A young campaigner has been praised by the Government after backing a project to provide cheap electricity for people in West Africa.
Augustin Manga, 11, who was born in Sierra Leone but now lives in New Parks, wrote to David Cameron last year asking the Government to help with renewable energy in his home country.
He had the idea after seeing solar panels while living at his foster parents’ home in Glenfield.
He has since received a letter from the Department for International Development thanking him and telling him about a scheme to increase the use of solar power in Freetown, the country’s capital.
International Development Minister and MP for Rutland and Melton Alan Duncan said: “Augustin is absolutely right to highlight the benefits of solar power.
“Schools, hospitals and local businesses in poor countries will never flourish unless they have access to clean, reliable and cheap energy.”
He said the British Government was helping to install solar panels in villages across Sierra Leone and upgrading its electricity grid.
Augustin said: “I saw the solar panels on the house and I thought it would be a good idea to have them in Sierra Leone too.
“We didn’t have much electricity when we were there and had to use kerosene generators or wood fires.
“When I got the letter back, I felt pleased that something was being done – people don’t have much electricity and this is going to help them.”
Augustin came to Leicester in 2009 after his father Joseph – a former school teacher and policeman in Africa – had settled here a few years earlier.
When Augustin, his brother and two sisters were granted visas, they had to stay with foster carers David and Maddy Alton until their parents found suitable accommodation.
Maddy said: “I’m very proud of him.
“We’ve been telling Augustin that this is just the beginning, it’s a platform for something bigger. It’s fantastic that his efforts have been recognised.”
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