Dear Malawi: help is on the way.
Earlier this fall, students in ECOL 3070 — Environment and Humans — decided they would work together to provide aid and assistance to the impoverished African country, one solar-powered laptop at a time.
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“We wanted to do something big, kind of past the University,” said junior economics major Theresa Henry, who is co-directing the project with Natasha Diaz, a senior majoring in math and biology.
The origin of the group’s goal is slightly more complicated, equally the product of several circumstances at once:
First, Henry and Diaz both have an interest in working for the betterment of Africa.
Second, ECOL 3070 required a class project — and they knew it had to be something good following the efforts of last spring’s class: SMART, which aimed to cut the campus energy bills. Finally, their professor’s son, Tomas Pickering, happened to be a member of Peace Corps — stationed in Malawi.
“It just kind of all went together,” Diaz said.
The class-wide decision was then made: the students would work together to help Malawi. Specifically, the group decided to produce instructional videos on a variety of essential everyday tasks: how to create and use compost piles; which nutrient-rich vegetables were accessible and good to eat; and so on.
Though basic, the information provided can be life-saving.
“The big thing in Malawi is they can’t work because they’re always going to funerals,” Diaz said.
In order to send their videos, the class is also fundraising money to purchase solar panels, which they will attach to laptops, with the ultimate goal being a sustainable closed loop: rechargeable computers with imminently useful information provided to those in need.
“We have the chance to save lives with these videos,” Diaz said.
There was only one problem.
“But the difficult thing is how do we get the money?” Diaz said.
To that end, the group has been setting up percentage nights around Athens as well as soliciting donations from family members, with a goal of raising $1,200.
Additionally, Pickering will be ensuring the delivery of the goods to Malawi.
With 24 students and less than three months to work with, it’s been a lot of work in a small time span.
“I think it’s because it’s for a good cause,” Diaz said. “Like, who doesn’t want to help little children in Africa?”