GlobalGiving.org: Make an orphaned child the “Light of Your Life”

Light Eases Fears of Child-Only Family

Kristine Pearson — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 09:35:11 GMT

This child-only family in far northern Rwanda was utterly destitute. There are five children, and the eldest boy, Manuel, 15, was away doing odd-jobs to earn money for food when we arrived with our local partner. Faina, 13, looks after the three smaller children while Manual tries to eke out a living. The neighbours also donate food and clothes to them. Faina tried to go to school, but she has to look after the youngest, whom is five. They were thrilled with their light and couldn't imagine anything like it. Once dark, the only way they have any light is from firewood. Faina said that being alone, they are often afraid at night and the light would ease their fears. She also said that Daniel, 11, goes to school, and he would be able to revise his schoolwork.

Working closely with local partners, Lifeline Energy's lighting programming provides clean energy lights to orphaned families in Rwanda.

Diane and Her Light

Kristine Pearson — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 15:16:53 GMT

This is 21-year old Diane, who has been heading her household since she was 11 and looks after four younger siblings. The family inherited the two roomed mud brick house when their parents were killed in a raid by militia from bordering Congo. The isolated dwelling sits high above Musanze town in northern Rwanda on a steep hill - a 45 minute walk from the tarred road.

Diane was thrilled with her light, as all the family’s nighttime activities were dimly lit by a tin can ‘agakoroboi’ kerosene lamp. She uses the light to help her cook, to wash up after dinner and keep rats away. The younger school children use it to read and revise their homework after the evening meal. In addition, they all use it to walk to neighbors after dark. Previously, Diane told me that she used to count the steps to the walking path, to the toilet and to their neighbors house. Now she flicks on her light to lead the way.

Diane just received a Solarstor solar panel in February that charges cell phones and also has an LED light. To her, a mobile isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity, as she is part of a women’s association that weaves baskets and needs to communicate with the other weavers. Diane will not only save money and time charging her phone, she will also have a light source for nighttime weaving.

Campaign sheds light on plight of child-headed households

Michelle Riley — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 17:27:11 GMT

Dozens of children were there to greet Kristine Pearson as she delivered 28 of Lifeline Energy’s solar-powered lights to orphaned children several miles outside Nyamata town in Rwanda’s Bugesera district. Dressed in their best clothes (although that may mean the only clothes they have), many walked for up to two hours to the distribution session held at a community center and some had received lights in previous distributions.

The children – many of whom have been forced by circumstances to lead their households – said they spent a disproportionate amount of the meager monies on kerosene to be able to see at night. However, with our renewable lights – which were first distributed last year, the money they are now saving from not having to buy fuel goes towards school supplies, food, soap and other necessities. Older children earn money by digging in a neighbor’s field or doing odd jobs.

The children who received lights in December or May already told Kristine that with using kerosene, they found it difficult to study or even go to the toilet after the sun went down – and in Rwanda that is at 06:30 every night given its proximity to the equator. One child told her that before the light, if there was an emergency at night they had to “wait until the day.” They can now handle the problem when it happens.

One recipient of a light, 14-year-old Daria, who lives with her sister and widowed, unemployed mother in a two roomed mud and thatch house, was delighted. She said, “I can now study at night. Normally, by the time I get home from school, fetch water and do other work around the house, I have no time to study. I also won’t have to spit up ‘black’ anymore from the fuel.” Children and adults alike always complain about the the irritation that kerosene causes to the eyes and lungs.

Kristine first traveled to the area in 1999 and says since then massive changes have occurred. She says: “It used to take over two hours to just to get Nyamata town from Kigali, but with the newly tarred road, it only takes 40 minutes.” In addition, all tarred roads have sidewalks for people to walk safely. Even in rural areas, many of the dirt roads have been resurfaced and have gutters for drainage during the rainy season. Nyamata town now has electricity, but the rural areas around it do not, making the lights all the more important.

Bugasera districts was one of the hardest hit during the 1994 genocide. Prior 1994, the population was estimated to be 64,000, afterwards it was 2,000.

Rwandan Ambassador to U.S. Lends Support

Michelle Riley — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:32:36 GMT

Standing in his embassy office in Washington, The Honorable James Kimonyo was smiling broadly, his eyes twinkling with delight as he held a Lifelight for the first time. “Light is needed in every situation in Rwanda,” he told us. “People go to bed at 7:00 p.m. for lack of light!”

The Rwandan Ambassador to the United States praised the many applications of the Lifelight, from helping community health workers administer home-based care at night to preventing fires in grass-thatched homes, but his primary focus was on the children.

“Children breathe in toxic fumes and damage their eyes when they study to kerosene lamps and candles,” he said. Painting a verbal picture of how four or five children typically gather around a tin kerosene wick lamp, Mr. Kimonyo continued: “Their eyes are only centimeters from the flame, and as their lowered heads trap the toxic fumes inside the circle, they inhale all of the smoke as they try to read.”

Forty-nine percent of Rwanda’s population is under 14 years old, and there are an estimated 400,000 orphans in the country. As Ambassador Kimonyo states, “Our children will never become properly educated if they can only read under these unhealthy conditions. They must be able to undertake more than a few hours of night-time reading each week.”

Shaking the hand of Lifeline Energy CEO Kristine Pearson, Ambassador Kimonyo concluded our meeting with his strong support. “Lifeline Energy has worked in Rwanda for more than ten years, and we embrace your forward-thinking efforts to address the energy needs of rural Africans. I fully support your pledge to provide lights to our orphaned children."

The Lifelight will be on display at September’s annual Clinton Global Initiative in New York City, as part of our efforts to raise funds and visibility for our lighting efforts in Rwanda.

_______________________________________________________________ FREEPLAY FOUNDATION IS NOW KNOWN AS LIFELINE ENERGY:

We are delighted to announce that in April, we changed our name to Lifeline Energy.

Operating as Freeplay Foundation has served us well for the past 11 years. However, we feel that our new name better reflects our wider mission to tackle energy poverty head-on for the poorest and most vulnerable.

In addition to including Lifeline radios and Lifelights in projects and programs, in the near future Lifeline Energy will launch a brand new, revolutionary communications tool that we believe will have a profound impact on education and information access in the developing world. We will send you more news about this soon.

We will continue to focus our research on the impact of dangerous kerosene, firewood and candles, and the harmful effects these have on vulnerable women and children. This better equips us to create clean energy products and to advocate approaches that reduce usage of toxic fuels and improve quality of life.

Lifeline Energy remains a 501 (c)(3) registered charity in the USA, a registered charity in the UK and is a Section 18A and 21 non-profit in South Africa. Please visit our redesigned website and learn more about Lifeline Energy; www.lifelineenergy.org. All email addresses that were formerly "@freeplayfoundation.org" now will be "@lifelineenergy.org."

Thank you for your continued support.

Lifelight is Sonia's Guardian Protector

Bhavna Malkani — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:00:52 GMT

Sonia Studying Safely with Lifelight

Sonia, 14 received a wind-up and solar-powered Lifelight thanks to your support. She lives in a small, two-roomed traditional mud and thatch house. Sonia became the head of her household last September when her mother died of TB. Her also father passed away August. Sonia looks after her two year old sister, Salah.

Sonia uses the Lifelight to make schoolwork revisions in her cramped sitting room which is no more than a meter wide and two meters long. Since having her light, Sonia says that she can study inside day or night and feels much safer as she can see predators like spiders and rats when making her bed. She also uses the light to walk safely to her grandmother’s house 100 metres away. Sonia told us that the light has become her ‘guardian protector’.

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FREEPLAY FOUNDATION IS NOW KNOWN AS LIFELINE ENERGY: We are delighted to announce that from April our new name is Lifeline Energy.

Operating as Freeplay Foundation has served us well for the past 11 years, however, we feel that our new name better reflects our wider mission to tackle energy poverty head-on for the poorest and most vulnerable.

Lifeline Energy remains a 501 (c)(3) registered charity in the USA, a registered charity in the UK and is a Section 18A and 21 non-profit in South Africa.Please visit our redesigned website and learn more about Lifeline Energy; www.lifelineenergy.org. All email addresses that were formerly @freeplayfoundation.org will now be @lifelineenergy.org.

Thank you for your continued support.

Helene's new Lifelight!

Bhavna Malkani — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:48:15 GMT

Jean de Dieu and Helene receive their Lifelight

In 1994 genocide, Helene Ntebanganyimana's family fled to a refugee camp in Burundi.

On their return two years later, their father was shot dead in front of them. Five years ago their mother died of AIDS.

For all their tragedy and heartbreak, they feel hopeful for the future.

Since losing both parents, Jean de Dieu, the oldest child in the family has taken on the role of head of household, because he has to look after his two younger sisters, Helene and Charmaine he has never had the opportunity to go to school.

For lighting, the children mainly use lit sticks because they seldom have money for candles or kerosene. In addition, they live two hours from any shop.

In October, the family received a Lifelight. The Lifelight enables them to study, see properly to cook and walk safely to the toilet at night.

Helene uses Lifelight to study and can now study once the sun has gone down.

Jean says the Lifelight ensures everyone is safe at night. They don’t have a mosquito net and he says bugs, ants and wasps bother them at night but now he can see them.

Jean de Dieu and Helene receive their Lifelight

Update from the Field

Bhavna Malkani — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:58:11 GMT

Johnta's toxic tin can he used to light his home

Most of Africa is extremely poorly served with electricity. Much evidence exists stresses the link between poverty and the lack of access to clean, modern energy. The primary source of lighting in sub-Saharan Africa is from firewood, candles and kerosene lamps, which come in a variety of shapes, sizes and materials from a tin can (see image attached) Thanks to your support, the children who have received Lifelights no longer have to use dangerous candles or breathe in harmful kerosene (which is equivalent to smoking one packet of cigarettes)

Children have their days extended. They are now able to study, cook and sew in an environment that does not have electricity.

Orphans are the truly remarkable ones; they are still at school and are doing everything to complete it, despite having to take care of younger siblings. The Lifelights ensure they no longer fight an uphill battle against enormous odds.

One Lifelight was given to Johnta, a young head of household and one of the first to receive a Lifeline radio in 2003. Johnta looks after 4 other siblings. Previously, Johnta used a tin can to light his home. He breathed toxic fumes and found it incredibly hard to complete his homework. Your donation ensures that Johnta can study after dark and also dangers, such as snakes and spiders.

Here are a few other responses from other children who received the Lifelight:

“I was scared before of snakes but with the Lifelight I am not scared any more, I am not scared of thieves.” "People need to be able to see, sit and do things. In the dark, you are all just huddled together and all you can do is go to bed. It also makes you feel safe."

"I love that it enabled me to cook outside even in the evening because before I could not cook at night because we would end up eating cockroaches."

Children feeling safe at night

Links:

Watch how the Lifelights have made a difference to a child.

Christmas Lifelight Distribution

Bhavna Malkani — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:44:52 GMT

William - studying with the Lifelight

The Freeplay Foundation distributed Lifelights before Christmas and they are already made a positive impact in the lives of orphaned families. Children tell us how they feel safer and more secure at night, that they walk to the toilet and neighbors. Those who are using them to study all report improved school grades. Children no longer have to breathe toxic kerosene and worry about the kerosene and candles causing fires and respiratory problems.

We produced a short video which features some of the children who received a Lifelight as a direct result of your generous donations. Given the enormous success of the lights and the positive difference they are making to the daily lives of these children, we aim to dramatically expand our environmental outreach program – please help us make a difference. Provide a safer, cleaner future for these children.

Bruce will be able to see after dark

Links:

Watch how the Lifelights have made a difference to a child.