Using Solar Energy for Cooking Fuel in Kenya

Mike Acton and Christine Illanes are students who traveled throughout Africa and visited a number of GlobalGiving projects. On March 20th they visited "Using Solar Energy for Cooking Fuel in Kenya." When asked what they would tell their friends about this project, Mike said: “It's a good project," while Christine said "Great: They are making a difference."

Mike writes:

We visited the office of AfriAfya to test a survey for Global Giving. The office was quite spread out with a few desks. AfriAfya works on various projects including the one posted on Global Giving. We had a fantastic conversation with Sara regarding how the global economic situation is affecting funding for the non-profit sector. Ann is working in the financing section and told us that she decided to work with AfriAfya because she saw how much difference it made when people had access to information that they trusted.

AfriAfya's main goal in all of its projects is to use information and communication technology to improve the health of communities in Kenya We were unable to visit the project's field sites due to our very compressed schedule in Nairobi.

Christine writes:

AfriAfya is a great organization working in Nairobi, Kenya. They are like a mini Global Giving, identifying local/ community based organizations that need support and linking them with expertise and donors. I met with Sara Kinagwi and Anne Njeri, who both told me about the lack of information available to Kenyans and how that impacted their life.

Sara was a doctor originally, but saw that people were unaware of even the most basic healthcare information and were becoming sick through ignorance more than disease. Anne chose to work for AfriAfya because she thinks that information is more important than money since with information people can change their lives and make better choices.