Solar Power: Giving light and Income Generation
on Postcards from Zambia (Zambia), 16/Jan/2012 13:55, 34 days ago
A while ago I came across an organisation working in Zambia and a few other African countries, called Solar Aid. They run some great projects such as light installations for community schools and medical clinics here in Zambia. They also have another project called“Sunny Money” where they sell smaller scale solar products through their office in Lusaka and local distribution channels, at a very reasonable price to anyone who wants to buy them.Their website: http://solar-aid.org/projects/all-projects/zambia-community-centres.html#moreSo on a recent trip to Lusaka Mike and I stopped by the Solar Aid office and were lucky to be able to run through the products there with the Country Manager, Ellie. The result was the purchase of three of their products, a home lighting and phone charging kit, a lone phone charging kit and a desk lamp. The first two of these products we decided to give to our cleaning lady Selina and the desk lamp was for me, just because I thought it was cool and would be great for camping!The "d.light S1", a.k.a my new camping light, providing up to 4 hours light all for the cost of approximately $10Mobile phone charger: comes with solar panel and multiple phoneconnectors. With good sun conditions it should charge between 5 to7 mobile phones a day. Cost was about $16So excited by the success of these purchases and the installation of them at Selina’s house, I thought I’d share the pictures I took. I should note here that Selina’s house does not have access to electricity or water; it is a 2 room mud house in very outer- Livingstone. Her income is also entirely dependent on her work as a cleaner and must support her daughter’s education, as well provide for all living costs. This income is approximately $12 a week. We hope the solar phone charging kit will provide additional income to her as people in her compound pay to get their mobile phones charged and that the lights will assist her daughter with completing her homework. Parraffin lamp: Used by most Zambian people in the compounds.This form of lighting is incredibly ineffective not to mention thefumes and cost Powapack 2.5: Comes with 2 large lights and cell phone chargingand a battery pack (pictured). All for a cost of around $70. Lamp turned off..........lamp turned on!Mike providing Selina and her daughter Gift with a lesson on thecharging the battery packCatching the rays: Solar panel outsideOutside of Selina's houseSolar panel as the centre of attentionMike showing Selina and Gift how to charge a mobile phone usingsolar energy A demonstrationSelina proving that she can do it all herself!