Barefoot College To Train Cameroonian Solar Engineers

By Jacinte Noussi

Three Cameroonian women, Cylia Ebob, Marie-Louis Kamebe and Alice Yitamben Kameni have been selected to train at the Barefoot Solar Energy College in India. The women who are between 35 and 45 years old were selected after an interview, during which they showed interest to be trained as solar engineers for six months.

Potential Solar Engineer

Gisèle Yitamben, President of ASAFE (Association de Soutien et d'Appui aux Femmes Entrepreneurs), supported Cameroon's case during the 2006 World Economic Forum that gave birth to the project on solar energy. Thus, Cameroon is among five countries to benefit from the project.

The training requires no educational background and the women, mainly from rural areas, need not be literate. Amongst the three selected women, one has been to primary school while two dropped out of secondary school after two years.

The College encourages practical knowledge and skills rather than paper qualifications through the process of education.Cylia Ebob said the opportunity to train as a solar engineer is the will of God. Ebob, who is a mother of two, living in Bwape Island, Manoka, makes a living out of selling smoked fish. Ebob dropped out of school at 13 after the death of her mother.

Ebob said she was selected for training because of her interest and willingness to answer questions. "At first, I doubted if I could become a solar engineer but the thought of becoming one propelled me," she said.Kamebe, 43, said, "I like adventures and so, this is an occasion to discover other areas."

It is the first time Yitamben would be traveling out of the country, reason why she was scared. However, her husband's support encouraged her. Kamebe and Yitamben come from Batcheu, a village near Bafang in the West Province. Like Ebob, the two women think that the best part of the project is becoming a solar engineer.

According to the President ASAFE, Gisèle Yitamben, one of the main objectives of her association is to improve the lives of women. ASAFE seeks to support small and medium size enterprises. 

Yitamben told The Post that the project on the solar electrification of Batcheu and Bwape Island has been in process since January 2006.

Roy Bunker, Founder of Barefoot College and Gisèle Yitamben met in 2001 when Bunker won the World Technology Award for Social Entrepreneurship in New York, USA, and Yitamben came second.

"When I presented the case of Cameroon for the solar electrification of some rural areas, we agreed on the method of procedure: Roy was to bring funds and I had to coordinate the implementation of the projects here in Cameroon," she said.

According to Roy, the certificates of the Cameroonian women would be their ability to electrify their communities with solar energy. Convinced that solutions to rural problems come within the community, he said, "The idea is to use local wisdom before we involve expertise from outside. This participative approach has enabled the modernisation of many rural areas," Bunker said.

The first Barefoot College was built in Tilonia, in one of India's largest and poorest state, Rajasthan. Better known as the Barefoot College, the centre has trained two generations of villagers to become solar engineers, health-care workers, hand-pump mechanics and teachers.

Their sponsors are international organisations, the United Nations under UNDP and UNESCO, the government of Rajasthan, among others. As far as solar energy is concerned, the College has solar-electrified 500 Indian villages, 19 in Ethiopia and five in Afghanistan. In Cameroon, Batcheu and Bwape Islands are expected to be solar-electrified by the end of February 2007.

The Barefoot College would not limit itself to the solar electrification of these villages, other social services are to be provided; schools, potable water, health centres, etc. These will be done on the condition that the solar electrification project is completely implemented.