What Happens After the Barefoot Journey...

Solar Electrifying a Remote Village in Jammu and Kashmir State

The trek to the village of Samena is cumbersome, but the Barefoot way is to keep pushing forth and smiling!

After six months of training and a vast and enduring journey for shipping, Breswana community, located in Doda district in Jammu and Kashmir State, has finally received solar equipment to electrify 66 households. At the beginning of August, members of Barefoot College’s team made the trek to this remote village to support Samina, the local Solar Engineer who’d been trained at the main centre in Tilonia, Rajasthan. They assisted Samina with the electrification’s kickoff, ensuring all was well during the start of her new livelihood endeavour.

Thanks to villagers and the Saura Mandala Ground Partner, the first houses and the rural electronic workshop received solar power- the dream to have reliable, renewable light throughout the year started becoming a reality. Breswana is a mountain village in Jammu accessed via rugged trail. The nearest road point is 2 hours away by trekking or 40 minutes away by horse. Thus, it was incredibly challenging to ship panels, batteries and solar lighting systems for that many families in such a remote region.

Our Solar Mama graduate, Samena, with some helping hands for her first assembly in the field

10 days were required for a dedicated team to deliver the materials! Hats off to the entire team for this feat.

Even if the majority of houses currently have electricity, they undergo long blackouts due to rains and unreliable or unresponsive electricity during the three winter months. Three months is a long time- especially during winter- to go without any source of electricity. The goal of the project is for families to reduce their firewood and fossil fuel consumption, have lighting year-round, increase their free time and save money.

Solar power is the cleanest and most reliable source of energy for the villages of Kashmir

The Journey Continues…

We envision this achievement and anticipate that more women from Kashmir will come to Tilonia for the Solar Engineer training in the coming years, continuing the electrification process into the surrounding hamlets that benefit so greatly from these Solar Installations.

To discover this and other ways to contribute to underserved rural communities, please donate and peruse our additional articles to learn more about our International projects in communities around the world that spread the light through Solar-powered electricity and other holistic livelihood initiatives.