Students of the Senator Obama primary and secondary schools in the US President’s ancestral village of Kogelo  have  sent their first emails using solar energy to President Barack Obama urging him to put his weight behind renewable energy in the run-up to Copenhagen which is only a few days away.The excited primary school students sent a strong message: “Please President Obama do something. We just want to ask you to help other children all the over the world access solar power. Teacher Ann sees connection of climate change and the drought in Kogelo village and said that solar power is a solution to climate change. Help protect the climate, this is our future.”

Making reference to some of the drawings of solar panels sitting at the old iron sheet roofs of their classrooms and those of Mama Sarah Obama, the grandmother of the US president, the pupils informed him that had it not been for solar power, they would have never afforded to reach him through email.

“We greet you from Senator Obama Nyangoma Primary School in Kogelo, Kenya. We just want to let you know that we now have solar power thanks to help from Greenpeace SolarGeneration project. We can now read at anytime in the evening. Our teachers also can charge their phones”, the message read in part.

Their counterparts at secondary level in a separate email made a simple request asking him to use his “great office to encourage the utilization of renewable energies such as solar power,” they said.

“We want other students in communities similar to ours to be able to enjoy their education like we do here in Kogelo.” The students emphasized that renewable energy will help in solving the problem of climate change which is affecting Kenya and other countries.

“Some people are dying of hunger because the rains don’t come like they used to, farmers experience drought and people do not have enough food to eat. We are doing our job, please do yours,” they urged. 

The secondary school students added: “In 2006, as a member of the US Senate, you visited our school—the Senator Obama Secondary School in Kogelo , Kenya . Since your departure, there have been a few wonderful developments that we would love to share with you. Our school is now solar-powered. The solar energy enables us to light our classroom, charge laptops and mobile phones for our community. Our teachers use these laptops to teach us but also send emails since the school has internet connection. We are very grateful to our neighbour Mama Sarah who is also your grandmother for the support she gives the school and the whole village especially young people.”

The solar power was installed by Greenpeace SolarGeneration project in August 2009.

The two schools – Senator Obama Nyangoma Primary School and Secondary School – are in Kogelo village, a stone’s throw away from Obama’s grandmother’s house. They were named after the US President upon his visit in 2006 as the Senator of Illinois.

Mama Sarah also accentuated the need for solar energy saying that it “is clean, reliable and affordable, unlike paraffin that is widely used in the area.” She also got a solar-panel on her roof - and is now charging mobile-telephones of her young neighbours.

The ability to call on world leaders to protect the environment by such under privileged children who had never seen a computer until later this year is a reminder to world leaders ahead of the UN Climate Change summit that the world needs greener energies and this is their moment to make the breakthrough that they have promised on climate change.

Bidding Obama a safe trip to Copenhagen, the students ended with “We hope you can”.