Zimbabwe Council of Churches, Little Sun Germany and Alight Zimbabwe Trust last week donated solar lanterns to Mathew Rusike Orphanage as part of efforts to improve the conditions of living for the disadvantaged children.
Rev Samuel Sifelani who is the Ecumenical Communications Officer thanked the three organisations for donating the lights to Mathew Rusike Orphanage saying they will help children in their studies considering the erratic power supply in the country.
“For children everywhere, education is the best hope for breaking free from poverty. But without electricity or daylight, they cannot work on their school work in the evenings. Kerosene lamps burn costly fuel, cause eye and lung damage, and pose a fire hazard,” he said.
Mrs Guramhandu who is the Administrator at the Home said the donation had come at the most opportune time when Zimbabwe is in massive load shedding.
“Your gift provides a safe, long-lasting light source for school kids, households, and health clinics in remote areas and refugee camps,” she said.
In most parts of the country where these lanterns are being sold, they have helped improve children’s exam scores as well as their overall health, noted Alight Zimbabwe representative Pardon Simango.
“Children can not only study longer, families can now enjoy more social time together in the evenings,” he said.
Little sun solar lanterns have an environmental benefit by displacing dirtier forms of electricity generation such as coal and natural gas. ”Pardon said Mason Hoffein, the African Business development Manager said at present, approximately 1.2 billion people are living in areas without electricity, which accounts for about 16% of the world population, of which approximately 600 million people are in African countries.
Although many households in these areas without electricity use kerosene lamps for lighting, its smoke poses a health hazard and exposes people to the risk of fire. By utilizing solar lanterns, children will be able to learn safely and women’s groups can engage in activities that create income at night in the community, which will help them improve their lives and help a sustainable society.
Moreover, this reduces the economic burden of fuel purchase costs. In order to contribute to resolving these social issues, Little sun has been promoting corporate social responsibility (corporate citizenship activities) by proactively using the company’s core technologies and products, and as part of this, has been implementing the social entrepreneurship programs across Africa Zimbabwe included and in Zimbabwe this has created employment especially to unemployed youth and women .
This donation according to Alight Zimbabwe is an initiative to contribute to the global goals of ending Poverty, improve Health Care and Welfare, Education and Energy in communities.
Little sun Germany and Alight Zimbabwe have always been strong supporters of renewable energy generally and solar specifically, and they recently donated hundreds of lights to the victims of Cyclone IDAI in Manicaland and Masvingo provinces as well as some in Mutoko.
