One intern's bE experience

By Mostafa Aboul Dahab -- When thinking of the necessities of living, the first things that come to mind are light and clean water.

Building the battery box

In our day to day lives in the developed cities over the world, we became accustomed to having light and water available all the time. To fortunate people such as myself, both having water and light at my disposal has become such a norm that I find it incredible that there are others out there who struggle without it.

Securing the mounting brackets on the solar panel

I never imagined participating in any volunteer work, especially in Nicaragua! However, when I received the first email from the economics department in my university informing me about blueEnergy, I started looking at the picture from a different perspective. As I was always fascinated with renewable energy, this was the main reason that made me make the decision of volunteering to work at bE.

Wiring the inverter

I had a great experience with blueEnergy; I learned many things about the culture of the country and how minor events can make huge changes in people's lives.The best experience was going to one of the communities for the solar panel installation. We spent a day in the workshop at blueEnergy preparing for the installation. We then went to one of the isolated farms in Rocky Point to make the installation. After a panga (speed boat) ride, a bus ride and a walk in the rain forest, we finally reached the farm. The owners of the house were very pleased to see us. We spent the day making the installation and after we finished installing the panel and installing the light bulbs, we saw the extreme happiness on the peoples' faces and how such small things can change the lives of the entire family. 

Mostafa and Leonie with the beneficiary of the solar panel

All in all, my experience with bE as a whole was one of the greatest experiences in my life, and I would definitely go back to Bluefields and do more work there if I were to get a chance in the future. All the people who were involved were very helpful and I am very appreciative of all the things I' ve learned from everyone in it.

Casey, Mostafa and Leonie all give it thumbs up!