[Noisebridge-discuss] Electrical Engineering help needed in Rwanda

[Luis Felipe RM]

On 08/11/2013 03:01 AM, girlgeek wrote:
> Greetings,
> As some of you know, I am currently serving in the Peace Corps in
> Rwanda.  (I am the white haired old woman with a beagle who was around
> NB up to a year ago).
> 
> The project that I have chosen in the Peace Corps is to provide Solar
> Lanterns to parents in a village  without electricity.  This allows the
> kids to do school homework after farm chores are done, (which is when
> the sun sets).  The recipients of the lanterns (a village women's group)
> then collect the money that they were previously spending on kerosene
> and candles into a co op and start an enterprise.  The women in the
> village where I am working, (Gicwamba, Rwanda) have decided that the
> enterprise that they want to do is to make and sell solar lanterns.
> 
> Earlier this year I was in South Africa and met a retired Electrical
> Engineer, Freddie.  Freddie volunteered to design a village makeable
> solar lantern.  He spent a couple of months on the project.  But before
> he has given me the design he has decided that he would rather work on a
> different project.  I now am running up against a deadline.
> 
> Is there anyone at Noisebridge with electronic engineering knowledge who
> would be interested to be involved in a long distance, good deed, project.

Tokyo Hackerspace had a similar project for the communities affected by
the tsunami. It is all open source hardware, so you can easily learn
about and replicate the project in Rwanda.

It is called 'Kimono lantern' and it uses small solar panels:

http://www.tokyohackerspace.org/en/project/kimono-lantern-kit