Solar power to the people: S. Lebanon women’s cooperative eyes renewable energy
Lebanon is in the midst of a reemerging waste crisis, but this isn’t stopping some groups from making the switch to renewable energy. In a sense, and amid the surrounding chaos and sheer incompetence of the Lebanese authorities, this can be seen as an act of rebellion; an act whose realization could spark a socio-environmental movement.
Daad and her amazing team of women run the “Cooperative for agricultural production and manufacturing” in South Lebanon’s Dar Qanoun: a rural, underdeveloped village, which like other surrounding towns has bore the brunt of poverty and war. The women there spend their days doing backbreaking work producing healthy, preservative-free food products that include bread, jams, and other pantry items or what is locally known as “mouneh”. The women do it to support themselves, their families, and their communities. But power rationing is standing in their way, as Daad and her team end up producing half of what they normally would using electrical food processors.
“The ladies here are putting a great deal of physical effort to produce the food, sometimes standing for 3 to 4 hours in a row as a result. Whereas, if we had more power supply to use the electrical machines, we would have spared them all the effort, the fatigue, and the time,” Daad says, “most of the women working here suffer from lower back pain.”
[Full article here | Photo by Martin Abegglen]
