Golf buddies help physics prof light up classrooms in Africa

Physics professor Ray Penner is getting a little help from his friends at Fairwinds Golf Club in Nanoose Bay.

Men’s night golfers have donated $3,857 to help Penner light up classrooms in Africa.

Penner, who teaches at Vancouver Island University, is president of LED Africa (www.ledafrica.org), a non-profit organization that manufactures and installs solar powered lighting systems at rural secondary schools in Malawi. Currently students attend sporadic evening study sessions lit by kerosene lamps. Not only does the smoke from kerosene cause health concerns, it’s often not available and has to be imported.

The solar powered lighting systems allow students to study at night, and the extra study time has dramatically improved students’ grades.

In 2009, lighting systems were installed at three rural secondary schools in Malawi.

“The results were astonishing,” said Penner. “Student pass rates on the national exams went from under 40 per cent to over 60 per cent. In addition, two of the schools had students accepted into the national university for the first time in their history.

“These improvements are a direct result of better lighting in the evenings as it increases the amount of time the students spend on their studies,” said Penner. “It also allows them more access to the few textbooks that are available.”

Ryner Wilson, Fairwinds Golf shop Manager and men’s night coordinator, said Fairwinds is “extremely proud” to support LED Africa. “The cause was interesting, and when Ray approached Fairwinds for support, his passion and enthusiasm convinced us to jump onboard,” said Wilson. “I’m proud of our successes with men’s night but it’s even more gratifying when you can raise some money for a worthwhile charity like LED Africa.”

Fairwinds offers a nine hole men’s night on Thursday evenings from April to September. Funds raised at one men’s night were used to install three classroom lighting systems, part of installations carried out at six new schools in 2010, Penner said.

“These schools are very grateful to Fairwinds,” he added. “With this type of support, LED Africa will be able to continue to help the students at their schools.”


Penner developed a connection with Malawi when he taught there 20 years ago. “I looked at a renewable energy project then that provided lighting to a school. Although technically it worked, it was too expensive to be implemented. A few years ago, I saw a show on TV dealing with LED lights that could be viable, so I set up a little research project and looked at designing an LED lighting system.”

Two years ago, Penner and his colleagues from the University of Malawi set up a test system at a school using energy efficient LED lights powered by a solar panel on the roof. The total power required for a 50 student classroom is about 40 watts, which keeps expenses low.

“The key for me is that the system is built by Malawians and maintained there,” said Penner. “The annual cost of running this lighting is less than what the schools pay for kerosene and therefore the schools can cover all the future maintenance costs. It’s a long-term system.”

Last summer, Penner travelled to Malawi to install the lighting system in six classrooms, working with technicians from the University of Malawi to build the desk lamps.

Asked why he focuses his efforts on a charity in Malawi, Penner said, “I have the technical experience in Africa. For me, this is a way I can make a significant impact. So why not?”

In addition to funds raised by Fairwinds and an Extreme Science show Penner organizes at VIU each year, funding has also been provided by local engineering firms who have sponsored a classroom lighting system. These firms are Chatwin Engineering, Herold Engineering, Levelton Consultants, Timberlake-Jones Engineering and Anderson Civil Engineering.

Eventually Penner hopes to raise enough funds to install LED lights in every rural secondary school in Malawi, which he figures would cost about $200,000. “I’ve already been contacted by over 80 rural schools,” he said. “They all want the system installed to help improve pass rates. My goal is to install LED lights throughout the whole country.

“It sounds like a lot of money,” he said. “But I recently saw on TV that Victoria spends $2 million a year on graffiti removal – I could light all of the rural secondary schools in southern Africa with that.”

For more information on the project visit the website at www.ledafrica.org.