Akon for president in 2016 (please)! The musician/songwriter/producer and activist/philanthropist recently announced he's launching a new “Solar Academy” in Africa as part of his Akon Lighting Africa initiative, which aims to provide electricity to 600 million Africans.
The singer — who was born in Missouri, but raised in Senegal — now hopes to install solar microgrids. To date, the Akon Lighting Africa has provided solar electric to over one million households in 14 African countries. Akon's goal is to reach 35 more Africans countries by the end of 2020.
“We actually overachieved,” Akon told Al Jazeera. “We started with just creating solar energy for rural areas and households and now were doing solar street lamps all through the countries and also incorporating it within each country, we have put in solar in all the villages and we are also creating a system where we are actually employing locals to maintain it and to keep everything in order.”
Akon is also an ambassador for the non-profit organization Peace One Day. Last year, he and actor Jude Law hosted a concert in Goma to promote peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He's what the artist has said about humanitarianism. Quotation above via inquisitr.com.
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–via inquisitr.com
–via aljazeera.com
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–via aljazeera.com
–via aljazeera.com
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