Belize's three favorite engineers have brought electricity to Graham Creek - a village in the south whose residents were living in the dark ages.
Without even a decent road, the villagers had been disconnected from the rest of the country.
But now, thanks to their newly installed solar powered systems, they can put up the candles and oil lamps and turn on that light switch.
The indigenous engineers whose hard work has changed the lives of these villagers are now filled with a sense of accomplishment and were grateful for the opportunity to do some good in their community. But, their work isn't done yet and the women - sisters Miriam and Christina Choc and Florentine Choco - are planning to light up Toledo.
Today Courtney Menzies spoke with Miriam Choc via telephone and has this story.
In two weeks, three ladies have successfully brought solar electricity to two long neglected villages in the south. From Machakilha, the Maya engineers headed to Graham Creek last week and tonight two dozen families have light in their homes.
One of the engineers, Miriam Choc, said that this time around, the process was much faster since the villagers were eager to help.
Voice of: Miriam Choc, Solar Engineer
"On Thursday, last week, went to Graham Creek by sea, we take all the equipment in a boat, the Coast Guard are the ones who carry all the equipment to Graham Creek and as we reach there we unpack and then we start to install solar first at the school and then we install 24 households in Graham Creek and we're back home now."
Courtney Menzies:
"From Thursday up until today you guys were installing the solar...?"
Voice of: Miriam Choc, Solar Engineer
"No, we finish install on Saturday because the villagers… the solar power grid, they are very active and they helped and we have three youths too who also helped the other two female engineers and that's why we move faster. They really are interested and the ladies they learned and that really helped us so we finish install on Saturday and then we stayed back on Sunday to go and check house to house if all the systems are working good and then we were back yesterday."
She also told us that they were welcomed with open arms - a sign of great appreciation from the villagers who had been living in the dark for decades.
Miriam Choc, Solar Engineer
"The villagers are very happy because they have lights now and as we reach, they were there, they were open and they welcomed us and the people they treated us very good and I am so happy when I'm there, we didn't feel like- we spend like three days there and they were like a family to us and they were happy now that they have light. And we also donate books for the kids so they can read at night because they have light now."
And Choc said the feeling of assisting those in need was worth leaving her own village - even though they had to trek for three hours through the jungle on that dreaded Graham Creek road.
So what's next for these ladies? Well, under their new company, Belize Power Connect Limited, they're planning to continue with their quest to light up Toledo. They also want to extend their services to those who would like to see less zeros on their electricity bill.
Miriam Choc, Solar Engineer
"There are few people who want to get contact with us but we were busy and now like we finish the installation in the two communities so now we are- we still have more things to do, we still having training, the three of us, I mean 5 of us, I think the board for the BPCL, that's our new company, we are still having training for like a bigger system and a grid like the one that… let's say they have electricity but they want to add a solar system to connect to the one they have to lower their electricity bill. We are still having training on those type of solar."
"Still, we're going to each communities here in the Toledo District who don't have access to electricity, we are going there to do presentation and talk about solar there."
Courtney Menzies:
"So which village are you planning to head to next?"
Miriam Choc, Solar Engineer
"I think ten villages don't have access to electricity here in Toledo so we are going to each of those village and while we do the presentation, we are going to hand them one solar system either maybe for the school or for the community center, but we will give them one solar system."
The project to provide electricity to Machakilha and Graham Creek was funded by the GEF Small Grants program in collaboration with the Ministry of Rural Transformation. The ladies wanted to also thank the Coast Guard and Plenty International for their assistance.
The women work closely with Plenty Belize and can be reached through Mark Miller at solarbelize@gmail.com.
