Sira Thierry
Appearances
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Getting engaged in the ashes of our home
The teacher is holding up different objects, a screwdriver, cables, lamps, and the students repeat after her to name them. This is a classroom full of grandmothers, who are learning how to install lamps and solar panels. Most of the women never went to school or know how to read or write, but soon they will bring electricity to their villages. Yes.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Getting engaged in the ashes of our home
These classes are run by the World Wildlife Fund and an international NGO called Barefoot College, which trains communities worldwide to be self-sufficient. Fast 100 Frauen haben hier trainiert, Solarpanel zu installieren und zu fixieren. Aber sie lernen auch über Frauen- und Kindesrechte, Mikroentrepreneurschaft und Gesundheit.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Getting engaged in the ashes of our home
At 43, Mom has four children and two grandchildren. I visit her at home in Kivalu, while she's peeling vegetables for dinner. The fishing village can only be reached with small wooden boats, and only in the morning, when the water between the mangroves is high enough to traverse it. Like most villages in Madagascar, it's very far off from the electricity grid.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Getting engaged in the ashes of our home
So Mom is now installing a small solar panel on the top of a wooden hut. She can't climb up there herself, so she's instructing all the boys and men around her. And she knows exactly what she's doing. Bevor die WWF und die Barefoot College started training Grandmothers in this village, people used petrol lamps, candles and torches to have at least a little bit of light after the sun sets.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Getting engaged in the ashes of our home
Eine Familie würde 30 Batterien pro Monat leichter zerstören. Das ist teuer und macht viel Wast. Aber das war nicht der einzige Schaden an der Umwelt.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Getting engaged in the ashes of our home
Mams Neighbor Nivu, a teacher, received a solar panel in May. It can only charge phones and small electronic devices. Yet for this family, having a reliable power source has been life-changing, Nivu tells me, as she's preparing dinner for her family.