Since 2014, Barefoot College has been working to train Guatemalan women as solar engineers so they can solar electrify their communities. Two of the Solar Mamas were present when the organization was recently awarded the 2022 Presidential Medal, the state’s highest recognition for organizations or individuals engaged in environmental work.

Juana Emelia de León Marcos, an indigenous Guatemalan woman who trained as a solar engineer in India in 2020, has since become a Solar Master Trainer. Rosenda Francisca Garcia, who lost her husband early this year, was part of the first solar training delivered in Guatemala earlier this year and.will begin electrifying more than 34 houses in her community next month.