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Phok Ros poses near a solar-powered building (Photo: Julie Masis)
The Por Meas Pagoda, far from Cambodia's electric grid, is among the country's growing number of solar power producers.
September 24, 2010
By Julie Masis, Correspondent
The Christian Science Monitor
Kandal Province, Cambodia
On the roof where monks pray, a black panel faces the sun. The Por Meas Pagoda in this village about an hour from Cambodia’s capital is not connected to the electric grid, but this summer the eight monks and 10 orphans who live there got electricity for the first time – from solar panels.
It is not the only Cambodian pagoda that is using solar energy. A nongovernmental organization called Pico Sol Cambodia has installed panels at four rural pagodas since 2009, thanks to a Dutch philanthropist, according to the NGO’s chairman, Ly Senleap.
At Por Meas, monks used to pray before sunrise using incense sticks for light. Sometimes they would fall asleep and burn their books, says senior monk Phok Ros. Now the pagoda has eight lamps – in the meeting room, bedrooms, dining room, bathrooms, and outside.
2 comments:
The monks love high-tech stuffs such as solar power. They should be encouraged to learn Basic Electronics in order to do minor maintenance & repair of solar cells power grid. Then they would earn our respects and we continue to feed them with daily alms.
are they the hyanas in front of the pagoda?
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