Residents of Akurakese a farming community close to Asamankese in the Lower West Akim Municipality have been presented with a multipurpose solar powered pole which has an inbuilt charging system and a phone with chip for communication.
The community which is noted for its effort in palm production and cocoa since its inception has not been connected to the national grid making learning at night difficult for students who walk several miles to Asamankese to learn.
Asare Philip the Project Manager of Theovision International, the innovators of the multipurpose solar powered pole in an interview with Citi News after the presentation said it forms part of its corporate social responsibility to rural communities.
“During one of our visits, we realized that this community was dark and children had to walk long distances to go and learn in other communities because there is no electricity and at Theovision what we do is to go into communities to setup bible reading groups and broadcast the word for people to hear and read in their own language”.
“Since this COVID-19 came up, we were looking for a way to still reach these communities with audio content and educational materials so our team designed a solar-powered multi-purpose pole. And that pole provides solar power light, a charging system where community members can charge their phones because when we did the research we got to know that residents go all the way to the capital to charge their phones paying an amount of GHS 1. So bringing this light here, they can charge their phones and also the kids can come around the pole and study at night too since they are now at home because of the pandemic”.
He, however, indicated that the innovation will be developed in other communities without electricity.
“So this innovation was brought up by Theovision international to reach rural communities with the word of God, another key function of this pole is that you can be wherever you are in say Accra and communicate with the town folks because the pole has an inbuilt phone with a chip in it and automatically picks up. We want to develop more of these poles in other communities to help communicate with them and provide oral content in the mother tongue of the people”.
An elated Chief of Akurase, Opanyin Kwame Owuba in an interview with Citi News indicated that the pole will positively impact the community.
“Almost hundred years now we have not seen electricity so we are grateful to Theovision for this innovation because we know our lives will improve because of this pole with light and it will also go a long way to reduce theft in the community.”