Sierra Club posts about Barefoot College

Solar oven

If you don't know anything about this project, please read this article on Bunker Roy's Barefoot College in the latest issue of Sierra Club's online home.  I talked briefly about this project in 2009, and am so glad to see that it is still going strong and still inspiring to witness.  Women in third world countries are given a 6-month course in how to build solar grids in their communities and it is just beautiful to think about these strong women more empowered in the task of helping their families and friends construct infrastructures that will inevitably help them as we deal with a changing world, both economically and weather-wise.

Here is a pull-out from the article:

Since 2004, the Barefoot College, in Tilonia, India, has trained about 250 illiterate and semiliterate women from rural, unelectrified villages in 41 countries to be solar engineers. After six months of training, these women have provided more than 15,500 houses with solar electricity in their home countries. The government of India covers all expenses—245,000 rupees (about $4,400) per woman, plus airfare. The college has trained an additional 700 men and women from rural India, including Moceiwasa's teachers.

Is that freaking amazing, or what?!  Imagine spending just 4400-dollars on each person in the US who wanted to learn how to build solar grids for their communities.