A student works on a solar panel as part of a TRU Electrical Foundation practicum in Mexico.
The following article is scheduled to appear in the next edition of Bridges Magazine. Bridges is a publication by TRU’s Alumni & Friends Association. Read previous editions of Bridges.
By Diana Skoglund
When TRU Electrical Foundation students travelled to one of the least developed areas in Mexico to install solar panels, it wasn’t just the villagers who saw the light and were inspired.
Six simple homes in Olivos de Sol each received one solar panel, a charge controller, a storage battery and a few lights through the efforts of nine TRU students, their two instructors and the coordination of Experanza. A small village, Olivos de Sol is not a long way from the country’s power grid, but with a cost of upwards of $20,000 US, the 300 to 500 meters to the hydro line might as well be 300 to 500 kilometres. For the first time the families living there have light in the evenings and the ability to charge cellular phones and similar devices without hearing the drone of a generator.
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“The students could see right away how their newly acquired skills (their trade) could make a difference in other people’s lives,” said Dana McIntrye, one of two electrical trades instructors who organized and took part in the first international field school opportunity for TRU trades students. “Put simply, with the students’ help, children in Olivos de Sol are able to read in the evening and the craft economy may be able to expand.”
For electrical instructor Steven Benoit, the trip amplified the level of student engagement and raised the bar for student-teacher relationships. “Like the students, we were immersed in the community and culture and had the profound growth experience that is an inevitable part of these trips,” said Benoit. “Getting to know these students and the people we worked with in Olivos de Sol has given me greater empathy towards students and people in general.”
The practicum field trip was Travis Johnston’s first trip to Mexico. The 30-year-old, second year electrical apprentice is pleased that his first impression of the destination holiday hotspot was authentic, not a resort community swarming with tourists sporting sunburns and tropical cocktails.
An interest in smart home technology lured Johnston to learn the electrical trade. What is really smart, he concedes, is that families living in the modest homes he worked on in Mexico will never be billed for their utilities. He and his classmates worked alongside the homeowners, who when employed, may have earned $12 per day. The experience changed him, he said. He is looking to go back again, hopefully in August, to help build houses.
“People all around the world know something about Western culture from television. We, on the other hand, don’t usually know much about how the rest of the world lives. This exposure, combined with the adventure of a new place, is what makes the international practicum such a rich learning environment,” McIntyre said reflectively.
The experience opened the students and instructors up to seeing themselves and the world in a new way. As they installed the solar panels, they trained community members to maintain the equipment to ensure sustainability. Adding this teaching component instilled a sense of pride and value for the homeowners in their recent skill acquisition.
Although the applications of solar technologies are easily transferable to remote BC communities, Tawny Fortier is confident the experience will transfer well on many other levels.
A single mom, Fortier had spent some time during the last three summers job-shadowing BC Hydro’s electricians. As she neared the end of her Foundation Electrical Trades Program, she jumped at the chance to travel to Mexico for the project. “I knew going into trades that I needed good communication skills, be willing to relocate for work and adapt to new environments and learn to improvise. We experienced all that in Mexico.”
Fortier said they all also experienced a profound sense of belonging as each family welcomed them with open hearts. She was struck by how friendly and happy the people where, despite having so little. “This was a nice gift because they don’t have to use candles anymore and they are one step closer to having things just a little easier for them.”
TRU Trades worked with Experanza International, partners with Fundación Experanza de México, A.C., a non-profit organization registered in Mexico. Not religiously or politically affiliated, the group was founded in 1990. Similar to Habitat for Humanity, they harness volunteer sweat equity to stimulate sustainable development of Mexican families by building homes with the homeowners.
Travel costs were kept to $1,500 for each student, which included airfare, land transportation, and meals and accommodation at the site. Tools and safety gear were packed alongside sandals and t-shirts. The solar components for the project were bought at a hardware store in Rio Grande. This was one time when you didn’t rush out of the store to get out to the job site; there was no big box hardware store to run to if an item was forgotten.
Expectations for the trip were for the students to learn as much or more from the locals as the families learned from the delegation from TRU. On non-work days the group participated in guided aboriginal cultural trips provided by the host, Experanza. One moonlit night they released newly hatched endangered sea turtles into the ocean. It’s a memory Fortier will cherish forever.
As for outcomes, Dana McIntyre summed it up this way, “This trip accomplished so much. Not only have we trained electricians, we will be graduating students with world citizenship attitudes.”
SIDEBAR: Clean Energy for Developing Communities
Steve Benoit was in Mexico as the Electrical Instrumentation instructor. For many years he has developed and taught the Water Treatment Technician programs delivered to operators of the small waste water and drinking water facilities in small, rural, often First Nation communities throughout the province. It’s a background that has inspired his plans to move solar power into larger systems to operate small medical clinics, water treatment plants and public buildings such as schools and community centres. A clean energy, with no carbon footprint, solar power is ideal for developing communities like Olivos de Sol to grow their economies without the financial burden of connecting to the existing hydro power infrastructure. Benoit and McIntyre intend to make this an ongoing relationship so these larger projects can be part of future field schools.
SIDEBAR: Innovating Learning Opportunities
The School of Trades and Technology’s practicum to Mexico is one of TRU’s most recent international academic development initiatives. This pilot project is designed to offer students increased opportunities to enrich their educational experience by incorporating international, intercultural and/or global dimensions to their program of study. One of a growing number of innovative learning opportunities being developed at TRU, this project is in support of its recently approved Academic Plan. Other international academic development initiatives currently under consideration include a volunteer for credit course, double and joint program offerings at the undergraduate and graduate level, blended course delivery models, and increased international mobility opportunities for students and faculty.
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Learn more about
Construction Electrical Foundation at TRU
Learn more about Foundation at TRU
Learn more about Trades at TRU
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