Light Up Outamba Kilimi Nat'l Park

The Pan Verus Project is working towards community empowerment and wildlife conservation in Sierra Leone. Right now we're working with communities in the Outamba Kilimi National Park (OKNP) in northern Sierra Leone. This national park is home to the country's last population of elephants, hippopotamus, lions, hyenas, and one of the largest chimpanzee populations. It is also home to as many as 15 different primate species. The OKNP is also home to about 35 villages of varying sizes. All villages face food insecurity, have essentially no access to education or healthcare, and no electricity or running water. While working in the OKNP this summer, researchers from the Pan Verus Project visited 23 villages to discuss with them what they believed their biggest problems are. They listed hunger, lack of education, and lack of healthcare as some of their major issues. While providing solar lanterns won't immediately solve these problems, it does mean that when the village elder wants to give the children a writing lesson, he has the opportunity to do so in the evening, as daylight hours are spent on farms. It means that when Pan Verus Project funded job and skills training begins, it doesn't need to interfere with crop planting. Daylight hours have to be spent tending to farms or the village risks starvation. Providing light means providing these communities with opportunities. —————————————————— Learn more about the Pan Verus Project at www.panverus.org