WEST BETHESDA, Md. (NNS) -- In the rural city of Mbour, Republic of Senegal in West Africa, more than 200 children go to school every day in a community with no electricity.
Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) engineers partnered with The Lamps, a nonprofit 501(c) organization, as part of their "Let There Be Light" campaign, which aims to bring electrical power to regions of the world with no affordable supply.
Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Carderock Division's Dr. Peter C. Cho, an electrical engineer in Carderock's Marine and Aviation Division; Dr. Bryant H. Kim, from NSWC, Indian Head Division; and Dr. Sungshin Kwak, from the Naval Research Laboratory; dedicated their personal leave time Feb. 10-19 to visit the city, located about two hours from the capital of Dakar. There they installed six solar panels, bringing a source of light to a community which had no means of electricity prior to their visit.
Mbour is just one of the many communities Cho and his fellow engineers have visited over the years. They install what Cho describes as a simple, solar electric power system consisting of the panels, batteries, inverter and circuit breakers, which brings the community enough power to run indoor lights and small appliances. However, Cho noted the communities they visit do not have the luxury of appliances of any kind.
"The need in that community, as well as all of the communities we do work in, is immense," Cho said. "Every trip I make, when I come back and arrive at the [Washington] Dulles International Airport, I marvel at what a blessed country the United States truly is. One thing that always amazes me is everywhere we go the children always seem to be very happy, even in their situation. In Mbour, the children go to school but have no shoes, no sandals, and in the summertime it gets so hot -- upwards of 120 degrees -- they cannot wear clothes. Their happiness is not measurable with materials."
Cho, who emigrated from South Korea, said one of the main reasons he makes these trips every year is because he was lucky enough to immigrate to the U.S. and receive a good education.
"The U.S. government educated me from bachelor's all the way to Ph.D. I began my career at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, Rhode Island," Cho said. "I got together with some of my fellow engineers and figured out how we can pass on this great education and engineering experience to the next generation. One way we do this is by providing our skills and experience to the areas where there's no electricity available. If we can give students even something as simple as light in their school house and it can improve their chances of succeeding, improve their chances of a better education, then I am happy. That is our motivation."
Cho said when he first started bringing solar energy to communities without electricity he worked with a team of four engineers. Today, that team has grown to 13. The engineers not only travel on their personal leave time, but often fund the purchasing of the solar panels with their money. Cho said, in some cases, they have worked to subsidize funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development and SEED International, a Christian ministry out of Virginia.
"The biggest benefit to installing solar panels is they do not require a lot of maintenance," Cho said. "A lot of the communities we visit are close to the equator; sun is abundant. On average, two hours of sun will provide around eight hours of electricity."
Cho and his team have also installed solar panels in communities in Peru and Cambodia. Cho added wherever they go, being able to provide something as simple as indoor lighting, they leave knowing their work has improved the quality of life for the people of that community.
A video of the countdown to the lights coming on can be seen on YouTube: http://youtu.be/Bjqi2EnpuXs.
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, a part of Naval Sea Systems Command, leads the Navy in hull, mechanical and electrical engineering. Headquartered in West Bethesda, Maryland, Carderock Division employs approximately 2,000 scientists, engineers, technicians and support personnel and includes detachments in Norfolk (Little Creek); Port Canaveral, Florida; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Memphis, Tennessee; Bangor, Washington; Ketchikan, Alaska; and Bayview, Idaho.
For more information, visit http://www.navy.mil, http://www.facebook.com/usnavy, or http://www.twitter.com/usnavy.
For more news from Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, visit http://www.navy.mil/local/nswcc/.
from http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=99213
해군 기술자들 세네갈에 태양전지판 설치 (3월 8일 미 국방부 홈페이지 게재 내용)
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서아프리카 세네갈의 음부르시에서는 전기가 없는 상황에서 200명의 어린이들이 학교에 다니고 있습니다. 이에 미 해군 해양체계사령부 NAVSEA 소속 기술자들이 비영리기구 ‘더 램프스’와 협력해 이 곳에 전기 공급에 나섰습니다.
해군 수상전본부 카더록센터 NSWCCD에서 전기 기술을 담당하고 계신 조차희 집사님과, 해군 수상전본부의 브라이언트 김 박사, 해군연구소의 곽성신 박사가 2월 10일에서 19일 개인 휴가를 써서 음부르시를 방문했습니다. 이들은 6개의 태양전지판을 설치해 도시에 첫 전기 공급을 했습니다.
조 집사님과 동료들은 지난 몇년간 여러 도시에 태양전지판을 설치해 현지 주민들이 실내 조명과 가전제품을 사용할 수 있게 됐습니다. 다만, 많은 경우 주민들은 간단한 가전제품도 구비하지 못하고 있었습니다.
조 집사님은 “우리가 방문하는 공동체들은 많은 것을 필요로 하고 있다”며 “방문을 마치고 워싱턴 덜러스국제공항으로 돌아올 때마다 미국이 진실로 얼마나 축복받은 나라인지를 실감한다”고 말했습니다. 그는 “항상 내가 놀라는 것은, 우리가 방문하는 모든 곳의 어린이들이 처한 상황에도 불구하고 매우 행복하다는 것”이라며 “음부르시의 어린이들은 신발도 없고, 기온이 섭씨 49도까지 올라가서 옷도 입을 수 없지만 그들의 행복은 물질로 잴 수 없다”고 말했습니다.
한국 출신인 조 집사님은 매해 이러한 방문을 하는 이유에 대해, 자신이 미국으로 이민와서 좋은 교육을 받는 행운을 누렸기 때문이라고 말했습니다. 조 집사님은 자신이 학사에서 박사까지 미국 정부 지원으로 공부를 했다며, 로드 아일랜드 뉴포트의 해군 수중전투연구센터에서 일을 시작했다고 밝혔습니다. 이후 동료 기술자들과 함께 이러한 훌륭한 학식과 기술력을 다음 세대에 전수할 방법을 모색하다, 오지에 전기를 설치해주기로 했다고 조 집사님은 말했습니다. 처음 4명으로 시작한 봉사단은 이제 13명으로 늘었습니다. 이들은 개인 휴가를 쓸 뿐 아니라 자비로 장비를 구입하는데, 가끔 미 국제개발처 USAID나 버지니아의 기독교 단체인 SEED 인터네셔널로부터 지원을 받기도 합니다. 이들은 페루와 캄보디아에도 태양전지판을 설치했습니다.
