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Fair A light unto the nations — African nations, in particular
By Michael Orbach
Issue of Dec. 12, 2008 / 15 Kislev 5769
Seen in satellite photos taken at night, the African continent is dark. While Europe, Asia, and the Americas glitter like jewels, Africa is dark as the arctic tundra. The reason is simple: only 15 percent of the estimated one billion people living in Africa have access to electricity. At night, seen from space, an entire continent turns the same color as the sea.
Eleven months ago, Sivan Achor-Borowich, an Israeli-born 29-year-old working for the United Nations Development Program, saw firsthand the consequences of a lack of energy while she was stationed in Senegal. Women spent most of the day foraging for wood to cook with which, aside from being ineffective fuel, heightened deforestation in the region. Children died of curable diseases like malaria and yellow fever for want of medication that couldn't be kept in clinics without refrigeration. Work in rural areas ground to a halt at sunset. Achor-Borowich wondered: why not use Africa's most abundant resource, the sun, to provide power? With that idea, Jewish Heart for Africa was born.
"Without energy you can't do anything," Achor-Borowich told The Jewish Star.
Jewish Heart for Africa provides energy to rural villages inside Africa using solar technology developed in Israel. (A recent study by the Samuel Neamen Institute found that at 3 percent of the primary national energy consumption, Israel is first in the world per capita in use of solar power).
Once harnessed, solar energy is used to light clinics and schools, pump water from underground wells, and power refrigeration in clinics. Two months after the official launch, Jewish Heart for Africa's first project was powering 10 light bulbs and a refrigeration unit in a clinic in Tanzania that served over 7,000 people.
According to Achor-Borowich, Project Sol has impacted over 18,000 people and by February the number is expected to jump to 34,000. Solar energy is an optimal source of energy: sustainable, cost-efficient and it requires little maintenance. Given a $4,000 donation, Jewish Heart for Africa can power a clinic.
In Uganda, Jewish Heart for Africa worked with a community of Orthodox Jews who converted over 100 years ago. Lights were set up for the poultry farm, community center, and shul. "They do all the mitzvoth," Achor-Borowich said describing a Shabbat visit to the community. The community is so careful about kashruth, she said, "They don't even eat meat."
By using Israeli technology, Jewish Heart for Africa also aims to polish Israel's positive image abroad.
"We're improving Israel's economy, Israel's image, and helping some people that are very much in need," Achor-Borowich said. "We can do so much today and we can bring a stronger relationship with Israel and Africa; we're talking about 53 countries. It's almost one billion people."
Upcoming projects for Jewish Heart for Africa include Project Agri where Israeli irrigation and agricultural technology will be used alongside the solar projects to increase food production and make water use more effective. Right now projects are limited to three countries: Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia, but Achor-Borowich has received requests for Jewish Heart for Africa to help in other countries, opportunities she says she'll pursue when the time is right.
At a fundraiser three weeks ago in a loft in Midtown Manhattan, the Tanzanian Ambassador, Dr. Augustine Mahiga, spoke to a group of well-dressed Jewish twenty-somethings. He thanked Achor-Borowich and Jewish Heart for Africa for the work they have already accomplished.
Energy, the ambassador said, is the cornerstone for Africa and the advantage of solar energy is obvious. In his words, solar power and the work of Jewish Heart for Africa can "transform people from poverty to prosperity." He added that he hoped this would be the beginning of a partnership between Israel and Tanzania.
Light, sun, solar; it has a resonance in Jewish history. Over 2,000 years since the Diaspora began, and the Jewish people are still, literally, a light unto the nations.
