Solar Power helps student pursue their dreams

Norminy Arik is a high school student in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, an extremely poor province in Mindanao, Southern Philippines . Norminy has to travel by boat for over an hour to school everyday from her island village and back. She does not mind the difficult commute, though, because she knows she must persevere in her studies if she is going to pursue her dream of becoming a teacher someday. 

Being a hardworking student, Normini tries to study at night. Since her village has no electricity, however, she must use kerosene wick lamps. These lamps have poor illumination, making it difficult for her to read her schoolbooks. In addition, the pungent odor and smoke irritate her nose and eyes.

Committed to excel in her studies, she asked her father to buy a generator so they could use fluorescent lights. A generator is expensive, however, and her father needed time to earn the money to buy one. Fortunately, the Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy (AMORE) Program of USAID, Winrock International, the Department of Energy, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and Mirant Philippines was introduced to their remote village. Under the AMORE Program, a 12-VDC fluorescent light was installed in the Arik household that is powered by a battery charged via solar energy.