Mary Andom, a graduate student in the M.A. in Applied International Studies program, writes about Jackson School doctoral student Francis Abugbilla’s journey from a village in Ghana to the UW in Seattle and back to shed light in his community and beyond.
In the dark of night, students in a rural village in Ghana huddle around a kerosene lamp to complete their homework. Others shine flashlights to illuminate textbooks. The lack of electricity, nonetheless computers, dimmed the prospects of a bright future for students in the village of Kpantarigo. This was until Francis Abugbilla, a second-year doctoral student at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle, brought electricity to them in the form of solar power.