Light In The Dark: Solar Garden Street Lamp In Tent Camps In Haiti

        In recent months, through the joint efforts of the Haitian government and the Solar Photoelectric Foundation (SELF), two tent camps in Haiti finally turned on solar garden street lamp. SELF lighting project leader Jean-Baptiste Certain said on the phone that when there was no light before, the life of the tent camp dimmed every day as the sunset fell, and people stayed alone in temporary shelters at night, children could not learn, women They were afraid to go to public toilets because of fear of attack.

       Since Pétionville and Caradeux tent camps have solar garden street lamp, people's sense of security has greatly improved, and life at night has completely changed. Small businesses in the camp market area can be open until later, which brings income to some families, and people come out of the tent to chat and play at night. Most importantly, with solar garden street lamp, violence in the Pétionville tent camp has dropped to almost zero. Certainly said, "We believe it's all thanks to the garden street lamp."

        After the Haiti earthquake, thousands of survivors flocked to tent camps like Caradeux and Pétionville. The Pétionville tent camp is built on a private golf course and can accommodate up to 50,000 people at night. The only lighting here at night is from 30 solar garden street lamp and 3 generator-powered lighthouses installed by another organization. SELF officials said the lights didn't do much at all.

       Despite patrols by United Nations peacekeepers and internal security personnel, the security situation in the camps remains poor. The Pétionville camp has many entrances and exits, and people live in very crowded and difficult conditions, which has led to conflict. Women are particularly at risk. A report released by Amnesty International states that 250 rape cases occurred in several camps within 150 days of the earthquake. The women interviewed in the report stated that the lack of night lights was the culprit of the windfall incident. One of them said, "In our camp, we cannot live in peace, and we cannot go out at night."

          Installing 100 led solar street lamp in two camps may sound simple, but it also faces challenges. The camp requires far more led solar street lamp than SELF can provide. As the Haitian government wants to move people out of the camp and does not want to invest in infrastructure, the first challenge is to choose where to install led solar street lamp. Certain from SELF consulted the management and residents of Camp Pétionville about the best place to install led solar street lamp. First of all, led solar street lamp must be installed on the way to public toilets. Women feel uncomfortable on the way to public toilets at night. In addition, the camp market area also needs Philips solar street light.

         Another challenge is to find philips solar street light that can meet some special conditions. Such lights must be able to resist hurricanes,  prevent interference, and work continuously without maintenance. Certainly went to great lengths to find two models of lamps with 20-foot-tall triangular pillars. Larger models have a 185W photovoltaic module on the top, two sealed gel batteries in the safety box and 36 high-power LED bulbs These bulbs produce 3,680 lumens of light (a 100W incandescent lamp produces 1,600 lumens of light). Certain recalled that the installation was under heavy rain and the staff were covered with mud. However, in the process, they also contacted some camp residents, including three little girls. They said, "You are the one who brought us lights. We hope to work after school. Can you install one for us?" Finally, they got one of the 32 philips solar street lights installed in the camp.

       The improvement of law and order by philips solar street light is immediate. These philips solar street light work at full power from 6pm to 12am and from 12am to 6:30 am. Violence in the camp, including sexual assaults, fell from six per week when the automatic solar street light installation project began in June to one or zero incidents per week after the project was completed in August. There may be other factors in the drop in violence, such as the number of camps in September has dropped to 23,000, and the number of patrols has increased. Therefore, the residents of the camp said that their sense of security has been greatly improved. The increased use of public toilets has also improved sanitation in the camps.

       In September, SELF completed the installation of 68 automatic solar street light in Caradeux camp, and achieved the same improvement. Even if these automatic solar street light are no longer needed in the camp, they can be transferred to other places and continue to bring light to the people in the dark.