Flore Nikiema doesn’t remember the first time she dreamed of bringing electricity to her country, but she knows it has been on her mind since childhood.
Growing up in Burkina Faso, Africa, she found it strange and unfathomable that some people had access to electricity and necessities while others did not. There was no electricity when she visited her grandmother, who lived in a village.
“There is no electricity. It’s not like they have little electricity — there is absolutely none. The night is night. Everything is dark,” Nikiema said.
In addition to affecting households, the absence of electricity affects critical industries like health care, sometimes cutting a life short.
It is a fact that Nikiema knows all too well.
In 2021, her aunt was ill, and although she was in a hospital, it didn’t have enough power for her aunt’s ventilator, resulting in her death.
These are just a few experiences that prompted Nikiema, a 20-year-old Madison College student, to spend much of her day pondering her country’s dilemma. In Burkina Faso, only 19% of households have access to electricity, while the remaining 81% are deprived of this basic necessity.
“They don’t have basic access to technology — they don’t have normal life conditions. We cannot talk about different technologies if we don’t even have basic access to electricity or commodities to have a normal life,” she said.
This 81% to 19% disparity in her backyard was minor compared to the widening chasm between Burkina Faso and the more successful first-world countries, as Nikiema could see from the television.
The idea that her third-world neighbors could work just as hard as first-world countries but lacked resources triggered her, and she knew she needed to take action. She decided to use her patience to impact people and study engineering to focus on electronic devices, finding a way to improve productivity.
With the help of scholarships earned in high school, Nikiema came to Madison with a purpose. After enrolling in the college, she joined the Liberal Arts Transfer Program Pre-Engineering. Early in her college student experience, Nikiema realized she didn’t want to wait until graduation to accomplish something. With that in mind, she started researching her honors project.
“I realized that I am doing it for a reason. If I can use my skills to apply my learning right now, I can start working on the purpose of why I’m studying. Why am I doing the things I am doing? So why not start [now]? she said.
Last year, she demonstrated her Dual Axis Solar Tracker in her Honors Program, a program that pairs high-academic students with instructors on a project of their design.
Nikiema’s“Dual Axis Solar Tracker” project focused on optimizing the tilt and angle of solar panels by motorizing them with appropriate electronics and sensors to capture the sun’s rays more effectively.
The slight, soft-spoken STEM student lit up the room at last year’s honors presentation, captivating the audience with her miniature solar tracking project, and earned third place.
Additionally, Nikiema has won recognition at the annual Student Success Awards and is the Vice President for Fellowship with the college’s Phi Theta Kappa Society chapter. Her extracurricular activities don’t keep her from working as an ambassador for the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Center.
“She does come from really humble beginnings, and with the adversities that she faced in Burkina Faso, she is working every day to make a changing world,” said Angela Yang, co-advisor of the STEM club and Nikiema’s supervisor. “She’s constantly trying her best to be inclusive, build a community and build partnerships with people who care about the same values as she does,” said Yang.
Yang says the STEM Ambassador’s passion for returning to Burkina Faso and providing access and opportunities for electricity is a subject that comes up in many of their conversations.
Barkwende K (Flore) Nikiema was born 20 years ago in Burkina Faso, a landlocked country in western Africa and one of the least developed countries in the world.
The country has 81 recorded African languages, and Nikiema speaks the Mooré language, which is spoken by the Mossi people, who comprise about 52% of its population. French is the official language of the country.
Her mother worked in retail, and her father worked for the government. They were married young, and her mother gave birth to Nikiema, her oldest child when she was 17. She has two younger siblings.
Seeing how hard her parents have worked has inspired her. Despite being young, she said her parents raised their family in the best conditions possible and supported them in school. Her family also had access to electricity, which Nikiema considers lucky despite facing restrictions and challenges.
However, they endured five-hour rolling blackouts, power outages that occur when a power company turns off electricity in selected areas to save energy. The blackouts occurred at night when Nikiema most needed light.
Without light, there wasn’t a way to study, so her family used kerosene lamps for lighting.
After spending the first 18 years of her life watching her family and neighbors, near and far, endure hardship but continue, Nikiema has a philosophical outlook on life. She appreciates every moment and optimizes the present.
She believes that people should not delay if they have an idea. It is never too early to take small steps toward a larger goal.
“Go for it. Start doing it,” said Nikiema, who believes people often hesitate to create an idea because they don’t think it’s the right time. “Even if it’s 10 minutes a week or 10 minutes a month, at least start it. The more you start it, the more you renew your purpose,” she said.
Nikiema will graduate this month with an associate’s degree in Liberal Arts Transfer – Pre-engineering. She plans to earn a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and has already been accepted to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE).
She knows her determined drive and unwavering purpose may deliver some future roadblocks but remains collected and composed.
“To me, being alive is significant. I always remind myself that I’m born for a specific purpose and should accomplish it,” Nikiema said.