MONTE HORET ELECTRIFICATION
| Monte Horet – which takes its name from Mount Sinai and in Spanish is sometimes called Mount Horeb -- is one of the poorest communities in León, Nicaragua and has many needs – including regular and safe electricity. While we take electrical energy for granted, it is conspicuously absent in Monte Horet. Much of the current electricity is pirated, meaning unsafe and substandard wires – such as barbed wire tied to trees -- are connected to passing main lines. Not only is this an inefficient way to access electricity, it is extremely dangerous, posing a very real threat of electro-cution to children younger than ten, who com-prise almost half the community’s population. At the request of community leaders, PGL has approved a project to upgrade the community’s electrification system and put it on the official grid. Monte Horet community members are forming work brigades to install the wiring and transformers, which will be purchased with PGL funds. A payment plan has been established with the León electric company to maintain the distribution of electricity. PGL has also supported a workshop in which ten women from Monte Horet proved their mettle by each building her own solar oven, and a second such workshop is planned (see Solar Ovens project page). |
ABOVE: Many people in Monte Horet live in shacks whose walls are plastic tarp, card-board and corrugated metal. BELOW: Pirated wiring is particularly dangerous for children.
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