Through the Children's Power Project BUSTAN addresses the needs of ill children lacking access to electricity necessary to power medical equipment. BUSTAN provides solar-powered equipment – to refrigerate medications, power oxygen machines, and heat the homes of premature babies -- and circulates it wherever needed throughout villages remotefrom roads, transportation and health services.

 

 
The genesis of the Children's Power Project was when three-year old Inas Al-Atrash was diagnosed with cancer in 2005. This situation, a crisis for any family, was exacerbated by the fact that Inas lives in one of the 45 "unrecognized" Bedouin villages in the Negev in southern Israel.  

 

The "unrecognized" villages do not appear on any map, do not have access to basic services such as electricity, water, or garbage collection, and do not have the infrastructure that other Israelis take for granted—like paved roads, schools, and health services. Villages that do obtain electricity from the state, do so through dirty and expensive diesel generators. In the case of Inas Al-Atras, the lack of electricity in her village meant that there was no way to refrigerate her life-saving cancer medication while she was undergoing chemotherapy.

This is where BUSTAN came in. We installed a solar-powered refrigerator in Inas's home so her medication could be kept at the proper temperature. When her cancer thankfully went into remission, the solar equipment was passed along to power an oxygen machine for a two-year old child with severe sleep apnea.  
 

Thus the Children's Power Project was born.

 

Partners
 
The Children's Power Project is part of BUSTAN's continued struggle for fair access to public amenities for all of Israel's citizens.
 
BUSTAN has partnered with Interdan Ltd.  in developing and implementing this project, by providing, installing, and maintaining discounted solar systems.

Thanks largely to a generous anonymous donor, BUSTAN has raised money to purchase ten photovoltaic systems and place them in villages where there are ill children who require electrical services for their healthcare needs. This enables us to rotate multiple solar systems to as many families as possible that are not receiving government services for discriminatory reasons.
 

Through the Children's Power Project, diesel powered generators are replaced with solar systems which help to curb both local air-pollution and global greenhouse gases build up. Through the Good Energy Initiative, a project of the Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership, individuals and groups who wish to offset their carbon use can donate to this project. For more info, please click here .

 

A Light Unto Nations?
 
The Abu Kaf and Al-Atrash families are not the only citizens of Israel disconnected from the power grid. The State of Israel and the Israel Electric Company deny 80,000 other Bedouin citizens of Israel in villages unrecognized by the government access to electricity. Bedouin communities thus often power their houses via unhealthy, noisy generators – if they can afford them. Generators are not a feasible or sustainable solution due to the exorbitant cost of 1,800 dollars per month  to power a house only four hours a day (i.e. no refrigerators to chill medications, etc!) Generators also release poisonous carbon dioxide emissions and emit an immense amount of sound pollution as well.
 
The Public Health Insurance Law in Israel guarantees the right to health care for all Israeli citizens. By denying electricity to the unrecognized villages, not only are fundamental medical rights denied, Israel is violating its own self-proclaimed principles.
 
BUSTAN Director Ra'ed Al-Mickawi explains: "The Public Health Insurance Law addresses both Jewish and Arab citizens of the State of Israel. While BUSTAN is proud to be initiating a project such as the Children's Power Project, it is up to the government to ensure that people have their basic needs met. We call upon the State of Israel to take responsibility for the allocation of resources in an equitable manner to all of her citizens."
 
Please note!  Each solar system costs almost $6,000.  If you'd like to make a donation to buy additional systems, please see our donations page. 
 
For additional press coverage of CPP, please see our press page.