Lighting up education

On our second day in Kenya one of our hosts, Vincenzo, took us to a school in Tinderet. It was a three hour drive into the country on roads that will mean I will never complain about Edinburgh potholes ever again. The school is in the middle of a tea plantation and schools are one of Sunny Money's main channels. They tend to work through the headmaster and offer special school prices. We went to this particular school as this was one of the trials of a new product but more of that later. 

Even though it was still the school holidays we were greeted by about 40 children who were all polite and stood up when we entered the classroom. The headmaster led a question session with both the children and some of their parents. About half of the kids said they were using solar lights and assured me that this allowed them to study longer at home. I said that they were just saying this to impress the headmaster but the research that Solar Aid and Sunny Money have done says that on average children spend an hour a day longer studying with solar compared to kerosene. The headmaster also stressed the safety aspects telling us that lots of small children get burned from kerosene lamps. After the formal session the children clustered around us making us feel like minor celebrities. They seem fascinated by our long, straight hair and my ipad. 

Back to the new product. Mobile phones have completely changed the face of African communications and solar has the potential to do the same for energy. The new product links the two. Sunny Money have launched a pay as you go solar lamp that is available for a down payment of around $2. The light is fitted with a timer that is unlocked by a smart phone app held by the headmaster and after five payments then the light is completely free to use. The payments have been set to be about the same as the weekly kerosene bill. It was clear that this product was very popular. Vincent, the headmaster, said he had already sold 72 lights in two months and 54 of them had been fully paid for. Some of the parents were already asking for more and bigger lights. 

It was great to see how solar lighting was making a real difference to the lives of children in some of the poorest parts of the world. In fact, I will leave the last word to Vincent, the headmaster who said "whoever thought of these solar lights obviously cares about ordinary Kenyans".

Sent from my iPad