{"id":4306,"date":"2018-06-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-27T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gridalt.wpenginepowered.com\/the-current\/from-syria-to-san-diego-solar-trainees-triumph\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T12:04:49","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T16:04:49","slug":"from-syria-to-san-diego-solar-trainees-triumph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/live-grid-wp.pantheonsite.io\/es\/the-current\/from-syria-to-san-diego-solar-trainees-triumph\/","title":{"rendered":"From Syria to San Diego, Solar Trainees Triumph"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year on June 20, World Refugee Day<\/a>, GRID Alternatives San Diego kicked off an important partnership with fellow nonprofit GetChargedUp. The plan was to train local refugee youth for jobs in the solar industry. GetChargedUp<\/a> would provide help with translation and community outreach, GRID would administer the training.<\/p>\n

Fast forward one year to World Refugee Day 2018. Perched on a roof in the shimmering San Diego heat are two star graduates of that training program, Khashaa Kawkab and Mamer Jalahej. They deftly handle solar panels and connect wires, totally at ease fifteen feet in the air.<\/p>\n

Both Khashaa and Mamer now have full time jobs with local solar companies but they\u2019re volunteering with GRID today as part of a special reunion installation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe signed up for the training because we were curious about the technology, I liked the idea of turning the sun into power for your home,\u201d says Mamer. Solar wasn\u2019t on either Mamer or Khashaa\u2019s radar before that first install. \u201cI\u2019d sort of heard of solar thermal heating, but solar panels were a mystery to me,\u201d explains Mamer. \u201cI hadn\u2019t seen any of them back home, it was a brand new technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"World<\/p>\n

Khashaa and Mamer are both Syrian natives, now 21 they arrived in the U.S. at the tender age of 19, fleeing their homeland for the relative safety of California.<\/p>\n

The solar training program appealed to their natural curiosity and they both excelled, enjoying their 3 months with GRID so much that turning it into a full time career felt like a natural progression. \u201cI was hired within a month after I completed training,\u201d says Khashaa. \u201cI love it, I\u2019d like to stay in this industry for a long time, either as a solar installer or maybe a designer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khashaa got hired by Sullivan Solar Power 8 months ago and helped install the new Petco Park solar system<\/a>, Major League Baseball\u2019s largest ever with a whopping 716 solar panels in total. It\u2019s remarkable to think that just one year ago neither of these men knew how solar worked, but that\u2019s just what they both are — remarkable.<\/p>\n

Mamer works at Baker Electric Home Energy, he says he\u2019ll always have a special place in his heart for GRID. \u201cI felt grateful that I was installing solar for people who wouldn\u2019t have it otherwise – who might need some help to survive. I want to help these people because I get it, I lived it, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

Khashaa and Mamer are two of 16 local refugee youth who have gone through GRID San Diego\u2019s solar training program, with other graduates working at Sunrun, Tesla and Aerotek. To see photos from the first solar install Mamer and Khashaa ever did, click here<\/a>. To see photos from this year\u2019s World Refugee Day click here<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Local refugee youth forge new careers in solar power after training with GRID.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4307,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,79],"tags":[],"audience":[],"content-type":[12],"focus-area":[20,27,73],"region":[],"series":[],"content-author":[],"class_list":["post-4306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-organizational-stories","category-workforce-education","content-type-news","focus-area-job-training","focus-area-volunteers","focus-area-workforce-development"],"acf":{"hero_media_type":"image","hero_media_image":null,"hero_media_url":"","hero_media_poster":null,"hero_video_play":"inline","related_stories":null,"pattern_override":null,"story_callouts":null,"media":null,"featured_blog_post":null,"featured_event":null,"pdf_download":null,"blockquote":null,"author":null,"notice":null,"social_embed":null,"contact_card":null,"meta_details":null,"faq":null,"table":null},"yoast_head":"\nFrom Syria to San Diego, Solar Trainees Triumph - 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