IBEW 993 Members Attend TRU Mexico Field School 2025
Posted on December 2, 2025 2:52 pm
IBEW 993 members Jessie Gobin and David Wallin participated in the TRU Mexico Field School where they installed solar panels. We just received this note and photos from Jessie...
What an incredible experience! Our group consisted of two TRU instructors and five classmates, including myself and David from 993, as well as a Kootenays IBEW lineman member, Kevin. We provided ten different families with one solar panel, battery, charge controller and three lights with three three designated switches each. These families lived in small huts and sheds with no running water and no electricity. The closest bathroom (banos) could be up to a ten minute walk to the public bathroom facilities where you will flush the toilet with a bucket of water, the old gravity flush.
The first day is organization and planning on the instructors behalf, sourcing the materials and locations. I cannot say this job didn't run into its own hiccups, running out of material, not having the proper tools for the job, etc but because we had such a great team of classmates, we managed to complete the 10 installs in four full days and two half days. It is grueling working in 35 degree weather for 6-8 hours a day with no AC or electricity to even run a fan. Safety in Mexico is non-existent, as you'll see in the following photos. The one thing I realized coming home is how much I take my running clean water here for granted. Having to purchase water to drink, having to pay to use the bathrooms, and not being able to flush toilet paper provided me with the most culture shock.
The most heartwarming experience was at the end of our trip, the convivio (gathering) where we each said a little bit about what this trip meant to each of us and each community member spoke about how grateful they are and how life changing this is to them. The swag was such a big hit. To see the gratitude, happiness and joy on each of their faces really made it all worth it. Unfortunately the children were all in school at this point but there are pictures of me with the parents. I had asked David to come up with me, but he declined, he's not the type to want to draw attention to himself. The families were so hospitable and gracious. Each day we worked they provided us with breakfast, lunch and snacks. Even pooling the little money they have for a wildlife excursion followed by a day at the beach. On working days dinner is also provided by our expense pool.
Each student pays $2,500 to attend this field school. TRU organizes this event with hosts in Puerto Escondido and Rio Grande, while also sourcing funding from school and other agencies for this field school. I think it's known that TRU has a lot of budget cuts coming up, especially for the trades department because of the upcoming and ongoing decline of international students attending TRU. The families are beyond grateful for this selfless act of each group coming in and I would hate for this program to end. Despite the lack of code and safety of Mexico I was still able to learn a lot about solar systems, operations of projects like this, as well as teamwork, solidarity and unity internationally!!! If there is any interest for the IBEW to get involved in this project I will add the contact information for the electrical instructor charge handing this project. I think it will be a great way to get our name out - IBEW 993 - to the trades students at TRU as well as internationally in Mexico!
