“We all deserve the same chance”
Not long ago, a K-12 school in the village of Huarcaya, a 4,600-metre climb into the snow-capped Andes of Peru, had no electricity, internet or hot water, like most of the community. Illumination other than sunlight – which ends around 6 p.m. – was a luxury granted only if there was diesel to spare for generators.
The 140 students were used to it. As school director Gonzalo Alvarez suggests, the community is too far out of sight to be top of mind for politicians, “leaving Huarcaya in the darkness.”
But by Feb. 25, Alvarez felt that change was underway. A week earlier, 22 students (from six programs) and five instructors from NAIT arrived – along with a cohort from SAIT and another from Calgary-based not-for-profit Light up the World (LUTW) – to install a solar power system, satellite internet, solar thermal hot water, and even a computer lab.
“We are sure that we will make the most of it,” says Alvarez.
Considering the experience – a crash course in off-grid utilities installed under harsh conditions – the NAIT students will, too. As a few of their stories suggest, their work in Peru may have as much impact on their own lives as it may on those living and learning in Huarcaya.
Peru and beyond
Martha Emilia Mena, Alternative Energy Technology
Tasks: Electrical installations, solar thermal installation
Why she wanted to be on the project: Mena moved as a young adult to Victoria, B.C. from Ecuador. Sustainability was “always a topic of conversation” with friends, as well as with family back home. In time, she set her sights on a career in cleaner energy and enrolled at NAIT. Mena wondered if the Peru project could offer insight into making changes in Ecuador, across the border to the northwest.
Major takeaway: The installation in Huarcaya was an exercise in problem solving where problems aren’t easily solved. Being from South America originally, Mena is familiar with its challenges around resources and project management. That the students in Peru could succeed through teamwork, determination and being organized, “was for me very eye-opening.”
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The solar electricity system
- 6.66 kW (under ideal circumstances)
- 15.0 kWh lithium ion battery energy storage system
- Wiring for lights and outlets in nine buildings
Unity in spite (or because) of it all
Carmen Wilson, Wireless Systems Engineering Technology
Main task: Satellite internet installation
Why she wanted to be on the project: Installing off-grid internet in Peru, and reporting on the process, was Wilson’s capstone project. She enrolled in the program out of fascination with wireless technology – but seeing it at work in such a remote location emphasized its power and potential.
“We can just set up a satellite terminal and have fast internet,” she says. “It's really surprising how good it was.”
Major takeaway: The trip to Huarcaya from the nearest airport was a gruelling 16-hour bus ride of stomach-turning switchbacks. For many, the altitude sickness, along with a cold that circulated, was at times debilitating.
But rather than impede progress, those hardships united the team. “I was really close with them,” Wilson says. “I really liked them all.”
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Connecting Huarcaya
After installing a satellite internet terminal at the principal’s office, the team created a wireless “mesh” by directing signals to three internet “islands” throughout the school complex.
This saved time and material by limiting the need for wiring to buildings within each island, which were physically tied into equipment that sent and received data to and from the terminal at the principal’s office.
Each island is now accessed by a distinct password.
To help pay for the system, the team programmed the main router to support a voucher system to allow visitors and community members to buy two hours, four hours or 30-days of access.
The system can be monitored and troubleshooted from Edmonton, at NAIT’s Wireless Systems Engineering Technology labs.
Building on a family tradition
Ghazal Haghighi, Alternative Energy Technology
Main tasks: Electrical installations
Why she wanted to be on the project: Like Mena, Haghighi grew up in an ecologically conscious household. She grew up in Shiraz, Iran, where the nearby mountains offered refuge from restrictive and oppressive laws.
Her mother was particularly engaged with caring for that environment. “She put those seeds in my heart,” says Haghighi.
Biggest challenge in Peru: While the people of Huarcaya were welcoming, its climate was not, making the work harder – at least for the students.
“One day we had sun, then rain, then hail, then at night it was snow,” says Haghighi. “So we had basically four different seasons in one day.” Community members, however, were unfazed as they helped students.
“They didn’t care,” says Haghighi. “They were working like crazy.”
Travelling outside the comfort zone
Jaafar Al Abbasi, Network Engineering Technology
Tasks: Computer lab installation, electrical installations
Why he wanted to be on the project: When Al Abbasi first heard about the trip during a class at NAIT, he wasn’t sure about it. He sees himself as “strictly a computer guy.” But Peru offered possibilities. “Let me try going out of my comfort zone,” he thought. “And, honestly, I do not regret doing that.”
Lasting impression: After the systems were operational, the community gathered to celebrate with their visitors. The principal gave a speech to offer thanks, says Al Abbasi. Even more affecting, however, was a meal that followed. “They made alpaca meat for us, and it was the village elders who personally served us,” he says. “I was completely honoured.”
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The new computer lab
Before arriving in Huarcaya, Al Abbasi and classmates and instructors from Networking Engineering Technology and Computer Engineering Technology decided to equip the school’s computer lab with about a dozen Chromebooks, which can be automatically updated as needed by Google. When school staff members asked to have five aging, inactive PCs of their own redeployed, the team managed to refurbish and connect three to the network.
“Then we created a domain where we can remote into the computers from Edmonton and troubleshoot and fix them, software-wise,” says Al Abbasi.
Humbling and heartwarming
Jayden Tomlinson, Alternative Energy Technology
Main tasks: Solar thermal installation
Why he wanted to be on the project: While Tomlinson knew he’d improve skills, he also went to Huarcaya to improve himself. “Seeing how other people live in the world makes you more humble,” he says. Tomlinson sees that as a pathway to understanding that “you're not above anybody else in this world. We all deserve the same chance.”
Lasting impression: At the end of the trip, the group from Canada presented the students at Huarcaya with small bags of school supplies and treats. Tomlinson was touched by how happy it made them. “It was just really heartwarming seeing them smile, and knowing that they have a bit of a brighter future now.”
The thermal hot water system
The Huarcaya project marked LUTW’s first foray into solar hot water.
The system uses special tubes that concentrate the energy of the sun and use it to heat water (drawn from a spring in the nearby mountains) inside them.
The amount that can be warmed each day will provide enough hot water for the school’s bathroom sinks, and allow for four or five hot showers a day.
Alternative Energy Technology students Jayden Tomlinson and Cheyenna Harden will use the pilot project to create a guide to help LUTW with future solar hot water system installs.
Then the lights went on
While Alvarez knows that the improvements won’t solve all the challenges associated with life in remote locations, he believes the changes will make a difference. The increased access to information provided by the electricity, computers and internet, he notes, will allow for a “higher quality of education.”
Overall, the new systems offer equality with urban Peru that Alvarez feels the students were previously denied. The impact was clearest to him when seeing the light now available to the school. Until now, the trade off for artificial illumination was noise from the generators. When the solar-powered lights were finally switched on in Huarcaya, Alvarez was struck by an unexpected “peace.”
“Everything was silent, but everything was lit up,” he says. “I was deeply impressed, and moved – and, more than anything, grateful.”
The "Peru" course
The project in Peru was part of a course called “Global Energy Issues and Intercultural Competency, which is open to all NAIT students. It’s designed to develop skills and awareness needed to complete sustainability-related projects involving people of different cultures.
In recent years, costs for the course have been supported. In 2021, NAIT received a grant of nearly $500,000 to fund projects such as the installation in Huarcaya. Global Skills Opportunity is funded by Employment and Social Development Canada, administered jointly by Colleges and Institutes Canada and Universities Canada.
In 2025, participating NAIT students were enrolled in
The next application period will be in October for a class in winter 2026. Contact for more information.