Solar Transformation for Haitian Education

Dear friends and supporters of Solar Transformation for Haitian Education,

I am writing, first and foremost, to thank you for your support of our team's project. Your financial (and moral!) support made possible what we consider to be a very successful project, which we are now considering to be completed.

With this support of yours, we were able to install a 2.4 KiloWatt DC-only solar system, a solar-powered wireless Internet and WiFi connection, and set up a brick-and-mortar library at the EFACAP school in Lascahobas, Haiti. For reasons beyond our control, the Ministry of Education in Haiti has decided to discontinue the One Laptop per Child project, and we no longer have a partner in the MoE, which puts the scaling of our project on hiatus.

However, the good news is that the solar system at the EFACAP school remains operable and is still charging the laptops. Furthermore, with minimal modifications, the school could utilize the system to charge just about any DC-based technology--I was charging my own netbook on the system while were there, so our technology-neutral DC-only approach should continue to serve the school in the future. In addition, the school has a two-year Internet subscription, complete with a service contract for that duration. From continued communications with the school director, I know that both the solar system and the Internet are still functioning properly, and we look forward to that continuing to be the case.

We are also happy to report that our work in Haiti led to our team's development of a Solar-Computer-Lab-in-a-Box, intended for use in just about any off-grid school location.

We will continue to search for ways to scale this project. Until that becomes a reality, we wish to thank you for your support, which made the work at the EFACAP school possible.

With very best regards,

Laura Hosman