Electricity is unreliable and expensive in Kenya. In Makindu, the power often goes out for a few hours during business days, causing inconvenient and sometimes costly disruptions. The Kenyan electric utility has increased rates 15% to 20% recently, yet still delivers unreliable and spotty service. The Makindu Children's Centre needs to expand its solar power grid to bring light and fans to students in the classrooms, to run the computer lab, and to power security lighting for the entire campus.
Unreliable electric power disruptions impact the Makindu Children's Centre regularly at random intervals, often causing delays in the ability to use the kitchen to prepare daily meals, interrupting students using the computer lab, and shutting off cooling fans which keep the preschool classrooms comfortable for learning. Not only this, but power disruptions at night darken the paths to restrooms and create unsafe conditions without the security lights for the campus.
More solar power panels will allow the the Dining Hall and Kitchen to be open for more hours of access to hungry students and guardians. More solar panels will keep the computer lab connected to the internet and keep the cooling system active for the computers from overheating. Solar power will light the restrooms and power security lights around the entire campus to keep the children safer.
Providing the solar panels and hardware for the Centre will help channel important funding more directly to the needs of over 525 children supported with food, shelter, and education instead of paying for increasingly expensive and unreliable utility bills.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
