Solar energy powers clean water, business opportunities for refugees.
By Kizito Makoye DAR ES SALAAM, June 23 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Sadick Thenest remembers how his 8-year-old daughter had a narrow brush with death two years ago, when she contracted cholera after drinking contaminated water.
"I always ensure that my children use clean and safe water," he said.
Thenest, who works as a technician with international engineering charity Water Mission, said the health situation in the camp is improving as more people get access to clean water from a recently installed solar-powered water treatment facility.
As part of a broader initiative to help refugees access clean energy and sanitation, Water Mission is installing more such plants in three refugee camps in western Tanzania.
The $5.3 million project, funded by the Denmark-based Poul Due Jensen Foundation, is expected to provide safe water for some 250,000 refugees in Nyarugusu, Nduta and Mtendeli camps.
"We will document saved lives and ensure general public health, as a result of safe water," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
A recent shipment of 780 solar panels to Tanzania will produce 226,000 watts of power and provide a continuous supply of safe water to keep children in good health, it said in a statement.
Yet while access to clean energy for refugees and their host communities is a global priority for UNHCR, analysts say millions of displaced people still lack access to sustainable, cheap energy sources because of a lack of funding.
Providing solar street lamps and lanterns and energy-efficient cooking stoves can greatly improve the lives of refugees and contribute to their protection, Okello said.

The number of children fleeing violence and famine in South Sudan has passed 1 million, two U.N. agencies announced today.
Children make up more than 60 percent of the 1.8 million refugees from the world’s youngest country.
“The horrifying fact that nearly one in five children in South Sudan has been forced to flee their home illustrates how devastating this conflict has been for the country’s most vulnerable,” Leila Pakkala, UNICEF’s regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa, said in a statement.
While it may be the end of the drought, the higher risk of flooding puts the millions of people displaced from their homes at risk of water-borne illness.
Children are particularly vulnerable to dying from diarrhea caused by cholera or other bacteria in their drinking water.
Roughly 50 percent of the $181 million UNICEF needs to support South Sudan and its refugees for 2017 is available.
UNHCR, on the other hand, needs four times more money than UNICEF, but it’s budget only 11 percent funded.
It is particularly bad for girls, the survey found.
Some families face tough choices over which children can go to school, and it’s often the girls who must stay home, according to Plan International.
A hunger crisis that affects more than 40 percent of people in South Sudan adds a new lifelong risk for children.