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honduras
April 2008 
A very doable solution for Developing Nations
Posted on Jul 6th, 2007
by 
Jeff
Jeff
If you don't know by now, I am the founder of Humanitas World Wide an emerging Humanitarian Organization powered by the Republic of Zaadz.
One of our goals is to get men and women in developing countries started operating their own businesses. Our focus is on Honduras at the present time. Many of the women and girls in Honduras work in clothing factories, producing the clothing we all see for sale at Target and Wal Mart. Next time you are in the store, have a look at the label and I'm sure you'll eventually see "Made in Honduras". The sad thing is the people that are employed by these factories get paid very poorly, quite literally no more than $1.50 or so a day.
I have been developing a Solar Power Station that I hope will be able to power up a home (we must remember that a "home" in Honduras may be a single room no bigger that 12 X 20 feet) and provide enough power to allow a person to have a home based business and start earning real money.
I am beginning to understand more about electricity than I ever thought I needed to know. The solar power station I have built is an 18 watt, 1.2 amp system with a 26 Amp Hour battery and a 300 Watt power inverter. The inverter is what changes the 12 volts DC to 110 volts AC so you can operate anything within reason; laptop PC, Desk Lamp, Radio. Air Conditioning and a refrigerator would need more power.
I just looked at the back of my Brother Sewing Machine and saw good news.
On the back of the machine is says the machine only draws 0.7 Amps. Now it's time to translate this into plain English.
This Brother Sewing machine is about $400.00 retail and my solar system as it stands was less than $400.00. Toss in a few incidentials to go with the machine and we can put someone in business for about $1,000.00
I like that...I like that very much.
One of our goals is to get men and women in developing countries started operating their own businesses. Our focus is on Honduras at the present time. Many of the women and girls in Honduras work in clothing factories, producing the clothing we all see for sale at Target and Wal Mart. Next time you are in the store, have a look at the label and I'm sure you'll eventually see "Made in Honduras". The sad thing is the people that are employed by these factories get paid very poorly, quite literally no more than $1.50 or so a day.
I have been developing a Solar Power Station that I hope will be able to power up a home (we must remember that a "home" in Honduras may be a single room no bigger that 12 X 20 feet) and provide enough power to allow a person to have a home based business and start earning real money.
I am beginning to understand more about electricity than I ever thought I needed to know. The solar power station I have built is an 18 watt, 1.2 amp system with a 26 Amp Hour battery and a 300 Watt power inverter. The inverter is what changes the 12 volts DC to 110 volts AC so you can operate anything within reason; laptop PC, Desk Lamp, Radio. Air Conditioning and a refrigerator would need more power.
I just looked at the back of my Brother Sewing Machine and saw good news.
Brother SE 270D
On the back of the machine is says the machine only draws 0.7 Amps. Now it's time to translate this into plain English.
- The Solar Panel delivers 1.2 Amps of power to the battery, or 1,200 milliamps.
- The Brother Sewing Machine draws 0.7 or 700 milliamps when in actual use.
This Brother Sewing machine is about $400.00 retail and my solar system as it stands was less than $400.00. Toss in a few incidentials to go with the machine and we can put someone in business for about $1,000.00
I like that...I like that very much.
Access: Public
Hey there. I like this very much also. I like that you broke it down for the reader to understand. And I like the idea that once a home is built, once there is safety, there can be fair commerce.
Your energy and ideas always amaze me and that is why I'm working with you. Our core group - wow - we are all blessed and thrilled to be involved with this.
Don't forget, Jeff, things like import duty, shipping … always extras.
Great idea!! Who can start their own business in the US for around $1,000?
Hey Keith! Sounds like you're in charge of the “always extras”
The fact that we could provide a family in Honduras with electricity, something they have never had before and ad the bonus of providing them with a way to make a decent living, and do it all for about $1,000 is a very good thing :-)
No! No! No! Jeff!! Wasn't meaning to toss water on your fire here! Merely wanted to point out a couple things that may make that final tally a bit higher. I'm sure if you check with the sewing machine company these can be purchased wholesale. That would bring the price down.
No offense taken. Wholesale is a good thing. I have even seen these machines sold as “reconditioned” which means that someone bought it new and then returned it to the store and the store returned it to the factory where they repackaged the machine and then had to call it “reconditioned” I worked for a hardware company once and that's exactly what we had to do.