When I arrived in The Gambia this summer, I knew I would be working in sustainability, but I wasn’t entirely sure what my day-to-day experience would look like. I had spent years learning about sustainability and renewable energy in the classroom, but spending part of my summer in The Gambia gave me the chance to see what that work looks like in practice. Over the next several weeks, I had the opportunity to work with a local solar energy company, visit schools and hospitals across the country, and experience sustainability work in a setting very different from what I had encountered in the classroom. This experience exposed me not only to the potential of renewable energy but also to the challenges of keeping energy systems operational long after installation.
I spent the summer working with SESCO, a fairly new sustainable energy services company in The Gambia. They are funded by the European Union and the European Investment Bank, with their flagship project being the installation of solar energy systems on 1,000 schools and 100 healthcare facilities in The Gambia. When I joined them this summer, they were already past the installation phase and were managing the operations and maintenance of the systems while also exploring what their next sustainable energy project would look like.
During my time there, I experienced many different parts of the company. I went on solar site visits, helped troubleshoot equipment/system issues, attended stakeholder and potential investor meetings, and created a GIS database for site records and maintenance logging. Learning firsthand about the different parts of a company like this gave me a more holistic perspective and the opportunity to see which areas I am interested in pursuing in my future career. I am very grateful to all of my colleagues for taking every opportunity to teach me more about the company and solar energy as a whole.
My experience going on site visits was very memorable and important to me. My three colleagues and I went on a trip to visit 12 sites that needed repairs or maintenance. We drove across the entire country over a few days, visiting schools, hospitals, and clinics. It was a great experience to see the entire country, both urban and rural areas, that I otherwise probably would not have been able to see. It was also great to meet all the people who run these sites and to see how much of an impact the solar energy systems have had on them. The Gambia currently has a bit of an energy crisis, and access to reliable energy is hard to come by, especially if your school or healthcare facility has limited funding, which is the case for almost every site. Many places, especially in rural areas, lack access to electricity altogether, and where it exists, power often goes out multiple times a day and only powers essentials. Moving away from reliance on the electric grid and using solar energy instead is much more dependable and accessible, especially in a country like The Gambia, where there is a lot of sun every day. This clean energy access allows kids to have more learning opportunities in school and enables healthcare facilities to provide safe, consistent medical care.
My experience creating a GIS database for site records and maintenance logging for SESCO was also very memorable and fulfilling. Given SESCO's relatively new status and the large number of solar installation sites to manage, I created a database to support organization and the operations and maintenance phase of the project. I compiled all the site data (site ID numbers, GPS coordinates, management information, etc.) into a single GIS-based database, allowing them to view each site on a map and access all the information in one place. I then connected this database to a maintenance log, so anytime someone at SESCO logs an issue with a site, it will be recorded in the database and appear on the map. This system allows everyone at SESCO to more easily access site records and manage maintenance issues as they arise. Before I created this, they did not yet have an organizational system in place, so I am very glad I was able to help take some of the stress off my colleagues and contribute skills I learned in the classroom to make a meaningful impact on my colleagues that they can use even after I am back in the US.
Of course, my time in The Gambia was about much more than just work. Outside of SESCO, I had the chance to explore the country, experience Gambian culture, meet new people, and try plenty of things that were completely new to me. Living there rather than simply visiting gave me a much different perspective, and many of the experiences I had outside of work ended up being some of my favorite parts of the summer.
My time in The Gambia was an experience that I will carry with me well beyond this summer. It gave me the opportunity to apply what I had learned in college in a real-world setting while also experiencing a new country and culture. I left with a better understanding of sustainability in practice, new perspectives, and memories and connections that made the experience especially meaningful.
Olivia Penoyer is a recent graduate of the University of Dayton, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Sustainability with a concentration in Energy. Her interests center on renewable energy, GIS, and hands-on environmental work.