Cape Town learners help to light up the day for Khayelitsha home of safety
A child care centre in Khayelitsha has received a donation of solar power charging units, which have been built by learners who took part in an energy awareness training project.
The project, “Playing With Solar”, has been run over the past two years by the environmental organization Project 90 by 2030 and involved high school learners from schools across the city.
They were taught the importance of being environmentally conscious and looking after the planet, while the practical part of the workshops involved the building of solar power charging units.
“Ten of these units have been completed by the students, and we will donate them to worthy organizations across the Mother City who don’t have a reliable or adequate source of power to do their important work,” says Project 90 by 2030’s project manager for the Playing With Solar Workshops, Daniel Robinson.
The first batch (of five units) was installed at Abaphumeleli Home of Safety in Khayelitsha on Saturday 27 May after trained engineers did a final quality check on the units. Abaphumeleli looks after 37 children aged between 1 and 19.
Robinson says they hope the donation will make a tangible and positive difference for the three recipient organizations they have chosen.
“We are excited about this culmination of our project. We have been able to teach learners the theory of being environmentally aware, and now in this practical and tangible way they will also be able to give something back to communities who need it.”
On Saturday, the five units were installed at Abaphumeleli. All the units were installed in an outside building which is currently not electrified and which would later serve as bedrooms for the older children, to make more space for the younger children in the main house.
Whilst the installations took place, Project 90 staff members and volunteers prepared a delicious lunch for the students and the children, by using an low tech energy efficient cooking system called the “Keep-It Bag”.
Solar units will soon also be installed at a day care centre in Westlake, and an educare centre in Hangberg.
Lindokuhle Jama from Bulumko High School participated in the day. Bulumko is one of the schools that formed part of the Playing with Solar project.
Odwa Mantyi from Bulumko High School in Khayelitsha prepares the solar unit
