With the help of some amazing individuals and personal donations, Meena Gabeena and her organisation Meenay Laas – Hand of Love, set out to establish solar energy in the village of Tharparkar, Sindh. Carried out under their #LightUpAVillage project, the solar energy set up was successfully completed in just two days and resulted in immense gratitude and love from the villagers towards Meena and her team.
“It was an overwhelming experience,” Meena told Edition, “The people I’ve met in Nagarparkar are incredibly loving. There is a peaceful energy around them, almost all of them are poets, artists or singers and hold such deep folk wisdom. From little children to old women, they are like life teachers for me. I love the land and the people who have only love to give, even while going through the toughest struggle for basic necessities like water.”
With the help of your contributions, UC chairman Veerji Kolhi’s support. We assembled the solar energy in village #Dhanagam #Nagarparkar in 2 days. Thanks to our volunteer Pervaiz Patrick & all the residents who helped in assembling. Here’s a short clip #LightUpAVillage
Posted by Meenay Laas – Hand of Love on Wednesday, July 11, 2018
“I have been working in UC Behrano of Nagarparkar for almost five years now. The work has been very spontaneous but has focused more on women and children,” Meena said when speaking about the work that she’s been doing. “I have been working with the help of Nagarparkar’s hero Veerji Kolhi. Together we’ve provided relief items, opened 4 solar schools, constructed around 11 wells for women, opened a women sewing center, provided an automatic wheat grinding machine to the women of a village and now worked on solar energy for a village.”
“In 2017 Veerji Kolhi was arrested in a false case upsetting the people of this region. He was their only hope, who would give them legal solutions for any problem, and was falsely accused by the legal system. Almost the entire district protested against it. I helped him in the case and helped amplify the voices of the thousands of people who were not heard. This is one of the major reasons that they were so happy to welcome me, because I visited Nagarparkar for the first time after the release of their leader Veerji,” Meena shared.
Meenay Laas plans to now take solar energy to other villages. It’s a low cost solution and the locals are thrilled to have electricity for the first time in their villages. They also plan to start projects based on education, especially for girls.