Power Up Gambia
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Power Up Gambia (PUG) is a
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
-based non-profit health care and environmental group that works in
the Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...
, in
West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...
. It was founded in 2006 by Kathryn Cunningham Hall, then a
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
undergraduate. The organization's goal is to provide reliable electricity to health care facilities throughout the Gambia. They do so through the installation of
solar panel A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. These electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct ...
systems and battery storage systems, providing power throughout the day.


History

Power Up Gambia was founded in 2006 by Kathryn Cunningham Hall, an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania. While traveling to Sulayman Junkung General Hospital in the Gambia, she saw the consequences of limited electricity for Gambian patients. She founded Power Up Gambia, which installed a solar system at that hospital. Since then, the group has grown and has completed a solar panel installation at a village clinic, Somita Community Clinic. PUG is looking to expand its organization beyond the Philadelphia area as it prepares for an installation at
Bansang Bansang is a town in the Central River Division of the Gambia, with a population of 8,843 (2012). Although the official government center of the Division is located in Janjanbureh downstream, Bansang has better access to the more affluent coastal ...
Hospital, one of the largest in the Gambia. For her work Kathryn Hall was named as one of the 10 Outstanding Young Americans (2009) by the
United States Junior Chamber The United States Junior Chamber, also known as the Jaycees, JCs or JCI USA, is a leadership training service organization and civic organization for people between the ages of 18 and 40. It is a branch of Junior Chamber International (JCI). ...
(Jaycees). The organization is also working with the Gambian Technical Training Institute in
Banjul Banjul (, (US) and ), officially the City of Banjul, is the capital city of The Gambia. It is the centre of the eponymous administrative division which is home to an estimated 400,000 residents, making it The Gambia's largest and most densely ...
, the capital, to develop a solar energy training program to support its efforts over the long term.


Projects

* Sulayman Junkung General Hospital: Completed in 2009 * Somita Community Clinic: Completed in 2010< * Bansang Hospital: Currently Underway, Completion Estimated in 2012


Further reading

*


References

{{Reflist Economy of the Gambia Organizations based in Philadelphia