Project: Lighting Malawian homes

Another beautiful invention by a man from a remote village in Malawi. This story is about Noel - a local villager from Mhuju in Rumphi District. Noel designed an amazing electric sprayer using used radio cassette motors, battery holders, switches and plastic squash bottles among other components. It really is an amazing product considering the materials it is made of.

According to Noel, he has so far manufactured more than 70 sprayers which he has sold to his customers since 2007. Each sprayer costs K1500.

Brave with Noel and the solar powered crop sprayer. Photo by Fiskani Msutu.

Why the invention?
Noel's motivation was the outbreak of army worms in 2007 which destroyed crops in the fields leading to famine in his community. During that time, the only available sprayers were electric sprayers - which were very expensive and poor farmers in the villages were the major victims. This pained Noel. He decided to make something affordable using locally-available resources that would help his people protect their crops.

The Challenge
After he successfully completed his prototype, he tested it and everything was perfect. But the major problem was that it was powered by dry cell batteries and this was going to cost the farmers (his main customers) much more in order to sustain it. Batteries needed to be replaced frequently.

SolarAid solves the power problem!
Noel heard about SolarAid and managed to visit their office to find out what they do. He carried his electric sprayer in case he found a potential customer on the way. SolarAid staff and volunteers got curious about his strange product and asked him what it was all about. He demonstrated it and new ideas came up. SolarAiders fixed the sprayer to their solar panel and it worked perfectly without batteries.

Noel was jubilant and now he plans to fit his sprayers with solar panels instead of dry cells. In addition to the sprayer, customers will be able to use their solar panels to light their homes, play radios and charge phones. He thinks this new development is going to promote his product and drive sales tremendously.

Noel with Carl, demonstrating the solar powered crop sprayer. Photo by Fiskani Msutu.

Environmentally friendly local pesticides
Noel has gone a step further by experimenting with local herbs to make pesticides. So far, he has managed to successfully produce pesticides from natural herbs. This has deliberately been done to protect the environment from harmful artificial chemicals as well as cutting costs. As climate change campaigners, SolarAid is proud of the use of our micro solar product for this purpose.

Please support this kind of innovativation as a means of fighting poverty. Please support SolarAid today.

Thank you.

Our Solar Coordinator Fiskani Msutu and his wife Elizabeth recently told us their exciting news. They welcomed their son, Alfred, into the world only a few weeks ago and we've just been sent some photographs.

Baby Alfred. Photo by Fiskani Msutu.

Alfred, who is a very happy and healthy little boy, is one the first babies to be born to SolarAid staff since we were founded three years ago.

Alfred with his father Fiskani, Solar Coorinator in Malawi.

Congratulations to Fiskani and Elizabeth from all of us at SolarAid!

At the Thyolo Tea Estate, a Fair Trade Co-operative in Southern Malawi, the largest adult literacy programme in the country has just started up, thanks to light from SolarAid products.

Thyolo Tea Estate. Photo by Katie Bliss

In an area with a very poor adult literacy rate, over 500 people - most of whom have never been able to read or write before - are now enthusiastically attending the Chawani Adult Literacy School. The evening classes held at the estate are lit by SolarAid's Kadzuwa and Muuni micro-solar products.

The classes attract all sorts of people from the surrounding areas. A lot of the participants are women of all ages (women are subject to the highest illiteracy rate in Malawi). There are some ladies as old as 82 years. Estate workers, teenagers and farmers also attend the classes. Regardless of their age or ability all attendees share a lust for learning.

Women at the evening literacy class at Chawani. Photo by Katie Bliss

Many have been deprived of the opportunity to learn until the introduction of SolarAid's micro-solar products. People could not afford to attend classes because the cost of buying the kerosene for the lighting was too high. Unlike kerosene, solar power is affordable and poses no health risks.

Excited women students brief SolarAid's Katie Bliss about their experiences with the micro-solar lights at their school. Photo by Fiskani Msutu

It is thanks to our supporters that these people in Southern Malawi now are enabled to learn and aquire skills that will lift them out of extreme poverty. All this from an affordable, bright and clean light.

If you support this project you will be helping to increase literacy as well as promote gender equality.

Please donate today.
Thank you.

It was a very cold Monday night when we were driving from Thyolo to Zomba via Blantyre. We were to spend a night at Zomba before fulfilling a scheduled meeting with Concern Universal the following day in Balaka. Everything was very fine with us. We had left on our journey for Zomba around 9pm. As we approached Namadzi, we pulled over at a police checkpoint. When the police greeted and asked us where we were going they pointed out that the head lamp was not working and consequently refused us to proceed. They ordered us to park the vehicle on the roadside. We pleaded for mercy but they stood their ground. There was no rest house nearby where we could sleep. We had no idea what went wrong with the headlamp and did not know any auto-electrician within the vicinity who could fix it.

But typical of SolarAiders' creative minds, we had solar panels and Muuni light bulbs in the vehicle. We fixed the Muuni solar light in no time on the vehicle's faulty headlamp and there we were! It worked perfectly, much to the surprise of the police officers who now had no reason to stop us. And our journey continued.

The Muuni light bulb saved us from spending a cold night stranded on the roadside. Who could blame us for this ingenuous improvisation? After all, light is light and it served the purpose with distinction.

SolarAid Malawi's Operations Manager Dave fits the car headlamp with the Muuni light bulb. Photo: Katie Bliss

SolarAid's Muuni light bulb on the right hand headlamp provides brilliant and bright light. Photo: Fiskani Msutu

John Nyirenda's story is a shining example of how your donations make an enormous difference in people's livelihoods; improving their quality of life, saving them precious income which they can use to feed their families. Your support also gives people like John the opportunity to educate and develop themselves economically.

John was one of the first people in Nkhata Bay that bought SolarAid's microsolar light bulbs."I like this design of the Muuni light bulb because it gives enough light. It is very bright. I have never bought paraffin in this house since I started using it. It's very reliable and has helped me save a lot of money on paraffin" he commented on his purchase.

John Nyirenda with a micro solar panel

Recently John became one of our most senior (in age) solar entrepreneurs to join the Kayuzi Micro Solar Business Group. He is in his late sixties. John faced doubt and was challenged by some more youthful trainees due to his age. However, a year on he has out-performed them all, thanks to his determination and ingenuity.

The money John saves from using SolarAid's products in his home and the income from his microsolar business has enabled him to look after his large extended family of twelve, most of whom shell maize for a living. "By helping me set up this microsolar business, SolarAid has directly assisted many people who look up to me for financial and material support" says John.

John Nyirenda and his family

To help more people improve their lives like John, please donate today.

Hello from Malawi!

News here is that we recently ran a focus group with one of our trainee groups from the Chinyolo Youth Club. We wanted to evaluate the success of our micro-solar training programmes and to get feedback from the participants.

The meeting was run by an independent moderator to ensure objectivity.

The focus group we held with Chinyolo Youth Club

A number of interesting findings came out of the meeting...

• The feedback was excellent. Many felt they were now "changed people" due to their new skills and the opportunities that came with them. They boasted that not a single customer has ever returned a product to them due to quality problems!
• Feedback from other groups showed that they too hoped for regular refresher training sessions in marketing and book-keeping.
• One of the difficulties highlighted was that of setting up a business apart from a group, as an individual. This is due to the lack of sufficient capital.
• The biggest sellers are the lightbulbs, followed by the mobile chargers which are often used by their owners for phone-charging businesses in their areas.

Trainees join the scheme in the hope of acquiring new knowledge and skills to develop business opportunities and increase their incomes. Please support our work in helping the trainees to achieve this goal.

Thank you.

More updates from Malawi soon,
Fiskani

The SolarAid team in Malawi will have one man less after the departure of one of the volunteers, Carl van Zand, who has been re-deployed to Argentina to help establish another micro-solar project.

Carl came to Malawi in February 2008 and he almost made it his home due to the warm and cordial relationship he enjoyed with the warm-hearted people of Malawi.

Carl and I in Mzuzu, Malawi

Carl made numerous friends and was much loved by the people in the villages where he frequently went to train local groups in micro-solar assembling and marketing.

Because of his humility and understanding of the African cultures, he had no problem mixing with local people. He respected the people around him and was also eager to learn one or two things from them. No wonder then, when it was announced that he is leaving the country, many people became disappointed. But when a farewell get-together, representatives of our partner groups saluted him for his wonderful work and wished him well in Argentina.

Carl has been a strong pillar of the Malawian project. Without pretence, his departure is regrettable but we take solace in the fact that the local people have absorbed his technical knowledge and are able to apply it practically. For Carl, leaving the Malawi project at this stage is like a dad leaving his baby when it has just started crawling. He came, he worked and he delivered. I hope that one day he will have a chance to come to Malawi again to see the fruits of his contribution. We will miss him very much and we wish him all the best in Argentina.

Earlier this week, I started telling the story of Edess Mhoni. The end is a happy one, thanks to SolarAid.

After receiving a loan, Edess started a business selling dried fish, beans, kerosene and eggs. She would order some of her merchandise- like paraffin- from Mzuzu, a return trip costing K1400 (about £7). This business was not reliable because the supply of paraffin is not guaranteed.

"Sometimes I'd go to Mzuzu to find that the suppliers had run out paraffin. It is frustrating because you end up buying from vendors at an exorbitant price. I, in turn, increased my selling price back home to maintain profit levels which results into the customer paying more and very few of them can afford to buy. It's no longer a lucrative business".

Micro-solar training helps carve the way
When Edess heard that SolarAid would be training entrepreneurs in the area in micro-solar business, she did not hesitate to express her interest to join the bandwagon of micro-solar business trainees.

Edess saw a big opportunity to diversify her business.

"When I saw the micro-solar products, I was convinced that my life would change for the better once I start selling them. The coming of SolarAid in our area is a huge blessing to us. No organisation has ever offered such an opportunity to vulnerable women like me before. I cannot let such an opportunity slip through my fingers".

Increased income, better quality of life
Edess now hopes that the micro-solar business will boost her income levels thereby helping her to buy the much-needed food supplements that will keep her healthy and strong as she continues taking her anti-retrovirals.
"Without doubt, my business will pick up with these micro-solar products that SolarAid will supply to our group. This has just come at the right time when a lot of people need light at night to process their tobacco in readiness for the market. Tobacco farming is very common here. They will provide a ready market for the products. Besides, the solar light will help my own children as well to study at night and do well in school".

Edess is not the only woman in need of this assistance to stand on their own. There are several of them out there. You and I can make the difference by extending our helping hand. Please donate whatever you can afford, so that someone somewhere is assisted just like Edess.

During a micro-solar business training session with the Women Business Groups last week, I met Edess Mhoni, a courageous woman who narrated to me the moving story of her life.

Fiskani Msutu (left) chats with Edess Mhoni

Edess is 40 years old and has four children. She comes from Magoda village near Elangeni in Mtwalo region. Her husband passed away a couple of years ago. She revealed that he died of AIDS related diseases. After her husband's death, she decided to go for voluntary counselling and testing. Edess tested HIV positive. She did not feel ashamed to reveal her HIV status to the public.

"I knew this was not the end of the world so I had to accept the reality and carry on. It would have been a waste of time sympathising with myself instead of planning to do something to help myself and my children".

Determined attitude
This positive attitude is unusual considering the stigma associated with such issues and the society's negative perception of HIV-positive people.

The relatives of Edess's late husband were angry and accused her of promiscuity that led to her contracting the virus, and accused her of killing her husband.

"They said many bad things against me. I could not defend myself. God knows the whole truth. I was cruelly chased from the village and nobody wanted to associate with me anymore. Life became really tough as I had to take care of my four children alone.

I had no choice but to go back to my father's village and settle there. They welcomed me and I have since built my house there in which I live with my children".

Over the past years Edess has been sickly and could not fend for herself or her children. Luckily, she started taking anti-retrovirals and now she feels much better.

A new start
"Since I started taking anti-retrovirals, I feel much stronger and have resumed doing my normal household chores as before. I was told that I should be eating a balanced diet but have problems finding money to buy necessary food supplements

I thought of starting up a small-scale business but had no capital. Luckily, I got accepted to join a women's business group in my village set up by Micro Loan Foundation and managed to get a small loan to start my business".

Read more of Edess's story in my next blog, later this week.
Fiskani

In a dramatic twist of events, things are taking a different path at Ungweru.

Ungweru is a community-based youth organisation. It has a broad range of activities under its umbrella including education, agriculture and environmental issues. The total number of registered members of the organisation is over 50. Some members just come to read at the library while some come to learn computer skills.

When the micro-solar business opportunity was dangled in front of them, some enthusiastic members quickly requested training and have proved to be very hard-working.

Since the first training session back in April last year, the group has evolved into a Micro-solar Assembling and Sales Business Group and has since linked up with money-lending institutions like Finance Cooperative (FINCOOP) for access to business loans.

Most of the members are school-aged children. This makes daily participation in project activities limited as they have to attend classes during the day. Others are school leavers who are full-time. The varying degrees of participation has meant some people are more serious about it, while others have become casual.

Some dedicated members have therefore decided to breakout from the main group and set up their own independent solar group. They have also agreed to open and manage their own assembling shop away from Ungweru, in Luwinga.

Some members of Ungweru, discussing setting up an independent micro-solar business

They have opened a bank account with FINCOOP where sales profits will be deposited. In return, FINCOOP will give them business loans.

Some young ladies are hesitant to join the group apparently, as they reckon the proposed contribution fee is way beyond their means. There is however a proposal that whoever cannot afford to become a shareholder in the business will be offered the chance to become an employee responsible for assembling and selling of solar products.

The revolution has just begun. Or is it the evolution? Any more room for participant within the group? Let us wait and see.

The site at Luwinga market that will be renovated to become a micro-solar shop and assembling centre.