Mustika Wijaya, a student at University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign from Indonesia, had always felt a strong push to help Indonesia's rural areas. Ever since she was young, her parents would often take her with them to villages in the underprivileged parts of Indonesia as part of community service. She was taught that helping others is what brings true happiness. During these trips throughout her childhood, one thing stood out to her: these villages do not have electricity she was accustomed to back in the city that brought about lighting, cooking, water, etc. Ika decided early on that she would study electrical engineering in hopes to change her country. 

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In December 2016, she felt the urge to help villages in Indonesia but wasn't quite sure how to. She started by doing her research:  visiting villages and talking to the people about their daily lives trying to figure out what they needed the most. It was during that trip she saw people walking hours on foot for clean water for the first time. With that, she knew she wanted to help them get easier access to clean water. Ika along with her colleague Edwint, the co-founder of Solar Chapter, spearheaded the first water project for Umutanana Village. And what they thought would be a one-time project turned quickly into lifetime project. A year later, Solar Chapter is born.