St. Theresa Catholic School HyperStream Service Project

WHERE THE LIGHT CAN’T REACH

THE PROBLEM:

Andreas story: During our Social Justice Week this past January, we hosted a young man from El Salvador. This was his first trip outside of his village in El Salvador. He spoke to us at our school about his country and how he grew up there. He talked about the extreme poverty and showed us pictures of the homes that people live in. He gave us a picture of the house he grew up in.

ANDREAS AND HIS HOST FAMILY

ANDREAS SPEAKING TO US ABOUT EL SALVADOR

ANDREAS’S STORY

• Andreas told us all about the extreme poverty that exists in his village and many of the villages in El Salvador. He gave us real examples such as the food that they eat and clothes that they wear. He told us that they eat only one meal a day and it is usually beans and/or rice. He said that most children do not have good shoes to wear and only own one set of clothes that they wear all the time. He then showed us a picture of the house he grew up in that is similar to most peoples homes.

ANDREAS CHILDHOOD HOME

He described the construction of the houses. He said that they are generally made of sticks and have dirt floors. He said that they doors do not shut well and never lock. He told us how scared he used to be when he was a little kid. He said that it was always very dark and the door did not shut very well. He said that because of the logging and poaching that was taking away the forest, the animals would sometimes come into the village and attack a family in their house during the night. The next day, the village would discover that a family would have been attacked. He said he would always wake up in the middle of the night because he would think he heard something outside their house. He said he would sometimes take off his shirt and tie it around the sticks to hopefully hold the door shut tighter.

THE SOLUTION:

DESCRIPTION:

This is a solar powered lighting system. We have built this system to be donated to a family in El Salvador in Andreas’s village. This lighting system collects solar power throughout the day then converts it into energy. This energy is stored in a battery to be used later on when it gets dark. This will help keep the family safe and also allow them to do some work after dark. This will help them make more money the next day. Most of all, it will bring peace of mind that the animals will be deterred by the light and not want to enter their house during the night.

THE DESIGN

BUILDING

WE USED LED LIGHTS SO THEY WOULD LAST LONGER AND BE MORE EFFICIENT

WE HAD A WHOLE TEAM OF DESIGNERS AND BUILDERS!

THE FAMILY

• We have a team of volunteers that will be taking a trip to El Salvador in June and will deliver our lighting system to the family for us.

• They will also install the system for the family and take some pictures of it as they are installing it.

• We will write to the family and send them pictures of us building it and check on it’s efficiency and reliability.

MATERIALS USED PV LIGHTING PROJECT COMPONENTS

Here is a listing of the major components of the system that we are building:

Energy Source• NPower 12 volt, 12 watt output Solar Panel

Voltage Regulator• NPower 8.5 amp Solar Charge ControllerEnergy Storage• Sealed AGM 12 volt battery with 9 amp hour storage capacity• 12 volt x 9 amp hour = 108 watt hour energy storage capacity Lighting• 3 light panels mounted on plastic sheets, each composed of 25

LED lamps• Each light panel draws approximately 0.35 amps• 3 light panels x 0.35 amp x 12 volts = 12.6 watts of LED lighting •

HOW IT WORKS:

Calculations

• Hours of sunlight required to fully charge battery from solar panel:

108 watt hour battery / 12 watt solar panel = 9 hours

• Hours of lighting available if battery is fully charged:

108 watt hour battery / 12.6 watts of lighting = 8.6 hours

THE DESIGN PROCESS WAS HARD BUT WE LOVED SEEING IT COME TO LIFE AS WE BUILT IT!

WE ALL WORKED TOGETHER TO BUILD IT!

WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED

• We have learned that not all people feel safe like we do.

• Not all people have the food, clothes and homes that we have

• Not all people have electricity.

• We can make a difference.

• We can help.

• We can change a families life and make it safer for them.

• We make the light reach into the darkness!

HOW DID THE COMMUNITY REACT TO THE PROJECT?• El Recreo is the village that Andreas is from.

• El Recreo has 152 homes

• They do not have running water, air conditioning or electricity

• They wash their clothes down at the river

• They cook over an open fire

• With help, more children can go to school

• El Salvador has the 3rd highest murder rate in the world due to gang violance

• The community needs help and Andreas says that the lighting system that we built will help ease families fears at night.

• He says that the light will help them do their school work after dark when they wouldn’t have been able to do it without the lights, and moms can continue to do their work for the next day.

THERE ARE PEOPLE THAT CARE ABOUT US!

• Andreas says that with the help that his community is receiving, people have renewed hope.

• They had felt that no one cared about them and have learned that we care here in Iowa.

• Andreas was overwhelmed with the generosity that he experienced here in Iowa and at our school.

• He promised to deliver our cards to them and carry our message of love and caring to everyone in his village.

• He will especially deliver our message to the children in his village.

• He could not believe that we would be willing to help him and his community!

NEXT TIME….

• Next time we need to build more of these lighting units so we can help more families.

• Next time we will use less led lighting strips (one less per block) so the lights will stay on longer.

• Each strip we take off will add another hour of light.

• This reduction does not seem to take away from the brightness in a room (we tested it)