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About
MAY 1, 2018:
In 2017 we donated a solar powered battery charged computer tablet system to a rural Malawi secondary school without electricity, teaching faculty and students how to use and program the tablets, which had been filled with educational software, including “the internet without the internet,” Khan Academy. In 2018 we upped our game and decided to power the schools directly. We raised enough money, with your help, to pay for the installation of solar power electrical systems in 9 rural non-electrified secondary (high) schools in the Kasungu East District of Malawi.
The first 3 schools had their solar power systems up and running by April 7, 2018 when our annual Bridges to Malawi trip began. We brought a total of 35 laptops to donate and divided 32 of these among 3 of these newly solar electrified schools (Livwezi, Chamwavi, and Mbongozi) as well as one school (Chamama) which already had access to the local electric utility. The remaining 3 laptops were donated to All Saints Secondary School in Mtunthama, to add to their 8 we gave last year. We hope, by doing this, to enhance the education of secondary school students in the area in which we work, making it possible for some to become so facile with computer use that they can get a job in the city, earn a better income, send money back home to their parents, and thus break the perpetual generation after generation cycle of poverty inherent to the 80% of Malawi’s population who are subsistence farmers.
In addition, we can also make readily available the latest recommendations for conservation agriculture, such as mulching, which should enhance crop yields (estimates vary between 7-200%) which would also help break the cycle of poverty by putting more money in the pockets of the farmers. This money could then be spent towards better nutrition, which means better school grades, and also towards secondary school fees, which make it possible for more kids to attend high school, ad thus, get better jobs if they choose to leave the farm.
Finally, by electrifying the schools, we are providing approximately 400 high school students, who live in otherwise non-electrified villages, with a place to study at night, thus improving their academic performance and overall grades.
We hope to electrify even more schools while providing more laptops over the next few years until every student, both primary and secondary, in the Kasungu East District can enjoy this benefit. We will also be covering the windows and doorways of these schools with mesh screen to reduce exposure to mosquitoes and therefore malaria as part of the project. Please help us out!
The overall cost per school is $1000.
Achievements
On behalf of K2 TASO I am pleased to inform you that solar electricity power installation for Chamwavi secondary school in preparation for computer studies project has been completed.