At the beginning of May, EG Solar held a construction course with participants from Hasselt University (Belgium) and the University of Lubumbashi (DR Congo).
(We already reported on this under ‘News’).
This was an initiative of Luc Bijnens, professor emeritus of Hasselt University, in cooperation with Lubumbashi University and the Belgian government with the motto ‘Solar Cookers for All’.
The participants worked with great enthusiasm and built three solar cookers in three days. One went to Hasselt University, one to Ardhi University in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and one to the University of Lubumbashi.
Following this, Belgian students were supposed to work together with students from Ardhi University at the University of Lubumbashi to further develop the ‘Solar Cookers for All’ mission, but this was not possible due to political unrest.
Fortunately, a construction course was able to take place in Dareda in cooperation with ped-world, who had already equipped a workshop at VTC Dareda with our help.
At the end of November, we were able to send a large wooden crate (700 kg) to Lubumbashi. It was filled with tools for setting up a solar cooker workshop at the university of Lubumbashi. This was done once again in cooperation with Hasselt University, which also contributed to the costs.
Deliveries to third countries are always complex, and in this case too, many steps were necessary to complete the customs formalities. In addition, sea freight delivery via Dar es Salaam would have been inexpensive but very time-consuming due to the distance. However, direct air freight handling via Lubumbashi Airport was also not possible, so we ultimately had to switch to Lusaka Airport in neighbouring Zambia.
The workshop equipment arrived there at the end of November and was taken over by an employee of the University of Lubumbashi for onward transport to its final destination in the DR Congo.
At the beginning of this week (wk 51/2025), we received the news that the crate had arrived safely at the University of Lubumbashi.
Update to follow asap!
