INSTALLATION OF A SOLAR POWER PLANT AT THE ST. NICODEME ORPHANAGE

Founded in 1996, the Chaîne des Foyers de Saint-Nicodème is a non-political, non-profit organization whose mission is to take children off the streets of Douala and help them reintegrate into Cameroonian society. It has already helped more than 6,000 children and teenagers, enabling the reintegration of approximately 4,500 into their families or into Cameroonian society.

A victim of the weak network and untimely power cuts, the orphanage, which regularly accommodates 60 children and teenagers aged 6 to 21, is regularly deprived of electricity, with these cuts sometimes lasting up to a week.
These power outages result in a lack of lighting, hindering learning in the evenings after school and compromising safety both indoors and outdoors. They also create a power shortage, preventing the operation of the well pump and the refrigeration equipment necessary for food preservation. Furthermore, these power cuts complicate the work of instructors and educators in their roles of supervising work and maintaining discipline. It is therefore essential to address these shortcomings by installing a photovoltaic power generation system.

Furthermore, the Schneider Electric Foundation, the St. Nicodemus Shelters, and Africafrance Solidaire observed that young people living on the streets, taken in by the Shelter, had dropped out of school prematurely, were engaged in low-paying jobs without proper vocational training, and that poor electrical practices were the root cause of many fires. They therefore initiated this project, which aims to train disadvantaged youth to become qualified electricians while simultaneously installing a photovoltaic system.