Some 437 families will have solar powered lights when their mums, who are training to be solar engineers, return from India in September.
The 10 women from Macuata, Cakaudrove, Bua, Ba, Ra and Kadavu were visited by the Minister for Women and Social Welfare Dr Jiko Luveni yesterday.
Dr Luveni and High Commissioner Yogesh Karan visited the women in their campus in Barefoot College in Tilonia in the state of Rajasthan.
“I’m amazed at the things they have learnt,” Dr Luveni said.
“We are glad to see that these women will bring back with them the knowledge they learnt from here and teach it to others in their villages and province.”
Dr Luveni said she was proud of the women and was pleased to see them coping well especially when they were far from home.
Mr Karan said the tour around the college and witnessing the Fiji women at work with other women from different countries like Uganda, Tanzania, Chile and other countries showed how practical the college was.
“I’m very proud of our women,” he said.
The women will return home with solar powered lamps and mini panels.
College director Laxman Singh said the Fiji group were always cheerful and it was easy to co-ordinate with them. “We really enjoy having them around and teaching them all these things,” he said.
Mr Singh said the women would take back with them whatever they learnt, with the hope to improve the standard of living in their villages.
Fulori Susu of Lutukina Village in Dreketi, Macuata, said she could not wait to train her peers back home. She said they were working hard every day, knowing that whatever they were doing would help light up their villages.
Sera Tatau of Ono, Kadavu, said the sacrifice they made would benefit not only their families but their villages.
The women joined Dr Luveni and Mr Karan and toured Ajmer in Rajasthan yesterday.