the soular backpack: increasing education in east africa - solar street lamp
A few days ago, a friend of mine asked me to tell him my first memory of Kikambala village.
After a hard pick, one night in May 1996, when I was four years old, I had already gone to bed and made a bag of food and stationery, bring some of my toys to the children of Kikambala Elementary School.
I remember going to school the next day and handing them out.
I have understood some simple things over the years and I take it for granted ---
Three meals a day-
This is far from reality for most of my neighbors.
As I visited the school more and more, I realized that of these 2,100 children, only 10 can afford lunch every day.
I hate poverty.
I cannot understand how it exists because I have witnessed with my own eyes how it has deprived human dignity, how the younger girl who lives beside me is forced into prostitution by her parents to survive.
Throughout my childhood, I tried to do my part to provide people with tools to alleviate poverty through feeding programs
Create jewelry for social enterprises and carry out educational activities.
But I often struggle with the fact that I can't change everything at once.
For example, if I make a plan in the health field, the education of a child is ignored, so I always hope that I can find a way to solve some problems.
Think about innovative solutions to many problems that affect more than a billion people, and I haven't slept for two years.
Fast forward until June 2014, I am still delaying even though I should be studying.
It's like a light bulb moment, I think, how can a child use the energy of the sun to learn to spend the night on the way to school every day?
The kerosene lamps used today are harmful to children's health and are not sustainable in the environment.
According to the World Bank, 25% of the monthly income is spent on kerosene, and on days when parents can't afford kerosene, children can't do their homework or study before dusk.
In addition, the smoke generated by the kerosene lamp can cause cancer and cause breathing problems, headaches and eye problems.
This has had a significant impact on their performance, which means that many students have not entered secondary schools, thus perpetuating the vicious circle of poverty.
I thought of a solar pen, a mobile library, a truck, solar shoes, and finally the idea of a Soular backpack.
There is a solar panel on the Soular backpack that stores energy in the battery pack connected to it.
Later in the evening, the battery pack is connected to the LED light for the children to learn, complete their homework, and during the exam, do not have to walk for a few hours to the nearest gas station or study under the street light.
The prototype has been tested in Kikambala village and currently crowdfunding activities are being carried out in order to raise sufficient funds to provide 2,000 backpacks to students in this village as a pilot project.
In the future, the cost of these backpacks will be subsidized to the affordable cost of students in Kenya and Africa to make the project as sustainable as possible.
The goal is to save money originally spent on kerosene for secondary education funds.
I also plan to set up micro
To increase employment, Soular backpacks and other solar products will be sold in villages across East Africa.
My goal is that through education people will be given the tools to empower and reduce poverty.
I believe that the power of social commerce is the greatest catalyst for creating sustainable change.