OAKLAND -- Whether it's learning about the ravages of climate change, the rise of greenhouse gases or the dwindling of the Sierra snow pack, studying environmental science can be a downer.

But this week two Oakland High School students are anything but depressed. They are traveling to a remote, rural village in Kenya to share portable solar suitcase kits that can be used to provide electricity where there is none. The all-in-one portable solar photovoltaic kits have enough power to light up a small room, filling a vital need for villagers who live without modern conveniences.

Oakland High School seniors, from left, Elijah Allen, 17, and Dorothy Le, 19, demonstrate the setup of a portable solar powered energy unit at Oakland High School, in Oakland, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016. The two Environmental Science Academy students are headed to Kenya, through a project sponsored by PG&E, to distribute the "We Share Solar" units to orphanages, medical clinics and schools, and teach people how to use them. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group) ( ANDA CHU )

"A lot of times students can be pretty beaten down by the fact they can see so much in decline," said Kevin Jordan, a teacher in Oakland High's Environmental Science Academy. The innovative solar program teaches students how to harness sunlight to power lightbulbs, cellphones and other electrical devices using the high-tech portable power unit called the We Share solar suitcase. Knowing they can make a difference in the world gives them a big boost, Jordan said.

"Here's a solution, and if you give students a solution, they just jump all over it," he said.


Elijah Allen, 17, and Dorothy Le, 19, both seniors in the academy, were selected to represent their school on the 10-day all-expenses-paid humanitarian mission, after Oakland High won a video competition to showcase their own local sustainability projects. Allen and Le volunteered to act as the school's ambassadors because they'd had experience visiting developing countries, including Nicaragua and Haiti, on community service missions.

The students will deliver the suitcases to schools, orphanages and medical centers, as well as a youth employment center in Kenya.

The contest was held among 19 schools that had received the solar suitcases for classroom instruction earlier this school year through a partnership with PG&E and Berkeley-based nonprofit We Share Solar. The nonprofit makes the portable solar kits available to teach students about renewable energy and deliver the solar energy kits to developing countries.

The winning environmental project the class toiled over the past three years was impressive. Starting as sophomores, Allen, Le and their classmates revitalized a dying and desiccated wetland at Lake Merritt, pulling out weeds in a swath of once-dry land by the bridge near the Laney College tennis courts. They restored it by planting pickleweed and gum-plant there, each taking turns checking on the restoration project's progress on weekends. And it was no small task.

Oakland High School seniors, from left, Elijah Allen, 17, and Dorothy Le, 19, pose for a photograph with a portable solar powered energy unit at Oakland High School, in Oakland, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016. The two Environmental Science Academy students are headed to Kenya, through a project sponsored by PG&E, to distribute the "We Share Solar" units to orphanages, medical clinics and schools, and teach people how to use them. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group) ( ANDA CHU )

At times it proved to be a frustrating process of scientific trial and error. At one point, they discovered geese were eating the plants that had finally sprouted, so they were forced to replant the area and fence it in to keep out the hungry fowl, Le said.

Now the area is muddy, thriving with clapper rail and other birds; a habitat for animals, Le said.

Jordan said the solar suitcases have been a great hands-on way to teach his students about electronics and solar energy in action, and also about the world.

Through the program, students learn that some 6 billion people around the globe, the vast majority from Africa, suffer from energy poverty, a lack of access to electricity, Jordan explained. Delivering a power source means that students will be able to read and study at night. The units also have made a life-or-death difference for mothers who have to deliver their babies at night, and offered safety from predators and assaults in orphanages and refugee camps all around the developing world, said Hal Aronson, co-director of We Share Solar and its associated nonprofit We Care Solar.

Both Allen and Le said they are grateful for the opportunity to share something so vital as light.

"Living in a first-world country, we don't think of what we have as a privilege," said Allen. "But it's a privilege to have education, medicine, light and shelter."

"And even some things that might seem little to us might be big to someone else," he said about the power and promise of light, tucked in a small handheld suitcase. "I think it's going to be revolutionary for them."

Contact Joyce Tsai at 925-945-4764. Follow her at Twitter.com/joycetsainews.