Strengthening community ties via solar energy.
2,000 Warao Indian households in the lower Orinoco Belt have access to electricity supplied by hundreds of photovoltaic systems installed and maintained by the local Ruta de la Energía Solar (Path to Solar Energy) association.
Launched in 2006, this rural electrification program, together with the many footbridges built at the same time to allow people to travel to neighboring households, are relieving isolation and allowing families to work after dark and to meet their neighbors. With the arrival of the Internet, local physicians can consult with colleagues outside the area to fine-tune diagnoses. And horizons have broadened for schoolchildren in San Francisco de Guayo.
Supported by Total E&P Venezuela, state-owned PDVSA-CVP and the national and local governments, this trial will be expanded to include access to drinking water, geolocation and sanitation. All these actions are designed to ally state-of-the-art technology with the ancestral wisdom of indigenous communities.
CASAS WARAO (ES)
