Friday, August 28th, 2015. Chrisbert Garcia Reporting: In many of the most remote Toledo Villages, like Jalacte and San Vicente, electricity is a luxury that villagers can only yearn for, with flashlights, candles and kerosene lamps being the only means of light at night.
Lending a helping hand to these villages in recent years, is a Charity group called “Grid Earth” from the United States that donated 400 solar powered lights to various villages last year, each valued at BZ$100.
Working along with Grid Earth to make these donations possible, is the Ministry of Labour and Rural Development which helped to get the lights into Belize from the US, without duty charges.
Grid Earth committed to providing villagers with these solar lights in an effort to eliminate the use of kerosene lamps as the fumes are toxic, especially to children who would have to be using the light to do homework at night.
200 more of those lights were handed over to villagers of Jalacte and San Vicente earlier this week by representatives of Grid Earth and the Ministry of Labour and Rural Development.
The villagers were very much appreciative for the assistance, even hugging the Grid Earth representative as they received their lights.