The Project

This project provides light where there is no power network. This is a boon for women to cook and children to do school homework in the remote mountain villages of Guatemala. Historically their light was a wick in a small bottle of kerosene, hanging over the cooking fire on the earthen floor.

Each system consists of a 5-watt solar panel, 2 white LED lights, and a 7-ampere-hour battery. An auto socket to charge a cell phone was added as many villagers still do not read or write and have adopted cell phones for communication with distant friends and family members especially those in the USA. The panels and lights are imported, but the batteries are purchased in Guatemala to save air freight and provide a local source when these batteries need to be replaced every 2-4 years. The panels, on the other hand, can last 25 years, and the LED lights last 25, yes 25 years!

The impetus for the project's business structure comes from John Wimber in his book The Way In is the Way On: "The poor don't just cry out for immediate relief; they want to be integrated into society just like everyone else. The principle is always the same: you give someone a fish, teach him to fish for himself and finally give him a license so he can fish wherever he'd like." Setting up the light project as an ongoing business, and incorporating it in a legal village cooperative would enable the villagers to “fish wherever they like.”

These mountain people are poor but hard working, inventive and confident. A successful small village business would provide much needed cash, and preclude some men from leaving their families to work illegally in the United States. These men (currently between 65 and 70 (in 2009) from a village of about 140 homes) need to be away for 2 to 3 years to pay the high cost to be smuggled in (about $5000USD), plus a high rate of interest on the money borrowed in Todos Santos (5% or more per month), and to have extra to bring home. The labor rate in the villages is currently $6 to 7USD per day.

History: The Light the Village project began in 2006 when a group of retired civil engineers from the University of Toronto class of 1952 (5T2), led by Don Turner, decided to back the project of their classmate, Bob Beattie. Bob had been living and working in the western Guatemalan village of Chenuwitz since 1992 as a volunteer, initially with CAUSE Canada. George Burns, a retired engineering business grad of 5T2, joined the team and initiated the idea of donating stock to a charity for some tax benefits, “button-holed” several friends for donations and got the first corporate donation.

The first light project for 25 houses, the second for 40 and the third for 60 have been so successful that the demand has risen dramatically. As Chenuwitz is one of some 20 (of 84) villages in just one municipality without poles and wires, we are reaching out to inform others of this practical, effective way to provide tangible help to subsistence farmers in Guatemala.

Current status - May 2011 Christoph Schultz, program director of LUTW, and Bob Beattie were able to bring down 115 light systems, rather than the 100 planned, in March '11 due in part to continuing donations from Southwest Airlines LIFT coffee program. The equipment was imported into the country without paying the value added tax of 12% enabling us to keep the total cost to about $200USD. 80 systems were forwarded to Todos Santos C. Huehuetenango,for distribution to villagers in that municipality without light, 25 reserved for distribution at cost by "Alianza Evangelica de Guatemala" (AEG), and 10 to be sold at full cost +15% selling fee by Fernando Aldana of the Solar Team, to outlying large farms throughout the country where worker families are without light. The latter 35 systems will allow churches and large farm owners to subsidize the cost to enable these families to have light at half the cost, the equivalent of $100USD of the total cost of about $200USD. As Bob Beattie has retired to Canada, several changes are being considered to continue the work through existing Non Government Organizations (NGO's) operating in the country:

• Having witnessed in March existing light systems in operation since 2006, Christoph will report to the board of LUTW the success of the project in Guatemala, who will decide whether to continue to support the work there.
• As the cooperative in Chenuwitz has not yet caught the vision of combining the light project with the savings and loan operation and have not moved to legalize the coop, we looked around for others who might be interested. Cesar Vasquez and AEG will also be seeking consensus on their role to bring light to their people throughout the country.
• Instituto Maya de Desarrollo Integral (IMDI) an NGO in Todos Santos, originally set up by Cause Canada and now independent with their own board, will also be deciding whether to add the light project to their other work.