Follow-up on Solar Lanterns in Aloi Sub County

In December 2008, NACWOLA Lira with support from NACWOLA Uganda received 100 solar lanterns from German Technical Cooperation (GTZ). 20 of these lanterns were distributed in Aloi sub county to help NACWOLA women improve on their lightening system. In January 2010, three members of NACWOLA Lira visited these women in Aloi. The idea was to find out about the benefits and challenges of these lanterns.

Some of the benefits were:

• it is not necessary anymore to buy parafin and matches – hence it saves costs within the entire household
• useful for taking drugs during night
• if family members get sick, there is light to help them
• in case of sickness, you can carry the lamp with you and you can find your way to the hospital
• it limits the danger of houses getting burnt, parafin lamps easily burnt the grassroot houses
• it is very useful when babies are born or very small
• with the lamps, life came back to the house, many had the feeling that there is electricity in their homes
• lamps helped to educate children in the evening hours – made reading possible
• lamps provided for HIV+ women reduced stigma and discrimination
• lamps strenghtened their positive thinking
• it helped the community, since many lanterns were shared
• because HIV+ women were provided with lanterns, other women were encouraged to go for testing
• knowledge transfer which was provided at the training by GTZ was appreciated since even non-educated women now knew how to use these lanterns

Some of the problems/challenges:

• three of 20 lanterns were broken, one right at the beginning and two after 10 months of using
• the lanterns can often only be used for couple of hours
• most lanterns were working for the first 10 months, after this time, they became weak
• some mechanical problems
• suggestion: two of the 20 women should be trained on how to repair and clean the lanterns