Pakistan
Tharparkar, Sindh Province
Pakistan is a is a multi-ethnic Islamic country with a population of about 197 million, where rural population takes up yo 63 percent of the total population. According to an analysis database, 60 percent of Pakistan citizens are under 30 years ago, and 1/3 of the people lead a beggarly life.
Energy problems have always been a plague to Pakistan. Power outages have convulsed the country for years. Electricity deficits on any given day may range from 4,500 to 5,000 megawatts (MW), though they’ve sometimes soared to 8,500 MW – more than 40 percent of national demand. Then there are areas where there are literally zero access to electricity due to the lack of proper power grids in those regions, and the desert district of Tharparkar is one of them.
Tharparkar is a district which lies in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, spreading over 20,000 sq kilometer. Around 80 percent of Tharparkar is rural and inaccessible by car. Here, people live in straw-roofed mud houses. Most of the villages – 2,300 registered and almost 2,000 unregistered lack access to electricity and thus are unable to conduct any activities in their homes like most of us during the day.
Tharparkar is a vast desert region, with high temperatures hitting the area at all times and the scorching rays of sun are usually seen as a bane. However, multiple government and non-government bodies saw the potential of harnessing energy from the abundance of solar light in the region and thus launched a large scale solar energy project in this arid region at a time when the country faced massive electricity shortage. The solar energy project, launched two years ago, has so far provided electricity to 16 villages at a cost of more than Rs 100 million. However, it was only able to illuminate 20 to 30 houses. There are currently more than 2000 unregistered houses that have no usable lighting.
Every small acts of kindness is what keeps the darkness at bay. Therefore with your help, Starlight hopes to provide sustainable lighting to these people and families and bring them hope that a better life awaits them.