In Malawi, many people heavily rely on home-made koloboyi paraffin lamps for lighting. But paraffin is far more expensive than electric lighting. The cost of useful light energy ($/lumen hour of light) for paraffin is 325 times higher than the inefficient incandescent bulb, is 1625 times higher than compact fluorescent light bulbs. Paraffin requires requires 10% to 25% of a villager’s annual income.
All paraffin lamps are bad
Children playing indoors because there is light
Paraffin lamps cause local and indoor air pollution. The World Bank estimates that 780 million women and children breathing paraffin fumes inhale the equivalent of smoke from 2 packs of cigarettes a day. As a result, two-thirds of adult female lung-cancer victims in developing nations are non-smokers.
Fuel based lighting causes much more fire catastrophes than all forms of electric lighting. Each year, many homes and even entire communities are razed to the ground by fire due to toppled lamps. Paraffin also creates greenhouse gases. Furthermore, light from kerosene lamps is not very bright and is inefficient.
Currently many governments and organizations are working very hard in order to replace kerosene lamps with white LED lighting systems in developing countries. The Centre for Community Organisation and Development (CCODE), an organization that is working in rural Malawi, is one of them.
CCODE selected seven semi-literate women from Chimonjo and Chitala villages in Salima district; Kaphuka village in Dedza district; and Makunganya village in in Zomba district, and sent them to Barefoot College in India, where they were trained as “solar engineers” for six months. They were equipped with skills to install, fabricate and maintain solar home lighting in their villages.
CCODE Director, Siku Nkhoma, says the idea was to make communities especially women to be leaders in project implementation at community level and ensure sustainability as the skills will be available at community level beyond the project’s life span. She further points out that women, instead of men, were selected as the community believed that once trained, women will be able to remain in the village whilst men are most likely to migrate into the city.
After coming back from India, the women carried out the following tasks:
- They installed 316 standalone household solar energy systems in village households in the four villages; they continue offering technical support to these households.
- They facilitated the establishment and construction of four rural electronic workshops, one in each of the four villages. These workshops were also installed with standalone solar- energy systems
- They established village based Fund in each of the four villages for the maintenance of the solar energy systems.
Community members pay for the service by contributing an equivalent of US1.50 per month, which is used for supporting the women solar engineers as part of their monthly allowances, procurement of solar maintenance equipment, and the management of the electronic workshops. The villagers do not have problems paying this money because it is much less than the amount that they used to spend on paraffin previously.
The installation of solar electricity in these households has contributed greatly to the improvement of people’s livelihoods. The day for most of these households no longer ends at dusk, but like all of us privileged to have electricity, they now have a choice. School-going children are now able to study and do their homework even at night.
Availability of solar electricity has also enabled the households to save money, which they used to spend on buying other sources of lighting e.g. paraffin, candles. The money thus saved will go a long way in enabling the households to access the various other important needs for their households.
The fact that women, who used to be ordinary mothers in the village, are in the forefront of changing their communities shows that gender dynamics have changed in the villages.This will be a source of inspiration for many young Malawian women who are engaging in career paths that traditionally associated with men.
Women going up to mount the solar panels
Women working very hard to light their homes
Women at work as the man looks on
The lights are on
Last but not least, the success of the project in the four villages has stirred a huge demand from neighbouring villages which were not targeted by the project. Lots of people are now coming forward demanding solar electricity.
The challenge is how to deal with this enormous demand. If you are interested in getting involved in this exciting work, please give me a shout and I will connect you with the folks at CCODE.
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Clement, I always say that the future of mankind depends entirely on women. In every less developed country, with Self Help Groups, it has been women who have come to the forefront to get out of poverty and misery. Your story is a classic example and I hope that all the other villages too get solar powered lamps soon.
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I agree with you. Longing to see more and more women empowerment initiatives.
Thank you so much for sharing this enlightening story.
And thank to CCODE who saw the talent and promise of these women and what their contribution would mean to their villages.
.-= Glyn´s last blog ..YouthBuild: Constructing a Brighter Future for Low-Income Teens =-.
Thanks for posting this on your blog.:)
Thanks Clement for this Blog, i will definately send in more photos on this as the project is developing further. As you know the bigger challenge is with cooking so we will be supporting the same villages to make fuel saving (mbaula)stoves so as to reduce the amount of time women spend looking for firewood and increase the amount of time the same firewood lasts once cooking starts. Once again thanks for the highlight.
Looking forward to more developments and I hope this little publicity will bring in more co-workers.
This is great to see women across the globe participating in these challenging environments. Especially the fact that they are helping with installation and even continued technical support afterwords. Way to go!
I’m wondering:
(1) These solar panels are expensive. Who is paying for them?
(2) And what about windmills? Has someone done a study to determine that solar power is a better source of non-renewable than wind power?
As to what William above has said, I don’t think wind power is more reliable in those villages since we are talking about Africa here, with more than 10 hours a day of sunshine and heat.
Those women above have done a great job helping themselves and their villages. I can only hope that more will be able to learn the necessary skills to improve their own lives.
Yes, Jenny, I agree with you.
I asked about windmills because of all the publicity being given to William Kamkwamba and his windmill. His story and his success are, so far, largely personal, whereas–as you say–the stories of these women and their successes are larger, affecting villages.
Yet William Kamkwamba gets the lion’s share of the publicity–he is called Malawi’s “genius” in today’s Nyasa Times–and these women get….
I’m still wondering who pays for the solar panels. My son, an electrician, says they are not cheap!
I am really happy to see such women empowerment activities.Let many more come out with initiatives like this…Kiddos to all those who are involved..
@ William Hayes, Yeah, I know about “the boy who harnessed the wind”… He is an example of self-help. As these women are. I don’t see any major difference between his achievements and the ones made by these women. Except he got a book written about him. I mean, sure he did a great job for his age (the same age as me). But these women also deserve some publicity. About the solar panels, I really don’t know, maybe it’s more lucrative for the villages to have a solar panel attached to each house. If each village had only one… Read more »
I think its great that these women have a chance to grow and prosper their communities. Solar is definitely the way to go for these rural villages.
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It is really strange to see that women are doing very difficult job. It is a good chance to grow
for communities where women are working.
What a great project! Sounds like it will make a real difference to the lives of hundreds of families.
I had no idea that paraffin lamps were so dangerous – but once you realise, it makes sense.
Yes, the solar panels are expensive – but I guess they’re not huge, since there’s probably plenty of sun – and with a bit of luck they’ll have a long lifespan too.
Great post. It’s great to see women in other countries playing an active role in solar power.
I found it very interesting that Barefoot College has been doing this since 1989 and only villages that are inaccessible, remote and non-electrified are considered for their solar training program.
A truly remarkable organization. Thanks for bringing them to our attention.
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Fact that all women trained are from within the community makes technology more sustainable. We need solar practitioners to be based in the rural areas where the technology is being used. Lets get more rural people trained in solar. Men and women
[…] Malawian blogger Clement Nthambazale writes about a Solar Engineers Project which has won Africa’s biggest Rural Electrification Award. Understandably, the awards are the […]
[…] Malawian blogger Clement Nthambazale writes about a Solar Engineers Project which has won Africa’s biggest Rural Electrification Award. Understandably, the awards are the […]
Great story with some great pictures. Women are great at adopting new technologies but it would be nice to see them innovate. I hope the media will tell more of these homegrown stories to help build peoples confidence in themselves.
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Keep up these posts. It is great to read of the great progress being made. Thanks.
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This is truly a great example of women empowerment. I’m just wondering, with all the risks involve, how come men in their village allow them to do so? Are they assisting as well?
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With all the global issues that we have to embrace into our lives and our childrens lives, we should all do our part to help a least a little bit. Why not eliminate your Electrical Bill and Save Thousands a year with Solar Panels for your home, this will be an easy way for you to do your part in helping our planet and save a tonne of money.
I install electricity in peoples homes in the USA and I am constantly amazed at how inefficient the lighting is within new homes! It is like it is a measure of wealth by how much energy you can waste!
I am very proud of these women changing lives and doing it efficiently and sustainable. Now if we would only do that in our “advanced” country.
Wow what a great effort. I really like how they planned for sustainability. That’s one thing that really makes this effort seam effective. I think solar power will be even bigger in the fight against poverty in the future, since solar panels are becoming so much cheaper.
That does seam a little weird though about the women climbing on the roof. Just because you would think the men would rather do that dangerous part.
Very nice article. I especially found it interesting that such an endeavor is being made in an impoverished country.
The U.S. needs to wake up & start such initiatives within our own borders. There are many poor people here as well, albeit living in better conditions?
These women are truly doing an amazing job to help their community.
Very sad. I didn’t even know those stats about breathing paraffin fumes and lung cancer. We know so little about problems people over there have, we just cant relate to them. Tnx for this article Clement, it was a great reading.
One of the serious things is that we should be looking to solar panels for heating as the science is improving and many countries encourage their residents buy giving ‘feed in’ tariffs. The technology improves as their is encouragemnet – then we help people who do not need to be breathing in fumes!
A realy inspiering blogpost. Do you know if there is any thing on youtube about the project?
Please write more about sustainable entrepreourship in Malawi.
Best regards
Bengt aka @havspappan
As of now, there is nothing on Youtube about this project. But I have asked the folks at CCODE to produce some videos and they have assured me that they will do it.
Good, looking forward to that
Regards
Bengt
Solar energy is a big scam in most parts of europe but in a place like africa where it is obviously sunnier than most parts solar, power should be harvested as it is cheap easy to deploy and would provide a major source of both employment and energy to this part of the world.. having women involved is also a major plus.
[…] Nthambazale）は、このプロジェクトがアフリカで最も大きな僻地電化賞（Rural Electrification […]
Interesting post, I’m glad I had a chance to read it. I’m the alternative energy advocate but I never thought of the many uses and impact solar energy could have in Africa. Great to see the women leading the way.
Interesting information given here. Solar energy is best natural resource. And its good to see that women is taking initiative to use Solar power.
I really like this idea of “solar engineers”. It is sad that many of the natural resources in Africa have been sold away by corrupt governments. Harnessing Solar Power for the people is a terrific idea! Thanks, Rob.
This is a perfect example of “…[teaching] a person how to fish….” Because of the exploitation of Africa, it is very inspiring to read about someone giving Africa knowledge and opportunities instead of just food and clothing. With this start, Africa should be on the way back to being self sufficient.
Love to be able to get involved wit the people at CCODE. this needs to be expanded.
316 systems is ASTOUNDING! The story itself is amazing, but it really hit me how bad their conditions are when I saw the pictures. Still, in spire of it all, the children keep a happy face. Very inspiring. Is CCODE still looking for volunteers? What kind of help are they looking for?
This is a good story. The pictures are moving and I agree that the only way to improve many of these peoples lives is to improve the technology they have so to make there lives easier in other ways.
I agree with Gregg, to see those smiles is priceless. No matter what adversity they face they always seem to have a smile on their face.
Thats a great article on indoor solar lights.
And pleased those people can use solar technology!
What a great feel good story. It makes you realise how many things we take for granted.
Solar Power to those women! Best of Luck and I hope you can expand the project!