In April 2019 PlayOnside finally opened our new project Green Island situated within the garbage dump community in Mae Sot. And now we have provided solar energy to the Green Island
Green Island is a collaborative project between PlayOnside and our friends at Estudio Cavernas, financed by our partners Siemens Gamesa Energy Group (SGRE). It consists of a community building, which doubles as a classroom for teaching, a football field, playground, hangout area and a small community garden providing fresh fruits and vegetables for the community.
For the opening weekend festival, Lisa and Klaus from Siemens Gamesa came all the way from Hamburg, Germany to take part of the festival, and to experience a weekend full of football, face-painting and joy.
Since the opening, Green Island has hosted a summer school, regular weekday’s football training, extracurricular classes, football tournaments, movie nights and friendship games with other migrant schools. It has brought vibrancy and life into the garbage dump, and has become a place the community as a whole enjoys. Green Island has also participated with four different football teams in the PlayOnside tournaments Mingalarbar Mae Sot League, and Rainy Season Tournament. All in all, the project has developed really well so far.
However, the community in and around Green Island faces several difficulties. One of them is lack of stable or inadequate access to electricity. When the grid electricity permanently disappeared in August 2019, it meant the end to the movie nights and the end to the night studies. It also meant five hundred families had no access to proper lighting, forcing them to turn to candle lights for night light and to charcoal for cooking. It also turned the whole community pitch dark at 7 pm.
As a global business, we are committed to playing our part in eliminating energy poverty and helping to improve the lives of those living in developing countries or fleeing areas of conflict, which is why we were keen to support PlayOnside and its Green Island project.
Anette Gussias
Director Sustainability EMA
When PlayOnside approached World Kinect Energy Services,explaining about the project and the situation, it only took a few days before World Kinect Energy Services helped us out and provided funding for a small solar project, giving solar-powered electricity for three of the communal buildings surrounding the new football field. A two-panel system was installed by Htoot Htoot, our good friend and solar specialist. Htoot Htoot has many years’ experience installing and delivering solar and water projects in remote areas in the jungle in Karen State, Burma, and we could not ask for a more professional or experienced project manager.
Due to rainy season, we had to wait a couple of months before initiating the project, but once the rain stopped the project was launched. In the middle of November, the installation was finished, and finally we have our own 100% clean and renewable energy for different PlayOnside activities. The community will be responsible of maintaining the system, keeping the battery storage dry, and regularly cleaning the panels.
We are very happy for the quick and positive response from World Kinect Energy Services, and PlayOnside hope we could collaborate on other projects in the future, and maintain this great relationship.
Read more about the Green Green Island Project
