The Innovation: Africa  project provides energy and clean water to all isolated villages on the African continent. The organization was created in 2008 by Israeli Sivan Yaari and has already installed 300 solar panels, providing energy, clean water, agricultural irrigation, and refrigeration for vaccines and medications to over 1.5 million people in ten African countries.

“I discovered Innovation: Africa when my mother played a video of the water pump inauguration in an African village that showed the joy of the children and adults when the water came out. I was impressed because I had never thought about how some people had to live without running water and energy,” says eight-year-old junior reporter Joseph F. who interviewed Sivan Yaari for JOCA. Check it out below.

Are there a lot of people without energy and water in Africa?
There are 620 million people currently living in Africa who have no access to electricity — this figure is almost twice the population in the United States. Aside from that, more than 350 million Africans have no clean water and end up drinking dirty water.

How did you think of helping African countries?
When I worked for the clothing company Jordache, in Madagascar, doing factory control, I visited a few villages.  It was my first time in Africa and my first contact with “true” poverty. I always thought my childhood in Israel and France had been poor, but after spending some time in Africa, I noticed that I was privileged. I decided to continue my studies in New York, and I studied energy to find out how I could make a difference in the villages I visited. After raising funds through friends, I travelled to Tanzania and installed a solar panel and light bulbs in a medical centre and a school. When I went back to check on things there, I noticed I had made a great mistake. When I spoke to the school director, she thanked me, but said the children were too weak to attend classes – they walked too much to get water, which is dirty and carries disease. Then, Innovation: Africa began the mission of providing not just solar technology to the villages, but also hydraulic (with water pumping) and agricultural (with irrigation system that waters food plantations) technology.

Do you go back to the villages to see if things have improved?
Certainly. We always take donors to the villages, so they can see how the project works on site and can interact with the community members who had their lives changed. It is a unique experience to see people switching on the light or opening the faucet installed by the organization.

How many children has Innovation: Africa helped?

We have helped over 1.5 million people. The children represent a large part of this number, especially because our projects are teaching the next generations that are in schools, orphanages, and medical centres.

Do you think that, because you are from Israel, where there is a lot of technology, doing the project was easier?
Israel is a center for creativity, innovation, and solutions to problems. We have some brilliant minds in renewable energy, water technology, design, and much more. For a country that is so small, there are many opportunities and potential. So we just have to share this with other countries.

Does Israel have similar issues to some of the African countries, such a drought?
Basically, we are using in Africa what the Israelis used to make the desert flourish and to provide drinkable water. The land and climate are very similar in Israel and Africa.

How can someone help Innovation: Africa?
It is possible to do this by creating a fundraising page through the website: www.icampaign-innoafrica.org/signup. Every donation goes directly to a village in Africa and our team informs us how the project is progressing.

Questions
1) What did the creator of the project Innovation: Africa take from Israel to the African countries?

a) Just a group of volunteers
b) Technology to create food in laboratories
c) Ideas and technology to make drinking water available
d) Government investments in the form of money

2) What others parts of the world have problems like the ones mentioned in the text?

Ixi! Você bateu no paywall!

Ainda não é assinante? Assine agora e tenha acesso ilimitado ao conteúdo do Joca.

Assinante? Faça Login

Voltar para a home

Ou faça sua assinatura e tenha acesso a todo o conteúdo do Joca

Assine

Enquete

Sobre qual assunto você gosta mais de ler no portal do Joca?

Comentários (0)

Compartilhar por email

error: Contéudo Protegido