We had a project hunt competition where we can submit new project ideas. “Switch off 1” is a new project initiated in 2015. The aim was to give electricity to rural villages. We all knew that providing electricity cannot be done within the blink of an eye. But I believed in all the possibilities of making this a reality.
The selected village was in the middle of Bibile, in Ampara district.
The “Switch off” crew went to the village to take a look at its prevailing condition and on our first visit we were convinced that it is possible for us to provide them with electricity. We talked with people.
A father of two daughters told us that he wants to see his children be teachers in the future. He wanted to give the maximum benefits of education to them.
Being a university student, knowing how important education is, I felt the weight of his words. It was upto us to make their dreams come true. The interns, even though they were from another country, helped us a lot. The time period we planned for the project ended, but I had the belief that we could still make this happen. So I decided to proceed solving each problem that came our way with patience. After one year of struggling, learning and putting our heart and soul to this project with the great help of the Head of Engineering of Lanka Electricity Company (Pvt) Ltd (LECO SL) and the support of CEB Bibile, we were able to make the dream a reality.
Thank you AIESEC for giving me that experience. With patience, risk, dust, time, sacrifices it was an experience which cannot be taken from any other place. I'm proud to be a part of the change we brought into those lives.
Pasindu Kanchana
Faculty of Engineering
University of Moratuwa
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