The mission of Sirona Cares is "To build sustainable communities". We place the power to create, use and sell alternative energy into the hands of the worlds poorest people. The goal is to create cycles of sustainability relating to energy and economics, and this vision is being realized in Haiti.
Pastor Honore Guerrier has been running an orphanage in Jeremie since the early '80s. We met him in 2009 while visiting the area to consider the Jatropha Program. Pastor Honore, like so many others in Haiti, was trapped in a freefall situation trying to find food and support for the fifty children in his care. Charity was his only avenue of support, and finding aid in his isolated community was a monthly challenge.
Over the past two years we have received donations specifically earmarked for supporting childrens care, education and health; and we have directed some of those funds to Pastor Honore. We have provided food, clothing, toiletries, and assisted with rebuilding a section of his orphanage following the earthquake. Last year we assisted with school uniforms and school supplies for a number of his children and supported the group as they struggled with a bout of cholera wherein 10 children were hospitalized. Always grateful, Pastor Honore has consistently provided us with his thanks and a clear record showing his stewardship of funds that we have supplied to him.
When the IEEE/Sirona Haiti Rural Electricity Project moved off of the drawing board and into reality we looked to groups we already know and trust, and Pastor Honore was selected as an Operator for one of our pilot units. The unit was deployed July 4th and we had a joyful evening there setting up twenty of the lighting kits to check them. The children were mezmerized by the lightbulbs. The orphanage itself has not had electricity for eight years, so none of the children under eight had ever experienced electric light in their home. There was singing, dancing, and sheer joy that night. I will never forget watching a boy pull the chain and jump back when the lightbulb illuminated. Imagine being seven or eight and never experiencing something so simple as turning on a light yourself.
We checked in with Pastor Honore the following morning and found him holding a customer seminar. Our project has moved him from being the requestor of aid to the businessman providing a service to his community. All forty kits were quickly distributed to customers ready to pay him to have light in their home, and after making his lease payment for the generator Pastor Honore will have an income stream to pay for his childrens food.
This is the creation of sustainability. Clean energy lighting an orphanage, lighting a neighborhood, and feeding children. Business instead of charity creates sustainability. As Pastor Honore proves his ability to maintain the franchise he will be allowed more units, up to five. Ultimately he may service 200 homes and finally enjoy economic stability in his orphanage. Very like the moment the child was dazzled by his ability to turn on the light, Pastor Honore is enjoying the feeling of dignity that comes from self-sufficiency. Pastor Honore is Haitian, and while he would not make the connection, for me this was an "Independence Day" that I will never forget.
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