Watch: Get Julia to Ghana!

Online crowdfunding has become a great resource for people looking to fund the next great product, a well-deserved vacation or even a potato salad. But, as UC Berkeley student Julia Solano recently learned, it’s also a quick and efficient way to help someone help others.

Solano, who is studying industrial engineering and design, was selected for a fellowship with Beverly-based non-profit Saha Global to help people in Ghana gain access to clean water and electricity.

But the $4,500 price tag that came with the trip was too much for Solano to handle on her own. So instead of organizing a pancake breakfast or a car wash, Solano put her design skills to use and created a video asking for help. That video went up on a CrowdRise campaign on Dec. 8.

Two weeks later, Solano had raised 104 percent of her $3,000 goal.

The money raised will allow Solano to fly to Ghana and help women there build solar companies that will supply electricity to the more than 30 percent of people in the area who currently do not have access. People without electricity use kerosene lamps that emit a gas which, if inhaled, is equivalent to smoking 40 cigarettes a day, Solano says in her video.

Solano and a group of local entrepreneurs in Ghana plan to build stations that will use solar power to charge rechargeable batteries. Those batteries will then be put into lanterns and given to families who do not have access to electricity.

Saha Global and its volunteers have built six solar electricity businesses and 72 clean water businesses in Ghana so far. All of the businesses are still in operation.

Watch Solano’s video below:

image via Get Julia to Ghana! video