A Clean Solar Alternative to Kerosene Lamps, Nepal

Symrang village of Rapti Municipality ward 13 of Chitwan district (central Nepal) is the home of indigenous Chepang people. The village struggles with various development constraints, and no connectivity with national electricity grid is one of them.

After the support of portable solar lights to the villagers, besides powering home, the solar lights have helped in outdoor livelihood activities as well. During sowing and harvesting season, one has to walk for hours in dark while returning back home from early morning to late evening work at field. Earlier, the villagers used to climb steep hills in dark night fearing the rocks and loss of balance in the way.

ECCA is thankful for your support.

Your contribution has helped us support improving the living standard of rural communities.

The solar lamp distributed by ECCA in ward 13, Rapti Municipality, Chitwan district, Nepal is being used by children for their regular studies, which has helped to improve their studies.

Previously, the children had to study using kerosene lamp (as there is no electricity supply in the village from the national electricity grid), which affected their eyes as well as respiratory health (since kerosene lamp emitted black smoke).

As it was difficult for the children to study in the kerosene lamp light, previously, many children did not study at all in the evening, and subsequently, their education quality was low. Now, after the distribution of the solar lamp, education of children has improved.

ECCA is thankful for your support.

ECCA has been developing capacity of women group members living in ward 13, Rapti Municipality, Chitwan district, Nepal. These women group members have now been trained in kitchen garden and solar energy. However, due to remoteness of the village, national electricity grid has not reached there, and hence, they are still using kerosene lamps, which has made daily life difficult for them and their family.  

ECCA distributed solar lamps to these women group members, which has now made their daily life easier and has further motivated them in developing their skills. Before the solar lamp distribution, they were provided basic orientation on how to use the provided solar lamp.

We thank you for your support

As there is no electricity supply in ward 13, Rapti Municipality, Chitwan district, Nepal, ECCA planned to provide solar photovoltaic lamps in a phase-wise manner. As per the plan, in the first phase, solar photovoltaic lamps were distributed to the active local youths and women group representative. The lamp has benefited them and their family in their daily lives and more importantly during their late night travel or preparation while conducting various programs in the villages. Basic level sensitization was done by ECCA regarding the use of the provided solar photovoltaic lamps.

They are thankful for reducing health hazards due to the replacement of kerosene lamps with solar lamps. 

ECCA is thankful for your support.

Your contribution will help us support improving the living standard of rural communities.

(Note: Though the below write-up is not directly related with solar lamp, it is being posted here as well (in addition to our project page http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/safe-water-for-healthy-nepal/) as it is relevant with the present context of COVID-19).

The Covid-19 outbreak has left many people more alone than they’ve been in a long time, or ever. Some are responding by involving in cozy domesticity; steaming momos, reading books, sketching, writing and what not? Besides all the coziness, the satisfaction provided by social media is an extravaganza! And why not? Influence goes both ways - isolation drives social media use and vice versa. And I couldn't be any further! 

While doing some official works, I steal enough time to scroll the screen of my phone flooded with information related to preventing the pandemic spreading even more. Among all the information, hand washing and sanitation related things grab my attention with WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) being one of my working sectors. Just to mention a few, famous national-international portals, FM radios, celebrities and their kids, tiktok dance challenge, they all are doing their part for teaching a proper hand washing technique. To level up, we can also go through the videos of animals washing their paws! 

I feel so connected with all of these that eventually I start looking back to my working sites – the villages very far away from Kathmandu - and the people over there. Those would be hard places to get rid of the coronavirus once it hits there. I wish I could work with them to assess their exposure more during this emergency. But somewhere in my heart, I feel that like always, they are doing their best in their individual level for personal hygiene as they have come a long way till date.

Being a part of numerous Children Camps, WASH Trainings/Orientations and Interaction Programs organized by ECCA from early days, the child club and women group members committed themselves wholeheartedly in their personal improvement since then. As a result, these days they themselves are a good practitioner of all seven steps of hand washing. It's so admirable to go back on how they helped others practice good handwashing habits in their school, home and community. I believe those big hoarding boards with WASH messages placed by ECCA in the communities are alarming the community people to wash their hands more frequently. I hope the chlorine solution (branded as WATASOL) made by the child clubs are working out as a good disinfectant in their home and community. 

While counting on every lockdown day, I look forward to seeing the students return back to normal school days soon and continuing dancing on hand washing song in their assembly! May the challenges posed by this time of fear and uncertainty in our lives and futures of our families, communities, countries, and the wider world go away soon.