Saturday, June 7, 2014

And there was Light


Several months ago I blogged these statistics about sub-Saharan Africa:
  • 7 out of 10 people lack access to electricity.
  • 30% of health facilities do not have electricity. They can't store vaccines and lifesaving drugs, or operate essential lifesaving medical equipment like incubators and x-ray machines.
  • 90 million children attend schools that lack electricity.
  • Each year, there are more premature deaths from exposure to the toxic smoke of indoor open fires and kerosene for cooking, heating and lighting than malaria and HIV/AIDS combined.
  • According to survey data of African businesses, reliable energy access is a bigger concern than corruption, access to capital, or sufficiently trained labor.

Electrify Africa Act of 2013 is a bill that was introduced in the House of Representatives one year ago to reduce poverty, improve health and education and bolster economic growth in Africa. It extols the virtues of ramping up U.S. involvement in promoting first-time access to electricity for at least 50 million people in sub-Saharan Africa.

This bill passed in the US House of Representatives! The next step will be for it to be successful in the Senate.

The email I received said that Oregon’s Representative, Greg Walden, was a big help in getting it passed. Today’s gift was to send Rep. Walden an email thanking him for supporting it so that people in Africa will have electricity, light, refrigeration and before you know it, the internet!

In Giving and Electrifying,
Robin

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