In the summer of 2022, Living Energy Farm, Serenity Solidarity, and El Departamento de la Comida worked together to bring activists and electricians from Puerto Rico to LEF to train on DC Microgrid systems. The need for such systems in PR was made abundantly clear in the aftermath of Hurricanes Maria (2017) and now Fiona (2022). In early 2022 LEF received a grant to support our educational work, and the program kicked off in June.
The first Puerto Rican electrician to join the training program was the infamous, daredevil activist Tito Kayak. Ericka from Serenity Solidarity knew Tito from her days in the Catholic Worker movement. Tito was instrumental in stopping the military bomb testing in Vieques and once climbed the Statue of Liberty to hang the Puerto Rican flag in protest. Tito is a founder of Electricistas En Acción, a group of electricians that fixes electricity in people’s homes for little to no cost.
Tito and twelve other folks traveled to LEF as members of two separate, two-week training cohorts. They have some amazing initiatives and projects that they are working on in Puerto Rico. After their visit, many were inspired to apply the DC technologies in their own households and organizations, and a plan was made to ship several pallets of supplies to PR for distribution in the winter of 2022-2023, including refrigerators, fans, batteries, cookers, and PV panels. The overall goal is to eventually set up manufacturing and distribution of DC solar appliances in Puerto Rico, run by Puerto Ricans.
When not immersed in the world of DC microgrids, we had fun off the farm. Donna Gasapo and Luis Oyola of Fireflower Farm hosted folks at their farm and organized nights out in Charlottesville. Brenda from LEF organized river trips and visits to the Louisa communes, and Littleflower Catholic Worker organized dinners and Karaoke nights.
Ericka from Serenity held two events at Visible Records to support and publicize the work of activists who were part of the cohorts, including the work of Tara Rodriguez Besosa, queer farmer and activist who founded El Departamento de la Comida. Tara was essential in identifying Puerto Ricans who were interested and available to travel to Louisa. Ericka met them through Amy Rose of Virginia Free Farm.
As the summer training program ended, Debbie and Ericka started planning a trip to Puerto Rico to visit the sites that hope to have solar systems installed. Then, in September 2022, another devastating hurricane hit Puerto Rico: Hurricane Fiona. Debbie and Ericka questioned if the time was right to travel to the island and whether they would be using valuable resources – like gas and water – that Puerto Ricans desperately needed. After consulting with the folks that came to Louisa from Puerto Rico, they decided to delay their trip a month. The electricity situation had become even more unreliable and unstable in the aftermath of Fiona, and in some places there was scarcity of water and gas. Once the scarcity dissipated, the cohorts encouraged our visit because the technology LEF is bringing is needed now more than ever. Some people are still without reliable electricity, and due to climate change, there will surely be storms in the future that will knock out the electricity again. So in Mid-November, Debbie, Ericka, and Debbie’s Spanish-speaking uncle John traveled to Puerto Rico to start the task of evaluating the sites that wanted solar installations.
The first site we visited on Borikén was the home and gardens of Darshan Elena Campos in Cabo Rojo, a rural coastal municipality. Elena runs a community seedbank and mobile seed library from their apartment in public housing. Elena wants their grid-tied apartment to be as off-grid as possible. In assessing the site’s location and limitations, we recommended a small power generator with small PV panvel just one foot by and two foot in size. This small 12V system costs $80.00 and can provide sufficient power for lights, devices, and small DC appliances.
We also visited a second site with Darshan Elena Campos in the neighboring municipality of San Germán. There, Elena and Zulma Oliveras-Vega are restoring an abandoned property to serve as the home-base for Casa Yamoca Opia (Two Spirit House), a community organization in San Germán that aims to house queer, two spirit, and trans youth who have been forced from their homes. Elena and Zulma want to keep the home and site offgrid, and we spoke about possible energy systems given the site’s south facing, hilly nature and somewhat urban location.
Elena traveled with us for much of our trip around Puerto Rico, helping with translating and driving. Elena is also very passionate about identifying and teaching about native plants and trees, and has started several gardens in their housing complex.
The next project we visited was artist and activist Licy Rodriguez’s Proyecto Arawako in Lajas. Licy is in the early stages of transforming 18 acres of land that she owns into a food forest and cultural center that helps Boriken people reconnect to their Arawak and Taino roots. She is an incredible artist who works towards decolonization, food and seed sovereignty, and Indigenous land access. She isn’t quite ready for a solar set up, as the project needs help clearing land and building their first structure on the land.
Proyect Arawako artists and farmers Guaribo and Licy
In a town called Arroyo, we visited one of the few Black Boriken farm owners in Puerto Rico, Miguel and his wife Dinorah. They are coconut farmers that need a new solar water pump and solar refrigeration. Tara Rodriguez Besosa and Millo from El Departamento de la Comida met us there. El Depa has set up a mentorship program for elder farmers in Puerto Rico, and Millo works with Miguel and Dinorah to get them help on their farm. Elena and Ericka cooked a lovely vegetarian meal as Debbie evaluated what type of systems they would need.
Puerto Rico has closed hundreds of schools since hurricane Maria hit, and people are reclaiming them and turning them into community centers that provide desperately needed services. One of the reclaimed schools we visited was in Adjuntas and was retaken by a group called Centro Paz Para Ti. At Centro Paz, we met Alana Feldman Soler, director of the project. Centro Paz is a feminist group that provides free water and a place to charge phones when the electricity is out. They are a center for women’s projects, offer educational services, and work to eradicate economic dependence and geographic isolation of women who have experienced domestic violence, gender violence, and sexual assault. They offer resources and tools for women to help protect themselves if faced with domestic violence or gender-based violence. The services the center provides promote self-management and empowerment for women who live in rural areas.
The sign at the front of El Centro Paz Para Ti reads “El Machismo Mata”, which translates to Death to Machismo. Machismo is a Spanish term that means toxic, forceful male behavior.
We visited several reclaimed schools, the next being Tara Rodriguez Besosa’s project, El Departamento de la Comida, or the Department of Food. El Depa is a non-profit collective that acts as an alternative agency in support of small-scale, decentralized, local food projects and farms. They have a resource library with tools, seeds, books, educational materials, and a kitchen with product-making equipment. While there we met with Vidal Carrion, a local business owner who came to Virginia as part of the cohorts, and Tito Kayak. El Depa members prepared a delicious vegetarian lunch for us, and we were able to visit Tara’s personal farm, just down the road from El Depa.
One of the larger reclaimed schools we visited was Fundación Bucarabón in a very remote area called Maricao. They offer education and services to farmers and women in Maricao and surrounding areas. We had to drive some pretty treacherous, flooded roads to get there. Activist Jacqueline Perez started this project by scaling the fence in front of the closed Francisco Vincenty Second Unit School in the Bucarabones neighborhood, and setting up services for people without asking anyone for permission. A few years later, they now have a lease from the Puerto Rican government on the school, help from Americorp volunteers, two donated AC solar systems, a thrift store where locals can get clothing and shoes, and have grand plans for a daycare center, a hostel where volunteers can stay when they are working on a project at the school, and more. The Fundación Bucarabón volunteers deliver prepared food made in their industrial kitchen to people in the area who are food insecure.
Elena, Debbie, Fundación Bucarabón founder Jacqueline Perez, and Ericka
The AC solar setup at Fundación Bucarabón is a top of the line system, with very high quality batteries. Mostly this works for their needs, but they are already experiencing difficulties running their heavy loads on the system, including their pump and refrigerators. This is due to the inherent inefficiencies in converting solar power to AC for use in appliances engineered to run on grid power. LEF is working with Fundación Bucarabón to convert these heavy loads to high-quality DC appliances that will have much more reliable performance.
Fundación Bucarabón recognizes that their current solar system, which costs tens of thousands of dollars, is not affordable for the majority of the community that they serve. They are interested in setting up a demonstration of lower cost DC systems for residential use, and possibly serving as a distribution site for these systems in the future.
Another excellent connection we made was with Zenaida Cortes. Zenaida is the president of the community association that manages a recreational center at Señorial park in Cupey, a suburb of San Juan. The park is shared by three adjacent neighborhoods. In the months after hurricane Maria, when the area had no power, the community center was set up with a kitchen running on gas, so food could be prepared by volunteers and distributed throughout the neighborhoods. In the years following Maria, public funding was slashed, and park maintenance was neglected.
Now, Señorial Park is undergoing a revitalization. A number of dedicated volunteers and organizers from the community have taken on its care and maintenance, cleaning and repairing the center, and planting trees around the park. (One of these volunteers is Aidelise Darin, whose son, Epic, attended the training at LEF in the summer.)
Zenaida uses the center to organize fundraising events to support neighbors with medical expenses. The center is also used for a youth program in the summer. Zenaida is very interested in expanding the potential for the center to be a resource for the community during times of crisis and natural disasters. She is interested in setting up a solar refrigerator, so community members can store food and medications when the power goes out. She is also interested in a community charging station for phones and other electronics.
Living Energy Farm will return to Puerto Rico in January 2023 to install DC solar systems at the project sites that were visited this month. Many of these projects and people are suffering from economic turmoil and can not afford the equipment LEF wants to install for them. Serenity Solidarity has pledged $1000 towards supporting Miguel and Dinorah’s solar system, and LEF has raised enough to pay the thousands of dollars in shipping costs required to send the equipment to Puerto Rico. As you gather with your communities and families this holiday season, please consider donating funds to LEF to help make these projects energy independent. Let’s not just talk about racial equity and reparations – let’s push the movement forward!
Please consider contributing to our GoFundMe campaign! We are relying on private donations to cover the costs of solar refrigeration for Miguel and Dinorah’s farm, and el Señorial park. Or contribute to our general fund through Virginia Organizing and the Network for Good, and designate your donation to go towards Living Energy Institute. Your support makes these projects possible!