N.G.O. Uses Plastic Water Bottles To Illuminate Kiandutu Homes And ‘Light Up’ The Ghetto Kids.
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| Top Right: Carol (extremely right) and her assistant pose for a pic with Mercy Wangari, one of the beneficiaries of the bottle bulbs. |
During a recent visit to Kiandutu Slums, our team came
across a very rare but interesting innovation that was lighting up the dark
houses in the slum and also the lives of so many ghetto children under a
project ran by one N.G.O. In its mission to help save the lives of children aged
five and below within the slums, ‘Give
A Child Life Kenya’ (GCLK) realised that many homes were under-illuminated even
during the day with few lights or windows. This problem made it very hard for
these children to see anything or do any homework while inside the houses as
they were too dark to even see anything.
Considering that majority of these families could not afford
to install or pay for electricity bill, this group thought of an idea to light
up these homes without relying on electricity. After thorough research, they
bounced into Alfredo Moser’s invention that used plastic bottle filled with
water, jik detergent (bleach) and the principle of refraction to light up these
dark rooms during the day.
Carol Mbugua the country’s Program Manager says
that they came up with the idea of lighting up the houses after visiting
several of their beneficiaries and realised how dark their houses were even
during daytime. She reckons that even though the bulb only lights up the house
during the days, they have realised that its rays can also charge a re-chargeable
torch, thus guaranteeing more light during the night using the now re-charged
torch. To install one bottle bulb only takes about 10-15 minutes so it is never
a tedious job.
“To install the ‘bulb’, a hole is drilled on the mabati
sheets and a coca cola 2-litre plastic bottle filled with crystal clear water
and some bleach is pushed in from below, then glued into that hole, thus
waterproofing it. Even when it rains, the roof never leaks. The bleach is meant
to protect the water against turning green with algae. The cleaner the bottle,
the better. Depending on how strong the sun is, this bulb produces between 40
and 60 watts,” says Carol.
Carol adds that the bulb can last for between two to five
years, functioning like a 55 watt bulb without costing a penny and better
still, it is a zero carbon emitting solar lighting system thus very
environmental friendly. She also says that one cannot get an electric shock
from it, making it a very safe and ideal source of light.
With the high cost of electricity, many homes Kiandutu slums
fall back on candles or kerosene lamps during the day with some daring few hooking
up to electricity lines illegally. Carol says that this new initiative has
therefore gained popularity and many of the slum dwellers are coming up to them
for ‘connection’.
80 year old Esther Nzula is one of the beneficiaries of
these bulbs and who apart from being elderly, is also nursing her ailing
daughter who no longer can be able to get out of the house. She says that they
no longer have difficulties navigating within the house as there is enough
light to brighten the house. Her daughter Elizabeth Kalondu says that she never
knew when it is day or night as the house was so dark throughout.
“I can now tell when it is day and when the night falls. As you
can see, I never get out of the house due to my illness,” says Kalondu.
Mercy Wangari, another beneficiary, has all but praises to
the new innovation. She says that her children used to do their homework outside
the house even during the day as the room was too dark to see anything.
“Since they installed these bulbs into my house, my children
comfortably study inside the house. Everything in the house is quite visible
and there nothing that you cannot do in the house now. I no longer light any
KPLC bulb during the day and therefore I save money that could have otherwise
been used to pay electricity bills. The days when we used to light candles and
lamps are gone and we no longer worry leaving the children behind doing their
homework,” said Wangari.
She says that cases of fires caused by burning candles and
lamps are now on the decrease thanks to the new bulbs being installed to their
houses.
In consultation with the director of the Kiandutu Health
Clinic, they have installed these mabati bulbs in the homes of all families
with TB to reduce the disease incidence. Others targeted for solar bulbs
include children and families with HIV, pregnant mothers, lactating mothers, local
pre-schools and schools.
They have already installed over 1000 bottle lights in
Kiandutu, Matharau, Gacagi Slums in Thika and other informal settlements in
Kenya.
Carol says that the idea behind ‘Give A Child Life’ emanated from the high number of needy children that
were being referred to various children’s homes within the country, a factor
that the N.G.O. found not to be right as they felt that these children needed not
to be separated from their parents. They thought of coming up with an idea
where they could assist the children while they were still under the warmth of
their parents.
“If you look at the
situation in Kiandutu for instance, every 500 metres you walk you meet a malnourished
under 5 year old kid being left alone as their parents go out to seek for casual
jobs. We therefore thought of taking care of the young children as their
parents were out there working,” says Carol.
Through donations
from friends and well-wishers, GCLK feeds the children during the day and also
offer daycare services to the very young. They also pay school fees to the ECDE
pupils within their care.
Currently, they have
about 80 regular kids under their care, a number that sometimes swell up to 200
during school holidays. They are paying school fees for 50 children in the ECDE
level.
They are welcome to
any form of donations in cash and in kind, more so the food donations. To get
in touch with them you can visit their site at www.giveachildlife.org/Mabati-Bulbs.html
or contact Caroline via carombugua@giveachildlife.org
or call their office mobile 0717095972.
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