November 20, 2012 - Solar Mamas is a film about the heroic efforts of one woman
as she overcomes significant difficulties to become a solar engineer. The film
follows Rafea, the second wife of a Bedouin, who wants a better life for
herself and her children. The Barefoot College takes uneducated middle-aged
women from poor communities around the world and trains them to become solar
engineers to create power and jobs in their communities. The film shows their
lives on the campus and how learning about electrical components and soldering
without being able to read, write, or understand English is the easy part.
Harder to negotiate is the pressure from Rafea's patriarcal, unemployed Bedouin
husband who demands that she returns home.
Following the worldwide broadcast, the series of documentaries will also be
made available online for downloading to be used by organisations, schools and
anybody wishing to stimulate discussion and debate around poverty.
This one-hour documentary is part of a series of documentaries that form part of the Why Poverty? campaign, a cross media event taking place in November 2012. Eight award-winning film makers were asked to produce this series of documentaries about poverty, with each documentary looking at a different aspect of poverty.