By: R.Magarajeswari, Sri Sai Ram Engineering College

In the modern world, life without electricity is just beyond our imagination. It has become an inevitable part of our life. In this bright part where we belong, we forget those who still live in the dark. “The future of India lies in its villages” said the father of our country. But these villages remain in the darker phase of the world. The team of students and professionals of IEEE RURAL UPLIFTMENT SIGHT have teamed up with Liter Of Light, a global open source movement which has an objective of lighting the un-electrified slums and villages. The IEEE RURAL UPLIFTMENT SIGHT has the mission to make the villages smarter by providing opportunities in education, health care social welfare and economical habitat.

The team chose TamilNadu as one of the pilot locations for their initiative. After a survey research on the under privileged villages, Senapatinam village of Thiruvanamalai district was identified as a potential site for our humanitarian service. We initially had done a survey on 14th April 2018. It was found from the survey that there were 100 people along with 30 school going children living in that village. They live in mud houses and use candle light and kerosene to light up their homes as there is no electrical fixture in any of their . People suffer a lot due to this. To meet the lightning requirement of the village we had done and a detailed study. And after all study, discussion we came up with a plan of installing 16 solar lights in the village. During 4-5 August of 2018 Litter of Light NGO, SIGHT Volunteer
along with 5 Student from France, went to the village and installed the lamps.

Children were very happy because they were able to study till 8pm. Ladies said that they could
come out safely during night times because of these lights. “I have been living with kerosene lamps for
43 years. Now you have changed it”- said a resident of the village. “The villagers face glowed like stars
after the installation of lamps. All the struggles and hardships encountered during the installation
vanished in a second”- said one of the SIGHT volunteers. These enthusiastic volunteers look forward to work in similar projects in near future.