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Solar suitcases in Kenya! All the way from Wasuma Elementary!
Solar suitcases in Kenya! All the way from Wasuma Elementary!

Solar Suitcases Arrive In Africa And South Dakota

BASS LAKE — Eighth graders at Wasuma Elementary School are hard at work, getting ready to send out their next batch of solar suitcases. Previous suitcases, which are portable solar systems housed in a suitcase and hand-built by the students, have gone to Africa as well as to a Native American reservation in South Dakota suffering from a severe flood.

Students are currently getting ready to start construction on new international and local deployments of suitcases, and are planning to send them out by the end of the year.

Oak Creek Intermediate’s 8th graders will be starting the project tomorrow.

Here is a letter from program director Alli Pemerl regarding the suitcase in Kenya, Africa:

Dear Kris and students at Wasuma Elementary,

We appreciate your patience while we experienced delays in getting this story to you and your students.

On May 16th, 2019 one of the Solar Suitcases built by you and your students found its permanent home at Kisioyi Secondary School in Bungoma, Kenya! Please share this story with all who were involved, so they can realize the impact of their work.

Solar Suitcase #1038 was installed by our Kenyan partners, Change Mtaani, a community based organization for youth empowerment in the Kibera slum near Nairobi. Previously, the school only had limited access to electricity and would experience daily outages. With the addition of a sustainable energy source like the Solar Suitcase, the school will be able to light the classrooms and staff offices. This will increase study time for the 485 students attending the school and will help them to achieve higher grades and better scores on entrance exams to higher education. The adults who work at the school will be able to charge their cell phones and other devices, as well as, benefit from additional security.

Thank you for your hard work in building this Solar Suitcase. The students and teachers loved seeing who built their new Solar Suitcase!

You are helping to light up lives in Kenya!

Please visit this Google Folder to access more photos and a thank you letter.

 Best,

Alli Pemerl

Here is second letter from Alli regarding another suitcase’s recipients. This time, the suitcase was sent to a Native-American reservation in South Dakota that had recently experienced severe flooding.

Dear teachers,

I apologize for the delay in getting information to you about the Solar Suitcases you built and we sent to Red Cloud Renewable in South Dakota to help relieve victims of the “bomb cyclone” flooding on Pine Ridge reservation. Your Solar Suitcases went to families and individuals on the reservation who had no previous access to reliable electricity, or whose access was interrupted because of the flooding. The Solar Suitcases will provide light and charging capabilities for small devices, such as cell phones.

I wanted to share with you this link to a video courtesy of Jason Mackie, RCR Volunter pro film maker, Henry Red Cloud and the Solar Suitcase recipients. The recipients thank you for your donation and for putting together the Solar Suitcase that will provide them with a renewable source of energy.

Please feel free to share with anyone who was involved with the project so they can see the impact of their work. Thank you for helping to light families on Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota!

Best,

Alli Pemerl

Solar suitcase program directors.

Solar suitcase program directors.

For more information on the program, as well as ways you can help, please visit:

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