Project Report
| Oct 15, 2019
Solar Home Light Kits for Off-grid Liberian Homes
By LeRoy Boikai | President/CEO
Lighting homes with kerosene and flashlights is the largest single expense for villagers in rural Liberia, and the smartest way to control that expense is to stop buying kerosene and batteries. So, Village Improvement Project's new goal is to send 100 home solar kits to help provide years of zero-cost clean renewable energy to families in rural Liberia where children can have bright and safe lighting to study at night and families can extend their activities into the night.
The shift from solar lanterns to solar home kits which are more expensive per unit comes from our monitoring visits and observations about how the solar lanterns are being used by villagers in Liberia. Over the years, individual users of the portable lanterns have not handled well the cable wire connected to the solar panel that charges the lantern. The wire breaks off due to the frequency of charging required to maintain power in the light. Due to the remoteness of some towns and villages, some users are unable to repair the cable and the lithium battery goes dead after a prolonged period without charge.
With a home solar kit, the panel is installed on the roof and permanently connected to the control box or hub which prevents wear-and-tear.
Jul 18, 2019
Update on Solar Lanterns
By Nancy Moore | Board Member, Village Improvement Project
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Village Improvement Project’s Chairman of the Board, Dr. LeRoy Boikai, will be traveling to Liberia next month. While he is there, he will be visiting areas where we have distributed solar lanterns. He will also be meeting with our Liberian volunteer and paid staff who have been actively monitoring the use of lanterns that we have distributed over the past two years.
Some of the previously distributed lanterns are no longer functioning. The team has collected these lanterns and brought them to Monrovia for repair to be returned as soon as the repair is completed. Observation from the field attributes some of the light failures to mishandling and improper charging that have led to dead batteries.
We will continue to educate villagers on effective ways to use their lights so that they remain in service for a much longer time of three to four years. A major goal of this project is to implement a good recycling program so that lights that are no longer in service can be retrieved, repaired and when no longer functioning to be disposed of properly.
VIP is also seeking corporate sponsors to donate lanterns. Our partnership with Panasonic enabled us to donate 300 solar lanterns. Your generous support makes it possible for us to continue pursuing similar grants and partnerships.
Thank you!
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Apr 22, 2019
Solar Lighting to Reduce Infant Mortality
By Nancy Moore | VIP Board Member
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Village Improvement Project is expanding its outreach in Liberia. Thanks to your generous donations we are now able to address vital lighting needs in health centers as well as in schools and village homes.
Our Country Director, Miatta Johnson, recently visited the Tenegar Community Clinic to follow up on the impact of the solar lanterns that you and the VIP community donated. She found out that the health center really needs additional good quality lighting for better health care and reduced mortality for mothers and newborns. Due to high infant mortality, midwives are asked to bring expectant mothers to the clinic to give birth and a lot of deliveries occur at night.
VIP Chairman, Dr. LeRoy Boikai, and the VIP team researched solar lighting solutions for the clinic and found a powerful and reliable solar suitcase from We Care Solar that costs only $2000. In addition to providing good quality light for safer deliveries, the Solar Suitcase can be used to perform fetal monitoring before birth. Health care workers can use the suitcase to charge their cell phones so that they can stay in touch with their supervisors and with doctors in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital.
We Care Solar will teach health care workers how to use and maintain the Solar Suitcase. See a video interview about the clinic here:https://vipinc.org/tenegar-clinic-oic-interview-about-impact-of-solar-lights
We hope to send two Solar Suitcases to Liberia in May. Your donations will make this possible. To support this important work please use this link:https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/solar-lanterns-for-80-village-homes-in-liberia/
Thank you so much.
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