There is happiness and a strong sense of fulfillment to be had in knowing that your work helps others.
Jared Odio, 31, is one of WeGen’s expert electricians. When he is not overseeing WeGen’s social good projects with its partner clients, he spends his free time helping install solar PV systems in the communities of indigenous peoples (IPs).
In the last few years, Jared has been part of outreach programs of his faith-based group that supports IP such as the Dumagat who live in Tarlac and Rizal.
“I have learned so much from my interactions with the Dumagat. They live simple and humble lives – uncomplicated. They have strong family ties, and they live for each other and their community. We wanted to add a little improvement to their way of life by bringing in electricity, so we went there and installed solar panels with batteries. It was just for lighting – to power one lightbulb in every home,” he said.
Jared said that his belief in solar PV technology as an inclusive technology was affirmed in his visits to IP communities. He said that in the off-grid areas he has been to, he saw that the easiest and fastest way to bring electricity in is through the installation of solar modules.
“It’s a one to three hour-hour hike to reach the Dumagat communities I have been to. We carry the panels, the inverters, and batteries ourselves with the help of community volunteers. During one visit to Tarlac, we started walking a little past noon and we get to the area, the sun had almost gone down. We installed the panel on the roof as fast as we could then spent the rest of the night attaching wires inside the houses,” he said. Solar, he said, was easy to install and maintain. Perfect for off-grid communities.
By midnight, Jared said, some 30 out of the 100 houses in the community had light. In the soft glow of the 3W bulbs, Jared and his teammates saw the Dumagat children smile in wonder and delight.
“It was the first time for many of them to see artificial light. Some had not even seen a lightbulb. The families there don’t even use kerosene because, for them, it’s already expensive. Candles are also not an option. What money the Dumagats have is very hard-earned because they rely on selling root crops like luyang dilaw or turmeric; they also sell charcoal. They walk for hours to get to the marketplace, and the proceeds from the sales they use to buy the most basic necessities,” he said.
Jared believes in sharing his skills and serving others as a husband and a father of a four-year-old girl. This is something his faith teaches him (he is a member of the Church of the Seventh-Day Adventists) and which he tries to practice as much as he can.
“I originally wanted to become a teacher and had actually finished one year in pursuit of that dream,” he said. He was not able to continue because of financial issues. “I had to shift courses – study something else that I could immediately find employment for.” Because he had always been interested in tinkering with things, Jared studied to become an electrician.
When he landed work for the first solar company he joined, he became interested in the technology and what it can do for marginalized communities. When he encountered a client who wanted to buy a system for an IP community, he was immediately interested.
“That was how I got started. You could say that is something like a vocation for me – installing solar PV systems in communities with no access to electricity. I figured it could be my contribution to society,” he said. Jared’s commitment to this effort is such that he wistfully said that if he had a lot of money, he’d buy many systems and install them in the different IP areas he has become aware of and visited. As for promoting solar PV technology, Jared also teaches a short, informal course on Solar 101 to communities and groups that ask for it.
“We just explain what solar power is, what components a basic system has and what it can power. The concepts can be technical sometimes (like watts and voltages and how wiring works), but they can be explained in ways that are easy to grasp. A very important part of installing solar in off-grid communities is teaching people how to correctly use the system and how to maintain it so that it will run smoothly and for a long time,” he said.#