A granny enjoys reading a Bible with her new Lifelight
Written by Kristine Pearson
I remember in 1995 when the first tin shacks went up in the Joe Slovo informal settlement not far from what is now Johannesburg University (formerly Rand Afrikaans University). It made headlines as local residents fought against a ‘squatter camp’ going up in the empty field in their neighbourhood. Fifteen years and 20,000 residents later, Joe Slovo remains unelectrified with limited services, although it does have running tap water and toilets.
We brightened the lives of 40 mainly granny-headed families who use candles or paraffin (kerosene) wick lamps for lighting with Lifelights. They all feel nervous and stressed about the use of candles and paraffin because of how easily they can tip over and start fires. The cramped makeshift houses are tight next to one another like rabbit warren, with very narrow walkways. The walkways in most parts are covered by carpet under-felt. This is the first time I’ve seen this in an informal settlement. Fires are common resulting in dire consequences, sweeping through the settlement at terrifying speed.
Project Manager Chhavi Sharma with Assistant Research Aaliya Sadruddin
Our partner organisation, Children of Fire, which does heroic work with victims of fire, identified the beneficiary families and we conducted a training session at a school outside Joe Slovo’s perimeter. Accompanied by our project manager, Chhavi Sharma and intern researcher Aalyia Sadruddin, after the distribution we visited with a couple of the grannies in their homes.
This is is 62-year-old granny and former domestic worker, Eveline, who is one of Joe Slovos residents who lives in the centre of the settlement. She’s seen many fires over the years and was very pleased to have a Lifelight.
The 7th annual fundraiser dedicated to Tom Hanks is here! The event promises to be bigger and better than ever. Films featuring Tom will be screened throughout the day.
Organiser, Kevin Turk, has also teamed up with ILikeFun – the official T-shirt company of Tom Hanks Day. ILikeFun have produced several spectacular International Tom Hanks Day designs, which are available to buy from the ILikeFun website.
Money raised from T-shirt sales and the event will go to our Haiti Humanitarian Radio Fund. The project will provide wind-up and solar-powered Lifeline radios to children that were effected by the January 2010 earthquake. Children will be able to obtain access to basic education and will ensure Haitian children receive ongoing education.
The 7th International Tom Hanks Day will be at Galaway Bay at 500 W. Diversy, Chicago, IL, Saturday 27 March at 1:00 pm. If you cannot make it to Chicago for the big event, no problem! Donations to Lifeline Energy can be made on our website or you can purchase an International Tom Hanks day T-shirts from ILikeFun.net.
For more information, please visit the International Tom Hanks Day website.
CEO of Lifeline Energy, Kristine Pearson, will be presenting at ThemThere and Thequietriot.com‘s event on Thursday 25 March 2010.
The event will consist of four presentations and cover four of the seven key topics of thequietriot.com: food, materials, energy, industry, people, spaces and communities. Each presentation will showcase the innovation and business opportunities arising from energy and resource efficiency, renewable energy, emerging technologies as well as design.
Other speakers at the event will be from a cross section of industry members, small and large companies and designers.
The event takes place at the Walter Knoll, 42 Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6EA
For more information about the event, please visit Thequietriot.com
We wanted to let you know about an exciting opportunity that we are participating in, through GlobalGiving. When a donation is made to any of our projects on Tuesday 16th March 2010, GlobalGiving will be match your gift by 30% !
And if we raise the most money or get the most donations, we will be eligible for bonus prize.
We need to act fast! By selecting one of our projects, such as Haiti Humanitarian Radio Relief Fund your donation will ensure Haitian children will quickly get back on an educational track with our wind-up and solar-powered Lifeline radios.
Please help us make the most of it of this opportunity – it’s an easy way to get more impact from your donation dollars right now !
Make your donation go further today.
Written by Kristine Pearson
Sonia studying with her Lifelight
Location: Near Nyamata town, Rwanda
I first met Sonia in October 2009 when she received her Lifelight. She was shy for her age and wore her best Sunday yellow church dress with frills and lace to the distribution session held at a local community hall. Just barely 14, she became the head of her household last September when her mother died of TB. Her father died in August. Sonia looks after her two year old sister, Salah, who clung tightly to Sonia’s leg. Their grandmother, birthed 16 of her own children, is frail but has taken in three other orphaned grandchildren. The Grandmother also looks after Salah during the day, enabling Sonia to remain in school.
We arrived unannounced at Sonia’s small, two-roomed traditional mud and thatch house in the late afternoon just as the black sky threatened a downpour. She was using her Lifelight to make schoolwork revisions in her cramped sitting room which is no more than a metre wide and two metres 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 me that her light has become her ‘guardian protector’.
Written by Kristine Pearson
Location: Near Nyamata town, Rwanda
For nearly three years, I’ve been focusing on understanding the use of firewood, kerosene and candles by vulnerable children and women in sub-Saharan Africa. I often write and speak about how kerosene, outside South Africa, is largely unregulated in sub-Saharan Africa and of its dangers. The havoc it wreaks on people’s lives in their quest to have light after dark is not widely reported.
This week my colleague, Phil Goodwin, and I distributed Lifelights to child-heads of households between the ages of 13 and 20 and asked them my usual list of questions. But I heard something that I have never heard before. Alarmingly, they are buying diesel fuel instead of kerosene or mixing the two together because it is cheaper. Diesel is even more toxic and flammable than kerosene and this new development is very worrying. The children told us that they dig in neighbour’s fields to earn money, and the three things that they buy are lighting fuel (kerosene or diesel) by the tablespoon, salt and soap. When they have no money, they use firewood for light.
Each of the 12 children were thrilled to receive their light, saying that this light would free them from the dangers of liquid fuel and give them safe light in which cook, wash, study and walk after dark. Being able to make their bed and to see bugs, snakes or rats before getting into it, as they generally sleep on the ground, gave them comfort and they broke out into spontaneous applause.
