I have been teaching at schools all around St. Lucia and most recently, I went to teach at a primary school in Castries.  I showed up and was kind of thrust into the classroom without any introduction and so the kids had lots of questions about who this strange woman was that was suddenly in charge of the class. I told them about how my job mainly consists of working towards getting clean water throughout the island and teaching about it, and I mentioned the “pig poo power” project in Mabouya Valley.  (We are collecting pig waste – that would otherwise be washed directly into a nearby stream- in a biogas digester that will produce methane which our student engineers at UTC will hopefully be able to use to produce electricity). Kids love pigs, and they love poo, so this of course captured their attention. “EEWWWWW!!!” One kid declared “I will never use electricity again if it’s made out of poo.”  So I asked them where they thought their electricity came from – not a clue.  That’s ok, I can understand that the children are young, so I explained the quick basics.

Then, I was relaying this story to some adults… and they had no clue as well. That’s a little more concerning.  So I wonder, do you know how your electricity is made? I think I’ll dedicate this week of blogging to some different electricity sources!