Source google.com.pk
Forest People House
This is the home of an indigenous Emberá family located on the outskirts of El Real, inside Panama’s Darien Gap. Perched up on stilts to protect from annual flooding from all the rivers in the area. The Emberá are one of 3 indigenous groups that have called the remote Darien region home for hundreds of years. We passed many traditional homes like this on our way into Darien National Park. I actually rented a machete for our 3 day jungle trek from a local Emberá man who lived down the road.
Forest People House
Forest People House
This is the home of an indigenous Emberá family located on the outskirts of El Real, inside Panama’s Darien Gap. Perched up on stilts to protect from annual flooding from all the rivers in the area. The Emberá are one of 3 indigenous groups that have called the remote Darien region home for hundreds of years. We passed many traditional homes like this on our way into Darien National Park. I actually rented a machete for our 3 day jungle trek from a local Emberá man who lived down the road.
Forest People House
Forest People House
Well this blog is a little out of place in the timeline of things, but based on all the interesting and informative presentations by people at CATHALAC and our projects, this trip is just now making it´s post. On Monday, January 4, we took a trip to visit Comarca Emberá at Parará Puru. This is an indigenous tribe located in the Chagres National Park, on the Chagres river. Our trip to Parará Puru, which is the community we visited, consisted of an hour bus ride inland and then a 15 minute boat ride. The experience was absolutely incredible and something that I think none of us will forget! The main reason for visiting Emberá was to see how this indigenous community has installed solar panels on their homes, school and Office of Tourism. The installation of these PV cells has allowed the community to rearrange their daily activities. They are now able to spend the morning and evening hours to spend more time of their family life. Youth now have access to more nutricous food becaue beef, chicken and other meats purchased outside the community can now be stored and integrated into the children’s meals. A nutritious diet can impacts a student’s ability to learn in school.
The project is funded by AEA, the Energy and Environment Alliance. They provided funding to install 17 PV units in the community for a capicity of 2.325 kW. They provided training for 50 members of the community to learn how to install and maintain the systems. We later found out that these trained individuals gave their word that they would not leave the community to pursue additional options in life. This agreement would ensure that the use of photovoltaic systems within the community would maintain a strong presence.
The importance of solar power within the community has become so important that they have created a Solar Power Committe. This committee has a president, Jorge who was our guide, a vice president, treasure and representatives. These individuals are charged with overseeing the operations within the community and to develop solutions to changes within the community, such as how to obtain funding to purchase three new solar panels for the three new houses that were constructed after the completion of the project or how to ensure that each homowner has a battery pack that will store the electricity genertated. In the house we visited, the battery pack was no longer working. So currently they have created a short term fix to allow this homeowner to share a battery pack with a nearby neighbor.
Forest People House
Forest People House
Forest People House
Forest People House
Forest People House
No comments:
Post a Comment