[2017] Switch Off - Wiring Poor Houses with Foreign Volunteers

Introduction

Switch Off 4.0 is the six-week long, project executed from 14th January to 24th February 2017. However, the planning phase of the project began as early as October 2016. Meanwhile, as exchange volunteers, nine undergraduates arrived Sri Lanka in February 2017 from Egypt, Indonesia, UK, Italy and China to execute this project together with the OC.

Featured in Sunday Times (12.03.2016)

Based on on-site surveys performed by the organizing Committee members in different villages, nine households in Piyasenapura, a rural area in Deltota, (Kandy District) were chosen and wired.

House wiring event. Click for full album

In addition to the wiring program, the volunteers and the organizing Committee visited a mini hydro plant in Pussellawa and the wind power plant in Puttalam to learn about energy production and to assess the viability of renewable energy in Sri Lanka. With that knowledge, they conducted interactive school sessions for students of Grade 7-9 on energy production and conservation in four schools. During the duration of the project, the volunteers spent their free time on assembling and testing LED bulbs from the components purchased using the funds. The organizing Committee and the volunteers also conducted door-to-door surveys in over 80 houses in various areas of Colombo,

where information about domestic energy usage in Sri Lanka was collected for future analysis.

Project Report

Story of how we electrically 9 houses under $700.