Four years ago children sat sprawled on the ground under a tree in the village of Lahor Dag, intently listening to their headmaster in a make shift school. Shortly after, The United Nations Children Fund brought them a tent for a classroom.
Today, the finishing touches are being made on a two-story brick and mortar school that will offer classrooms, furniture, offices and something many of the students do not have at home – electricity.
Lahor Dag is one of 13 schools currently under contract with the Kunar Provincial Reconstruction Team, each one using solar panels to provide the students with electricity.
“The schools are important to help expose the kids to different kinds of things,” said Brandon Toliver, an engineer with the Army Corps of Engineers, assigned to the Kunar PRT. “For some of these children, the concept of having power where you can just flip the switch is such a fairytale to them it will take something like this, where they can actually see it and say, ‘Wow, so this is what we learned about in science class.’”
Solar Is Cost Efficient
Implementing solar panelled electricity is a cost efficient option in this area. The panels are less expensive to purchase here than in the U.S. and the energy is renewable. Another feasible alternative is to use a generator to provide power for the schools, but with generators, fuel costs and maintenance issues become a problem.
“Electricity is very important in every place [and] without electricity there is no work possible because it is an essential part of life,” said Taj Safi, the head engineer for one of the groups of schools being built, which are categorized as bundles. “In factories, the machines could not run without [having] light, but if we use generators it costs too much and many people could not afford it.”
“Solar panels ended up being an easier solution for everybody,” added Toliver, who is from Pittsburgh, Pa., and graduated from the Florida Agriculture and Mechanical University with a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering.
Local Labor Needs Training
Though easier in some ways, installing electricity in a province where many villagers still live by candlelight presents its own unique set of challenges. There are very few electricians here and the contractors who do not already have electrical engineers on staff are required to bring one in.
“The way the contract works is [the construction company] has to use a majority of local labor,” explained Toliver. “So if I own a company and I hire a whole bunch of local laborers who do not have electricity in their homes and have not done any type of real safe wiring before, that’s the biggest challenge. But the reward is to have them be involved; just getting them that knowledge is helping them.”
The electrical laborers get training from both the PRT engineers as well as the site supervisors. The most common issue is the laborers are not used to running their wires through the wall and instead, connect everything directly to the power source. They do not use panel boxes or breakers.
“They’re not really thinking about the overall scheme of things,” said Toliver. “It’s very dangerous.”
Wiring of this kind can often cause fires or get people electrocuted. Another struggle, Toliver explained, is getting the workers to understand that specific wires can only handle a maximum amount of voltage.
The engineers conduct quality assurance and control checks on the schools at a minimum of every three weeks to ensure the projects are built to an acceptable standard so the Afghan people will have a safe and efficient structure. They also supplement their quality checks by reviewing photographs submitted by the contractor.
Lessons Learned
Further challenges are teaching equipment maintenance and the importance of regular upkeep. This was a valuable lesson learned the hard way at the Badad Kalay School where the system ultimately failed because the school maintenance did not know how to sustain the solar panels.
“In addition to proper installation, it is just as vital to properly educate future occupants of the schools about the necessary maintenance of solar panels,” Toliver said. “Fortunately, the knowledge from the Badad Kalay project is being applied to the school bundles to ensure these types of issues are less likely to occur.”
Though the engineers are doing their part to help, they emphasize to the villages that the long term affects of these projects, like the future of Afghanistan, lies in the hands of the Afghan people. The hope is that in the end, the solar paneling techniques the laborers learn will not just illuminate children’s classrooms, but eventually shed light on a whole village.
“After fitting [solar systems] in these schools, the electrical workers will be able to fit these systems in the local sector and utilize the sunlight for electricity and earn more money this way,” said Safi.
In the Lahor Dag School, classes have already started in the building with eager students sitting on the floor, even though the roof has not been finished.
“The children are excited, and as the construction gets closer to being finished it becomes more difficult to keep them away,” said Toliver. “They’re very hungry for knowledge.”
Soon the project will be complete, and 12 more schools are soon to follow. Yet as the engineers continue to rotate in and out, this group will always know they have left a light on for the children of Kunar.
