Solar Lights and Dictionaries Distributed
Submitted by logan on June 26, 2009 - 4:26am
Our recent shipment of 1,750 pairs of reading glasses to Darfur refugee camps and villages in eastern Chad also included a variety of solar lights and bilingual English/Arabic and French/Arabic dictionaries – all tools needed to support reading. Below are photos showing the arrival of this aid and some of the Darfuris who will play a critical role in integrating it into the camps' educational system. For a detailed discussion of the ongoing field testing of the solar lights, with videos, click here.
English teachers in Bredjing Refugee Camp, themselves refugees, examining a sample of the solar lights and dictionaries. They will use these tools not only to teach many hundreds of others, but also to educate themselves to become better teachers in self-study groups that meet at night.
Teacher Mahamat Nourein testing a solar-rechargeable light (D.light's Nova S100) in his office. Our partner CORD writes that he "is the inspiration behind Unity English School, which meets daily with approximately 600 learners in Bredjing camp. They meet in Osman Primary School before school starts from around 5.30am and in the evening as well (the name changes to Unity while they are having English classes). Mahamat Nourein works all hours and is tireless in his enthusiasm to get an English language system that is balanced, with exams and graduation ceremonies. He is also a teacher in the primary school."
Another view of the solar test equipment, and a few of the dictionaries generously provided by Hippocrene Books (New York), Librairie du Liban Publishers (Beirut), Elias Modern Publishing House (Cairo), and Al-Ahram (Cairo). We are especially grateful to Hippocrene for donating 75 beautiful brand new English-Arabic/Arabic-English dictionaries, full- and pocket-size. The large tube contains a rollable thin-film solar panel that is sufficiently rugged for the desert environment and the hazards of transportation and daily use. To learn more about the importance of solar lighting in the camps and villages, click here.
