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Julie Zarka
Communications Coordinator, Nicaragua
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There is little surprise that Julie Zarka is a volunteer for blueEnergy. Considering her passion for renewable energy, travel, and languages, working for blueEnergy in Nicaragua allows her to realize all of these passions each day through her work.
Julie was born in a town not far from Paris, France and grew up speaking French and Portuguese in a large family. As a young girl her contact with nature and the environment was limited to summer vacations on Portuguese beaches. It was not until later in life that Julie’s conscience of the natural world was awoken, when she spent summer vacations in a small village in the Alps. It was these experiences with nature that influenced her decision to specialize in environmental issues as she advanced her education.
She attended school in Paris and received an undergraduate degree in international economics from the Université Paris 10. She continued her education at the same university and earned a master’s degree in energy economics, during which time she became fascinated by renewable energy, particularly wind. It was in her graduate program where she learned about blueEnergy from a colleague and she was immediately fascinated by the idea of working with the organization. Already being trilingual and having a strong commitment to renewable energy, Julie’s fit with blueEnergy was natural.
Julie arrived in Bluefields in March, 2007, not long before the first turbine was scheduled to be installed in Kahkabila. Since she arrived, there isn’t much that Julie hasn’t done working as part of the blueEnergy team. Her specialty, however, is in the communications aspects of the operations in Bluefields. She routinely communicates with governmental, financial, and community partners to coordinate and facilitate projects with blueEnergy. Regardless of her title as communications guru, her responsibilities vary and include everything from writing grant proposals, market studies, and business plans to the hands-on work of building and installing turbines in the communities in Nicaragua.
Julie is scheduled to be in Nicaragua for a total of six months. At the end of those six months, she isn’t really sure where she’ll go. Maybe she will return to France and put the wind industry experience she has gained to work. Perhaps she will travel to another Latin American country to practice the new language skills she is acquiring in Bluefields. Or maybe she will travel to other developing countries, spreading the good word about the lights going on along the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. Regardless, her contributions will continue to shine on in the form of electricity in the homes of the people of Nicaragua.
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blueEnergy QuickFacts:
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Number of Installations:
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9
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| Number of Communities Served: |
6
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| Total Number of Beneficiaries: |
1,500
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| Installed Capacity (kW): |
8.8
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| Number of Local Employees: |
14
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| Total Number of Historical Volunteers: |
100+
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