![\"Andre'](\"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Solar_Impulse_2_RTW_4th_Flight_Varanasi_to_Mandalay_landing_revillard__15_thumb.jpg\")
<\/a>Andre’ Borschber gnad Bertrand Piccard are surrounded by reporters and photographers after Piccard landed HB-SIB in Mandalay, Myanmar. Photo Solar Impulse | Revillard<\/p><\/div>\n
Flights thus far have been fairly uneventful, which is a plus in any pilot\u2019s logbook.\u00a0 The two pilots seem to be busier when they touch down, first finding themselves surrounded by media, then attending a series of events in which they talk about their visions for a better, cleaner future.\u00a0 In Myanmar, that includes sharing the benefits of the high technology of Solar Impulse\u2019s solar collectors with a country that lacks electricity in 70 percent of its population.\u00a0\u00a0 Myanmar shows up as a dark spot in night-time satellite views of southern Asia.<\/p>\n
The Solar Impulse team works with Pact, a non-profit organization<\/a> dedicated to improving the lot of the \u201cpoor and marginalized\u201d by helping them \u201cdiscover and build their own solutions and take ownership over their future.\u201d<\/p>\n At one meeting, in which the pair endorsed Pact\u2019s mission in Myanmar, the pilots and Pact’s Myanmar country director, Richard Harrison, presented solar power packages to women from Tada Oo Township, Mandalay Region.\u00a0 This is part of a larger project with Solar Impulse\u2019s partner ABB<\/a> that will establish solar charging stations in remote villages in the Tada Oo township in central Myanmar.\u00a0 ABB, a developer of control and power systems, also provides systems for regulating energy use on HB-SIB.<\/p>\n ABB notes, \u201cPower from these stations will be sold to communities, bringing not merely electricity but economic self-sufficiency, entrepreneurship and equality – and safety.<\/p>\n “\u2019I am excited,\u2019 said U Thein Hla, a 70-year-old resident from Wun Pa Tae Village. \u2018Now, we don\u2019t need to worry about fire hazard associated with the use of candle light.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Many such locals earn less than $1.00 a day harvesting foods such as betel nuts.\u00a0 Electrification could lead to expanded job opportunities, greater productivity from the ability to work and study at night, and since women are running the projects, both literal and figurative empowerment for their gender.<\/p>\n