Meet Rose, a 12 year old orphaned student who lives with Mama Lucy Odipo at the Little Bees School in Starehe slum, Nairobi, Kenya. Rose talks to Lifeline Energy’s CEO Kristine Pearson about using kerosene and its tragic consequences.
Tackling Energy Poverty
Lifeline Energy Blog / solar powered
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Lifelight for Kenyan Student RoseJune 30, 2010
GlobalGiving to Match Your Donation by 50% on 16 June 2010June 15, 2010
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 Wednesday 16th June 2010, GlobalGiving will be match your gift by 50% !
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 !
June 2, 2010
Adolescent Girls With Lifeline Radios
Written by Chhavi Sharma
Ish… Ish… Ishaka echoed the Mission Suedoise hall full of more than 80 adolescent girls in Bujumbura, all between the ages of 14 and 22. Eager to learn about how to use their solar-powered and wind-up Lifeline radios and how to get the most out of the financial literacy, sexual and reproductive health, and life skills programmes created for them by Radio Publique Africaine, the girls listened enthusiastically and participated actively as I conducted the training.
Despite the interpretation time lag – from French to Kirundi and Swahili – the girls were bursting with questions about the radios and the Guardian Agreements. They were impatient to know why only one person had been selected as the safe-keeper of the radio, and if it was a fair process in the Solidarity Groups, as the group’s savings are kept in a locked box that has three padlocks, held by three different girls. The girls, part of a CARE International’s village savings and loans project in Burundi, were some of the most outspoken, articulate and interactive beneficiaries that I have come across in my training sessions and were a real pleasure to work with.
The Iskaha project aims to educate girls to access safe savings and financial resources, as well as improve life skills and social support systems, to enable them to steer the transitions from adolescence to adulthood.
May 4, 2010
International Tom Hanks Day organiser, Kevin Turk
This year’s International Tom Hanks Day raised $1265! The money raised from the event will go to our Haiti Humanitarian Radio Fund. The project provides wind-up and solar-powered Lifeline radios to children effected by the January 2010 earthquake. Thanks to contributions from donors like Kevin, they will be able to obtain access to basic education and receive ongoing education.
International Tom Hanks Day was founded by Chicago resident Kevin Turk. Kevin started the day by inviting a small group of friends to his house for a Tom Hanks movie marathon. Through word of mouth, the event grew each year.
Inspired by Tom Hank’s commitment to good causes, Kevin decided to make the day a charity event. The fundraiser now takes place Galaway Bay, a bar in Chicago where Kevin sells T-shirts, food and tickets for a raffle to raise money.
Kevin already has big ideas for next year, when the event will move to a larger venue.
“This year was a huge success. People were at the event before the doors even opened and they stayed well beyond the event hours.” say Kevin. “We are busting at the seems in our current venue, so next year we should be moving up to a larger space with a lot more activities. Thanks to Tom Hanks for all the support.”
For more information, please visit the International Tom Hanks Day website. Lifeline Energy would like to thank Kevin Turk – we look forward to the next fundraiser!
March 23, 2010
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.
March 15, 2010
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 !
February 3, 2010
Call to Action – help us get thousands of Haitian children back to school – NOW
We are proud to announce an innovative and cost effective programme to get Haitian children quickly back on an educational track following the January earthquake. Reports from Haiti are saying that children could face months or even years without education, making our project all the more important to get rapidly off the ground.
The initiative is a joint venture with leading radio education provider Education Development Center (EDC) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) – both organizations have extensive experience and an outstanding track record of working in Haiti.
The project ensures vulnerable children obtain a solid basic education, via Ministry of Education-supported interactive radio instruction using Lifeline radios. The broadcasts provide lessons in math and Creole as well as vital life skills lessons on topics such as water and hygiene.
In addition, EDC will provide the content and instruction for an early childhood education programme that caregivers and children can follow together. NDI will work with its broad network of Haitian community action committees to identify children, including orphans, whose schools have been destroyed and also distribute our Lifeline radios. Furthermore, broadcasts will be designed to incorporate post-trauma programming and provide psychosocial support to quake survivors.
Immediately after the earthquake, our US ambassador, Mr Tom Hanks kick-started our fundraising campaign. More than 1,000 Freeplay wind-up and solar-powered Lifeline radios have been committed. However, we need to deploy a further 2,000 to successfully implement this project, which will reach up to 100,000 children.
Radio is Haiti’s most popular form of media as electricity rates are low and batteries are expensive and hard to come by, especially in rural areas. Lifeline radios solve the problem of access. Let’s also remember that the radios will help with early warnings for the hurricane season.
The most recent UN reports confirm that all schools in western Port-au-Prince have been destroyed as well as 40% of schools in the southern part of the city – leaving thousands of children without access to education in a country where 47% of the population are illiterate.
“We have identified the most effective placement of our Lifeline radios for the rebuilding effort in Haiti. They’re robustly engineered for large group listening,” said Lifeline Energy CEO Kristine Pearson. “Thousands of children, including those newly orphaned and those who cannot attend formal school, will receive essential lessons even under the most basic of conditions. We cannot allow more time to be lost – education is the key to mitigating poverty in their lifetimes.”
We are ready to launch this project and we need your help to reach our goal. The cost of a delivered Lifeline radio is $65.00/£38.00 however any amount will be appreciated. This equals a few cents per child.
Make your donation by visiting our website:
http://www.lifelineenergy.org/haitiearthquakefund.html
January 15, 2010
Children at MaAfrika Tikkun community centre receive Lifelights
‘Good afternoon everyone, how are you today?’ said Kristine Pearson in a cheerful voice. I smiled nervously as I took out my newly purchased notebook. I had been looking forward to this visit for a while. It was the first time I was to make a trip into the field under the guidance of Kristine, my mentor who is the CEO of Lifeline Energy, as an aspiring researcher.
Our field site was a new MaAfrika Tikkun community centre in Diepsloot, a township settlement which sits on the edge of one of Johannesburg’s most up-market suburbs, Dainfern. Diepsloot is home to roughly 150, 000 people, most of who live in two by three meter shacks constructed from pretty much any material one can lay his or her hands on. Such materials include wood, plastic, cardboard and scrap metal. HIV/AIDS, high unemployment, food insecurity, recurrent xenophobia and persistent crime are endemic issues in settlements such as Diepsloot. MaAfrika Tikkun is a NGO which is committed to care for vulnerable children in townships in a compassionate manner that is sustainable over time.
I visited numerous informal settlements in my home country Kenya however I was embarrassed at my naivety when I visited MaAfrika Tikkun, for having never considered the importance of clean lighting. Each girl and boy in the group we visited was susceptible to contracting ailments which affect their eyes and lungs. Such children are forced to use kerosene and candles as their homes lack electricity. I researched kerosene and read that children drink it, as they mistake it for juice or water.
This fact made my nerve twitch even faster when I heard, Tshepo, 12, said that he watched his two year-old sister drink kerosene, which subsequently led to her death. Tsepho’s story makes me question the limited attention paid by governments towards the use of unsafe household fuel. In addition, the children in the group were afraid of being kidnapped or ‘stolen’ as one of the girls, Mercy, expressed. Using candles and kerosene makes it difficult for normal activities such as completing homework using the toilet, and visiting friends after the sun sets. Even though the children faced hardships in their everyday lives, each appeared to have the will to progress, a quality that made me respect all 18 children even more deeply.
My afternoon in Diepsloot made me realise the importance of distributing aid in a locally sensitive, respectful, yet effective manner. Attaining access to clean, safe and sustainable energy has the ability to plant a permanent smile on the faces of those who are not accustomed to having access to the resource. I was dually humbled and injected with hope at seeing each child engage in an astoundingly simple winding activity, and create their own light- a true Harry Potter moment.
My sincere appreciation goes to Kristine Pearson and Chhavi Sharma who over the last six months have taken me under their wings, helped to train and encouraged me to understand the broader vision of Lifeline Energy.
*Aalyia Sadruddin is a Researcher for Lifeline Energy.
December 8, 2009
The most rewarding aspect of my job is talking to and getting to understand those Lifeline Energy serves. Out of the more than 250 young people we met, all study to candles, either individually or in pairs and the study ethic is strong. This is also an area with an astonishingly high crime rate, including robbery, rape and murder. To a child, every one was afraid to venture out at night. They said that the Lifelights would help them to feel more secure, especially when they had to venture to their outside pit latrines after dark.
There were many young people who really impressed me despite the loss of their parents and the poverty in which they live.
Zanele, 17, high school student with Lifelight
This amazing young woman, Zanele, 17, is an excellent high school student in a rural village. Her best subject is geography and she hopes to attend university on a bursary. The Gogo, 46, looks after 4 children. Zanele is eldest. After school she washes her uniform, helps cook, garden and clean and then tries to study with the others to one candle.
Xolani, 13 South Africa’s next chess champion with Lifelight
Meet South Africa’s next chess champion, Xolani, 13. This engaging young man who excels at maths and science took up chess in Themalethu Home Based Care’s after school chess programme. Xolani lives with his Gogo (whose pension they live on) and 6 other children and told me all 7 share a candle to study. His grandparents fled the civil war in Mozambique in the 80’s. He speaks Shangani, Swazi and English.
Study Group with the Lifelight
This is a study group in one of the villages I visited that is now using their new Lifelight instead of a candle. They told me that they planned to ‘study their way out of poverty’. Thembalethu, will track academic performance over the next few months to see if studying to clean lighting really does improve grades as the expect that it will.
October 14, 2009
Phil Goodwin with group, listening to Lifeline radio
Written by Phil Goodwin
To properly understand the impact of access to information through radio it’s not enough to simply read the case studies or rationalise how uplifting this technology can be. While it’s certainly logical that radio is a powerful tool and plays a vital role in empowering people in the developing world, there is a new perspective to be gained by hearing peoples stories, seeing how they live, understanding their concerns and their daily challenges.
I was privileged to spend a week in Rwanda among child headed households. I experienced a generation growing up not only in abject poverty – but also as orphans to HIV/AIDS, malaria and a horrendous and brutal genocide and civil war.
To place my own children of the same age as most that I met in this situation acutely highlights the contrast in our lives. Imagine for a moment, the hopes for your children that you might have as a parent – a good education, good health, a sound set of values – even simple basic manners. Imagine then expecting the same your children after being stripped of the privilege of safe, clean running water, access to light in the darkness or food security – and after having lost their parents through disease or mass murder on an unprecedented scale. To be alone and raising siblings under such difficult conditions when you’re 8 or 12 years old is something few of us can barely comprehend.
What I have experienced of these children was remarkable. Thrust into enormous responsibility at very young ages – to care for, feed, clothe and school their siblings, often selflessly. Those that I met, without exception, would make me proud were I their parent. More remarkable is that there is hope among these children where you would expect hopelessness.
I doubt that many will ever enjoy any real privileges, but there’s no doubt that their lives are being made easier by clean, dependable access to information through Lifeline radios. These radios have assisted these children more than I can properly describe. By providing sustainable access to information these children are learning how to sterilize their drinking water and about reproductive health and HIV prevention. They are learning their rights – especially those of women, where rape has been used so commonly as a weapon.
In a country so brutally divided only 15 years ago they are learning about reconciliation – how to live in unity with difference, how to trust others. I was struck as I left a school, being mobbed by a hundred children all keen to practice their English with a Mzungu (foreigner). A young girl asked me where I was from – I said I was South African. I asked her the same question; her reply was powerful and simple, and repeated by the others standing round. “I am a people – we are people”.
*Phil Goodwin is the Executive Director of Lifeline Energy’s for-profit trading arm, Lifeline Technologies Trading Ltd.
