Sunrise Kat

A little Ray of Sunshine this week from Gift Nyirenda, a solar light user in Malawi: 

“We use [the solar light] for reading, cooking in the kitchen, chatting with my family as well as going to the water tap at night.”

This blog you find me in Senegal, the westernmost country in continental Africa. Unfortunately our Project Manager here has had to leave so I’m here to make sure the project runs smoothly, that we build strong relationships with our partners and learn as much as possible from it. I’ll be here until the end of the project (mid July), so I can keep you updated on things.

What are we actually doing in Senegal? Well, we’re testing out a new model; Light Libraries. We’re going to give rural schools a library of solar lights that their students can borrow. Does this undermine our goal of building a market? No, not at all, in fact it offers a real opportunity to strengthen it at the same time as reaching all. The Light Libraries mean that even the poorest families can have access to a light and it means that people have a chance to test them out and see just how great they are. This means that it’s not such a risk to buy a light as they have already used it and know they are worth the investment.

The project is a pilot, so there is a really strong focus on learning and it’s also funded by the World Bank – they have a real interest in kicking off the solar light market in Senegal and think we’re the best people to help them work out the lay of the land. We’re also working in close partnership with the Senegalese Ministry of Education and the Rural Electrification Agency. We want to make sure they are involved in this from the start so we can asses together whether this is a useful programme and make sure it’s sustainable.

Any minute now, the solar lights will be coming to the office for storing and next week we’ll be heading to Kaffrine and Kaolack – two rural regions in Senegal, to get started on our distribution in the field.

You can follow me on Twitter to get more regular updates on our progress @Sunrise_Kat

PS the solar lights in the photo above are the ones we’re using in this project: d.light S2, Greenlight Planet Eco, Marathoner MB2-200, d.light S300 and Greenlight Planet Sun King Pro.

Happy Friday – here’s your Ray of Sunshine for today……

We know that the solar lights that we distribute in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia make a difference to a family’s health, wealth and education. But the solar light users often tell us that they experience social benefits too. Here are a few solar light users saying that in their own words:

“My family use the lamp to chat at night,” Aubry Chinula a teacher from Karonga, Malawi.

“My lifestyle has changed, my kids eat well, study well and we are a happy family [now we have a solar light]” Dickson Murumbi in Narok, Kenya.

“I am very happy because the living standard of our family is more like one in town [thanks to the solar light]” Mphatso Gondwe in Karonga, Malawi.

“A lot of things have changed. The house is brighter and the children are happy,” Weakness Mwenelupembe in Karonga, Malawi.

“As a family [the solar light] helps us to come together at night,” Johnson Mwalukuwa from Karonga, Malawi.

“We live a happy life now when darkness comes because we are able to light our home for a long time,” Sithembile Kasambala in Karonga, Malawi.

“[The children] are very happy with the solar light because now they can study all together,” Grace Jerome in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.

Find out more about SolarAid’s work at www.solar-aid.org 

John Kuriuki is a farmer from Narok South in Kenya. His children go to Olonkerin School and used to use kerosene lamps to see while they studied at home, now they study for 4 hours rather than 3 a night thanks to their solar light. John explained that this was because, “they are reading in a friendly environment free from the toxic flames and they don’t complain of eye irritations so they study for long.” He went on to say that, “My kids don’t cough now; they are safe and study well and they don’t have eye irritations. The solar light is cheap compared to kerosene, it is safe and is a clean and clear source of light and it charges my phone too.”

John told us that “I bought [the solar light] because kerosene was becoming very expensive and the flames it was producing was polluting the air and I was staying in the dark when I didn’t have money to buy the kerosene.”

The family now don’t buy any kerosene and save themselves 300 Kenyan Shillings a week – that’s about £110 a year and is nearly 10% of John’s income; “I use the savings on buying food and paying my kids school fees.” 

Want to hear more about our work? Just follow me on Twitter to get regular impact updates @Sunrise_Kat

Today’s Ray of Sunshine is not an impact story, but a story about a potential customer. At SolarAid, we’ve just finished a new research project in Tanzania, conducting baseline household interviews in four rural villages in Dodoma region. The Tanzania SunnyMoney team will be visiting the region from July for the School Campaign — making small solar lights available for parents of school children — so we wanted to find out from people in the area what they currently use to light their homes and how much they spend on kerosene.

For John Chizenga, a farmer from Ihumwa with four children, kerosene for lighting is the top expenditure item for his household. It costs him around 35% of his income. The second and third most important things he spends money on are food and medicine, so that shows you how vital he thinks lighting is and what an expense kerosene is.

When John gets a chance to buy a solar light in the SunnyMoney School Campaign, a solar light would cost him around 30% of one month’s income. That’s a lot - but if that solar light replaces the use of just one kerosene lamp (he uses three at the moment), he’d save the cost of the solar light in just 10 weeks. So he could reduce kerosene use and still have light. Not just light, but brighter, safer and healthier light. What’s more, after 10 weeks, he’d have some savings he could spend on agricultural inputs, which he said would be his top priority if he had more money.

If you’d like to support SolarAid’s campaign to get a million lights into Africa then check out our website: http://solar-aid.org/make-it-a-million

This week’s Ray of Sunshine is a great case study sharing how a solar light has allowed family interactions in Malawi.

Dennis Mkandawire goes to Hangalawe Primary School in Karonga district, his father Yonam bought him a light when the SunnyMoney team visited his school in June 2012. Yonam is a farmer and before the solar light, the main source of lighting for the house was a kerosene lamp. Since purchasing the solar light, Yonam has cut his kerosene costs in half and spends this money on clothing for the children.

The solar light has meant that “lighting is available for a longer period and performance of my children has increased – one of my children got selected to a good secondary school.” Not only that but “it produces no smoke and my children live a happy life when darkness comes.” Many users of the solar lights tell us that it means they can have more quality time with their family, Yonam’s family is no exception as he tells us that, “the children can study longer now and after studies they listen to folk tales from their grandmother.”

Follow me on Twitter @Sunrise_Kat to hear bite-sized impact of SolarAid’s work.

This little Ray of Sunshine gives you an overview of why the little solar lights we distribute at SolarAid are so brilliant:

Solar lights can…

…save money:solar light customers we interviewed recently across Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania, are saving their family around $70 a year from reduced kerosene use. The savings are most commonly spent on food, investing in business or farming and school fees.

… increase child study time: solar light customers’ children are doing more hours homework. In fact, on average, children are doing double the amount of homework every evening because the solar light is reliable, bright and motivational.

…improve health:the majority of solar light customers we talked to said that their family experienced better health since reducing kerosene use, thanks to their solar light. There’s been a reduction in coughing, chest problems and eye irritation.

…help the environment:eight in ten solar light customers we talked to who were using kerosene before buying the solar light have stopped using at least one kerosene lamp regularly. For each kerosene lamp that’s up to 200 kilograms of CO₂ emissions saved, every year!

…increase income: several studies show that access to proper lighting (of high enough illumination to enable reading and doing household and business-related activities) has significant positive impact on productivity broadly and income-generating activity specifically.

Find out more about our work here: www.solar-aid.org

Here’s your Ray of Sunshine to brighten your day:

From all the solar light users we’ve interviewed in Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi, the average proportion of income spent on kerosene for those whose main source of lighting was kerosene, was 13% of their monthly income before buying their solar light. After buying their solar light, they were able to reduce kerosene spending and it counted for just 2% of their income.

In the UK, using average salary, if you suddenly had 11% of your income in your pocket, that would be nearly £250 a month! Definitely noticeable.

Hello all, I know it’s not Friday today, but you’re getting your Ray of Sunshine a day early this week since it’s Easter Friday tomorrow. So, here’s a great story from Malawi:

Japhjet Mnthali is the head teacher of Khwawa School in Karonga, Malawi. At this school over 165 solar lights were bought in SolarAid’s school campaign in August 2012, meaning that many pupils can now study at night safely. When asked if he’d noticed any change in the students with the lights, Japhjet said, “more learners have been motivated in studying now and this has increased attendance.”

Japhjet himself got a solar light during the campaign and he said, “the lamp assists me to write schemes of work at night and my children use it for studying. It’s the best light ever as compared to paraffin lamps as it lasts longer.”

Great results!

Visit the SolarAid website here.

Happy Friday; here’s your latest Ray of Sunshine - a great story from Tanzania:

Joyce Mtei is a student who goes to Mbalangasheni School in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania. She is one of five children in her household, where nine people live.

Joyce’s father, Sinsolesa, told us that the three most important things the household income is spent on is school fees, improving his livestock project and food. He says that he bought the solar light during the SunnyMoney school campaign “so as my children can study at night and also to reduce kerosene spending.”

Before they bought the solar light Sinsolesa, explains that they used to spend 6,000 Tanzania Shillings (about £2.30) a week on kerosene. Thanks to the solar light they don’t use kerosene at all now and “the surplus money has helped me to pay tuition fees for my children.”

Sinsolesa is a teacher and he also uses the solar light to help him work: “I can now work in the kitchen easily  at night because I just hang the solar light in one of the corners in the kitchen.”

Check out the SolarAid website for more info and follow me on Twitter @Sunrise_Kat to get more happy stories through the week.