Project Report
| Mar 21, 2024
Stories from the Field Q1 2024
By Simon Doble | Founder and Chair
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DELIVERY IMPACT AND ILLUMINATING FUTURES
We’re pleased to share that 2024 is already helping to illuminate futures at pace!
Let’s jump straight in with some exciting distribution updates from around the world which demonstrate how shared passions power change!
Thanks to our friends at Aussie Books for Zim, witness the transformative impact of SolarBuddy devices on the lives of these young learners, opening doors to enhanced study opportunities and brighter futures for many schools like Gandanzara Primary School.
https://youtu.be/CSzyrQ-grFw?si=wCpNld-XJjMtDPzF
LIGHTING LAU PROVINCE
Last month our partner in the Lau Province of Fiji, LAU Education began to distribute 3000 JuniorBuddy and 200 StudentBuddy lights directly to the island communities it serves.
LAU Education has a team of wonderful, dedicated volunteers who distribute the shipments of lights along with other educational supplies to remote island schools and communities. The leadership team at LAU Education also go above and beyond, sharing their passion for ending energy poverty, by demonstrating the efficacy and impact of our solar solutions to new schools and communities, and sharing with us how people are impressed by the lights.
Thank you again to LAU Education for partnering with us and spreading awareness of how these lights can transform children’s learning and education.
“Your lights are reaching the white beaches of our Lau islands and we have worked over Christmas and New Year with three boat trips so far to deliver them. Most students will have them in time for the start of the school year!” – PT Kacimaiwai, Chairperson, LAU Education
MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK IN MALAWI
Our work in Malawi is another example of how partnerships, passion and purpose combine to create meaningful impact.
Late last year 1000 of our solar lights made their way to Malawi via a light-building event held in the US through our partner, Books for Africa, arriving at their destination in Malawi on Christmas Eve. Once arrived, our in-country partner Moving Windmills conducted quality control before distributing the lights to their community hubs - part of Project Zero which is transforming the learning environments of five schools in Kasungu.
Co-founded by William Kamkwamba, Moving Windmills’ mission is to inspire people through African innovation and creative problem-solving to create their own solutions towards the problems they are facing. Closely aligned to our own goals, Moving Windmills’ community development initiatives include school solarisation, agricultural cultural technology and irrigation schemes and the hosting of STEM clubs. Thanks to Books for Africa and Moving Windmills for joining many hands to illuminate the lives of children!
“We are excited about the prospect of giving out to our young hub members as they begin the school year!” – Gemma May Kimani, SPARK Program Manager, Moving Windmills
Ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
We are deeply committed to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These 17 goals, established in 2015, form the foundation of our mission to eradicate energy poverty, protect our planet, and ensure greater prosperity for all by 2030.
Affordable and clean energy is goal no. 7, yet these goals do not exist in isolation; they are profoundly interconnected. At SolarBuddy we have organised the SDGs into three areas - People, Planet and Prosperity – to demonstrate how energy poverty is intricately woven into each of the 17 SDGs. Visit our website to learn how these goals are helping us push forward our mission and the missions of those with whom we collaborate.
We thank you for illuminating the lives of children, and having a powerful impact on their futures.
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Nov 23, 2023
Stories from the Field November 2023
By Simon Doble | Founder and Chair
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NEW PARTNERSHIPS WITH INSPIRATIONAL STUDENTS ILLUMINATES FUTURES IN SOUTH SUDAN
We’re so thrilled to announce two new partnerships in South Sudan with organisations set up by students for students.
Edupower Youth Foundation, based in Juba, South Sudan was formed by ten African students in 2021 and is dedicated to ‘empowering youth and fostering a brighter future’. Enhancing access to education and improving job creation through entrepreneurial skills training, Edupower Youth Foundation hopes to create positive societal changes for young people in the region, particularly underprivileged youth. The organisation requested 50 lights and were blown away to hear a shipment of 250 is on its way!
Community Access for Sustainable Empowerment (CASE) was set up by Garang Buk Buk, a former child soldier. After finishing education, he worked to save up to study in Kenya and before leaving he bought one solar light for his family. After visiting from Kenya and observing crowds of children huddled under the one light to read and study, he began to bring books back from Kenya, made a shelter around the light and thus created his first ‘library’. From then on Garang Buk Buk has gone on to set up more and more libraries in South Sudan.
CASE is receiving 500 lights and plans to distribute the majority of these to girls in the communities in which the organisation works. Some of the lights will accompany books into prisons in South Sudan, where many inmates are young people. The recent conflict, poverty and a lack of family support often sees young people reoffend for petty crimes, and education offers one way to empower these young people towards a more hopeful future.
“I hope to provide them the opportunity to read and study so they will be inspired to turn their lives around once released” Garang Buk Buk, CASE
COUNTRY INSIGHTS: South Sudan
In South Sudan only 7.75% of the population have access to electricity (EYF)
According to Edupower Youth Foundation, communal conflicts and warfare over the last 12 years has seen over 800 schools destroyed, resulting in many children missing out on education. In 2022 UNICEF reported that 2.8 million children were out of school.
In 2016 29.1% of the population were living on less than $1 a day (Our World in Data)
In 2019, 11% of all deaths were attributed to indoor air pollution (Our World in Data)
If you are inspired by the positive changes we are bringing to these children's lives and wish to make an additional contribution, your generous donation can make an even bigger difference.
Together, we can create a brighter future for children.
Simon Doble
Founder and Chair
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Juba in South Sudan
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Aug 7, 2023
Gift of Light report August 2023
By Simon Doble | Founder and Global CEO
Bringing Light and Smiles to Children in Cambodia and Papua New Guinea
Hello everyone
In this edition of Stories from the Field, we are thrilled to share some recent photos with you, capturing heartwarming moments from our team's visit to Kah Chhiveang Primary and High school, Prek Toal Primary school and Kompong Brohok Primary school in Cambodia. During this trip, we had the incredible opportunity to distribute SolarBuddy lights to hundreds of enthusiastic children with help from our NGO partner, Prek Toal Moving Ahead.
The trip to these regions was again a huge success while being a reminder of the conditions that children experience everyday, and the profound impact that these new solar solutions will have.
We are extremely grateful to all of our partners and supporters that help us put lights into the hands of these children, and the contagious smiles it brings.
Please take a moment to enjoy these heartwarming snaps
Additionally, we want to share some wonderful news from recent deliveries of lights to the primary schools of Popo and Sepoe in Papua New Guinea. It was quite a journey, but with the support of our NGO partner, PNG Gulf Association of Queensland, these much-needed solar devices were successfully delivered to the children in these regions.
Here are several heartwarming pictures that demonstrate how these lights are making a significant impact. The children can now do their homework and increase their reading even during the darkest hours inside their homes.
Josephine's Story
Josephine is 13 years old and is in grade 5 at school. She lives with her father and two younger siblings. Her mother has sadly passed away. With her mother gone and being the eldest child and female, she carries out all of the family's household chores including preparing breakfast and dinner, and when Josephine is not at school, she takes care of all the lunches too.
Josephine tries to cook a study at the same time while completing other household chores, but this often just is not possible.
The only lighting the family has in their home is a battery powered lamp that requires three batteries, costing 500 Ariary each and lasting just two weeks.
Before receiving her SolarBuddy light and her study, Josephine said "We learn lessons just before dinner and then we go immediately to sleep".
Josephine's father and teachers noted that since receiving her light, her scores at school are continuously improving, and she is more eager to learn now that she can do so without worrying about batteries running out and the cost associated with purchasing new ones.
If you are inspired by the positive changes we are bringing to these children's lives and wish to make an additional contribution, your generous donation can make an even bigger difference.
Together, we can create a brighter future for children who lack safe and reliable sources of lighting.
Thank you
Simon Doble
Founder and Global CEO
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