Lighting rural schools

	This student in Managua, Nicaragua, is eager to learn how to use the computer, so he will have technical skills to offer his future employer.

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (May 8, 2014) – Food For The Poor will use grant money to provide 28 rural schools in Nicaragua with access to solar power, the Internet and computers through the pilot program, Luces Para Aprender. The project is scheduled to begin this summer with the assistance of the charity’s in-country partners, American Nicaraguan Foundation (ANF) and Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI).

The isolated schools in the pilot program are located in the departments of Nueva Segovia and Rivas, in the municipalities of Macueliso, Jalap, Ocotal, San Fernando and Tolas.  There is a great need for solar-powered technology in Nicaragua. OEI has identified more than 6,040 schools in the country that do not have access to electricity.

The work is made possible through a grant from the Fossil Foundation.

“The generosity of the Fossil Foundation has given children in rural, often forgotten communities, a reason to rejoice,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor. “By harnessing solar power technology in our quest to end poverty, we are able to offer students new and exciting learning opportunities that know no boundaries.”

In addition to using solar technology to turn on lights and power computers, Food For The Poor employs solar solutions to help provide clean water. Solar technology is powering water filtration units that help prevent the spread of cholera, submersible pumps that funnel water from streams to ponds, and eco-friendly waterless toilets to replace dangerous pit latrines.

Each school will be outfitted with NComputing X550 technology that allows the sharing of one PC with up to six users. This system lowers the machines’ electrical consumption by 90 percent, making it ideal to install in developing countries.

Food For The Poor, named by The Chronicle of Philanthropy as the largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of the hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 95 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.