The village of Pribelja is one of the most remote villages in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Pribelja inhabitants live without electricity, without roads and easy access to water. Although 18 years have passed since war ended, there are still about 3,000 households without electricity.
It would cost these families a total of around 350,000 Euros to be prioritized and connected to the regional electrical system.
We quickly learned that people of Pribelja spend more money on buying candles than on food. Most of them could be self-sustainable if only access to electricity and water existed. CWS staff visited some of the houses where children learned by candlelight, where bathroom spaces existed but served no purpose, where cattle couldn’t be properly taken care of, where food safety and hygiene were of constant concern. “We’re always in the dark,” one resident told our staff. “This is not living, it is surviving. No one ever comes here to visit, you are the first visitors that came to see us in months.”
But despite the destroyed and damaged power lines and expensive priority lists, CWS helped bring electricity to Pribelja. CWS helped to provide solar panels in Pribelja, a sustainable, cost-effective solution for a renewable energy supply that can produce an average of 1.25 kWh of electricity and and 120 liters of hot water every day, enough to cover the needs of an average family.
An independent assessment of the project shows the solar panels and collectors generate enough power for the needs of the household and save an additional 1kWh, which could be used for various other power tools and machines, which can help with livelihoods.
A year later, we’re back to Pribelja to see the progress and results achieved. We are greeted by Zdravko Subasic who is welcoming us to his home. Zdravko is in his thirties, he lives with his wife, a 12 month-old son, and a mother who is ill.
“We finally have electricity after 18 years. It still seems like a dream,” Zdravko says. “When you first came here and proposed this, I was skeptical…but this is remarkable! We now even have a surplus. I plan to start my own business now producing milk and meat products. Now I have all the support I needed.”
It’s the first time in 18 years Zdravko’s family has been able to produce and store their own food. “I would like to see everyone this happy and content,” Zdravko says. “Just a year ago, I was spending almost my whole income to purchase candles; I was paying around $200 per year to buy candles and oil for lanterns. And a huge amount of my income was spent on food although we had the cattle. Now, I can save my income and invest it in producing my own food, meat, vegetables and fruits. You know, Bosnia is still struggling; unemployment is high, people’s hopes are getting thinner by the day, politics are difficult but there is also rebuilding. Silent, small, persistent rebuilding, brought on by projects like this one. And that makes me hopeful.”
(Source: cwsglobal)
