 2010 earthquake and recovery has been slow. The water supply in this particular section of the city was dependent on a generator and an unreliable diesel supply.
The answer was clean, solar energy which SonLight Power brought to the area thanks to a local partner with whom we had previously worked.
Often, when you think of solar energy, you might envision bringing light to a dark room. But solar energy also brings the ability to improve a community's water system, providing energy to pump the water and, if needed, purify it. The health benefits are obvious; people's quality of life is dramatically improved.
SonLight volunteers installed 12 solar panels, providing three kilowatts of power for this project. The pumps can now bring up as much as 10,000 gallons of water a day and the community no longer worries about diesel supplies or cost. Now, thanks to your generous support of SonLight Power, the children of Gressier are splashing in mud puddles, not drinking from them.
Wish you were there? You were.
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