‘I am able to use my fridge now’

NEWELL, St Elizabeth — For all her life Lavern Brown has lived without electricity at her home in Bluntas district in south-western St Elizabeth. Now the 67-year-old Brown can flick a switch and get light, following the donation and installation of a solar system at her house by Rural Roots Corporation Limited.

“I am so happy that I got a solar system. I didn’t have any current [electricity] and I am happy that I am able to use my fridge now and get something cool. [Before], I usually buy ice and put in an igloo,” she told the Jamaica Observer on Saturday.

Brown said the Jamaica Public Service Company’s grid isn’t available in her area, and expressed her thanks to Rural Roots Corporation, a solar and irrigation company based in Newell, St Elizabeth.

“I am very grateful for it. In my household there are four of us; it is the first I am getting electricity — and I have lived there all my life,” she said while expressing that the moment is bittersweet as she is still mourning the death of her son Haniff Jones, 49.

Bluntas resident Lavern Brown speaking with the Jamaica Observer on Saturday.

Brown said Jones died on June 6 from a heart attack during a break-in at his bar.

“He was a fisherman; he usually travelled between Honduras and Jamaica. He has three children in Honduras and three in Jamaica. His father died leaving a bar for him to run. He caught someone in his bar and had a heart attack,” Brown said.

Clive Todd Jr, chief executive officer at Rural Roots, told the Observer that Brown is the first beneficiary of his family company’s solar system donations.

Solar panels installed as part of the system for Lavern Brown’s home. (Photo: Kasey Williams)

“She is well deserving [as] she never had electricity before. And not only are we powering her home, we also did the electrical work. And usually you would do a presentation and then [complete] the work after, [but] today we will be flipping the switch here and when she goes home her light will be there waiting on her,” he said.

“She is very happy… It came at a very important time. She is mourning the loss of her son, and they never had light, and they have a nine-night coming up…” added Todd Jr.

He said the system donated and installed at Brown’s home cost just over $500,000.

“It is not something that will be a one-off [gesture]. We will look for other households who never had light before and we [will] power them one by one. We are not just in the business to make profit — we are in the business to build our community,” said Todd Jr who pointed out that since its launch in January, Rural Roots has been installing solar systems across the country.