SAIT students return from 12-day trip bringing electricity to villagers in Peru

Electrical engineering technology students from SAIT are back from a 12-day trip to Peru, where they volunteered for the non-profit Light Up the World.

Electrical engineering technology students from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) have returned from a trip to Peru to help equip a school with solar-powered lights.

The students travelled to the remote village of Huarcaya, and not only did they install lights, but also high-speed internet, a computer lab and a hot water tank.

The project was through Calgary-based non-profit Light Up the World, an organization specializing in giving off-grid communities access to electricity and satellite internet.

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Executive director Aaron Cohen says villagers know what electricity is, they’ve just never had access to it before.

“Sometimes we’ll find these communities through word of mouth or work with the local education boards or local health board to get a list of community affinities,” he said.

“Then we’ll call the teachers that work in those schools, or the health professionals that work in those clinics, and firm up the information that we already have, and then we’ll go for a site visit to confirm everything that we’ve heard through our phone calls.”

Cohen says the organization finds that sometimes a school is listed has having electricity but it’s only in the principal’s office with one light bulb and a plugin for a laptop.

He says in Huarcaya, SAIT and NAIT students, along with a handful of instructors, installed the organization’s biggest project to date, with a three-phase system that can illuminate more than 40 rooms for the 124 students.

“They started school yesterday, so it was the first full day that they were able to use the system and have light during the evening time and run their laptops and all the things that we take for granted,” he said.

“We also gave them satellite internet so they’re able to access the high-speed connection in pretty much all the rooms.”

Cohen says there are now ten computers for the students to go online and a hot water tank so they can wash their hands with warm water.

SAIT electrical engineering technology instructor Shashi Persaud says it was his third trip to Peru for Light Up the World, and it took four days just to get from Calgary to the village.

“Then it’s a rapid change in elevation from sea level of Lima, up to 4,500 metres (15,000 ft),” he said.

“It’s fast-paced work, tough conditions, but there’s some fun in between. You get a half-hour here in the morning to go and take a quick hike, an hour in the afternoon to see some of the wonderous sights there are in the mountains.”

Persaud says most of the Calgary students are in the electrical engineering technology program.

“They have wiring backgrounds that’s very important, but when we get on site, as part of the acclimatization, we spend time at a mid-altitude kind of elevation,” he said. “Then we do some basic training there so even someone who is not electrical can get sufficient skill to get going with some guidance.”

The students on the trip received funding through SAIT’s global skills opportunity grant and topped up their airfare and accommodations with just more than $2,000 each.

Kalista McNab, a first-year electrical engineering student, says everyone broke into groups to make sure all the work was done in the week-long window they had before they returned to Calgary.

“There was five or six different teams, a Wi-Fi team, a solar team and there was cabling,” she said. “I was responsible for wiring outlets and switches and light bulbs.”

She says the experience made her think about how about electricity is taken for granted in Canada, and just how privileged life here is.

“It was amazing to see the kids that we are impacting, and how happy they are,” she said. “The life they’re living is unimaginable, but they’re going through every day with a smile on their face, they don’t know any different.”

Hamish Birchall, a first-year electrical engineering student, worked on installing the solar panels and says their last night at the village, everything was dark except the school.

Now back home, he and the others can monitor how the electrical system is working 7,800 kilometres away.

“All of us who participated in the group can actually look at how much power are the solar panels producing,” he said. “I hope I’m back there one day, but probably won’t be, and to just know that this place is better off, it’s pretty special.”

Persaud says he is proud of the students and what they’ve achieved for the villagers.

“Every time I’m amazed at how well our students do,” he said.

“I really get it now, why employers (hire) these students, they have skills, they have commitment and Alberta is going to be better (with) them because they have more life skills now.”

Learn more about the Light Up The World Foundation by visiting the organization’s website.