June 2009 Archives

The demand for our locally produced microsolar products in Tanzania is huge. In fact, we can hardly keep up with it. A few days ago, three vendors came to see us and bought 50 units in cash. Three days later they had sold 30 of them!

It is especially our 'Microsolar Home Kits' that are in such high demand here. Last week, we went to visit a school with twelve units and the teachers bought ten of them. People love these kits because they give them access to portable electricity and light at a very low price. We get so much good feedback on the effect these kits have on their quality of life.

On my way back with Beatrice, the local administrator and translator, we were stopped by two armed policemen who asked us for a ride. They often do this to avoid taxi fares. Beatrice started talking to them in Swahili and before we dropped them off they had bought the remaining two kits, leaving us empty handed!

Recently I've met a lot of ministers who have given me good feedback on our work. I have also repeatedly been told that the President of Tanzania and his wife are aware of SolarAid's work and are interested in what we are doing. This is hugely encouraging and flattering!

In other news, the 200 solar panels that were donated to us have arrived at the port of Tanzania, so I'm busy dealing with the customs officials to release them. Once this hurdle is overcome, we can start installing them on healthclinics.

These solar panels are bigger and more expensive, but from what I've seen in similar projects, they make a huge difference in the number of lives saved. We plan to install on 30 clinics in the next couple of years.

Just the other day, a woman came into a clinic severely injured and because the facility had a solar panel and was able to store refrigirated blood, her life was saved with a transfusion. This woman would not be alive now were it not for the panel on the roof.

This story demonstrates how solar can literally be a life saver. Please help in our mission of getting solar onto more clinics in rural Tanzania and support SolarAid today.

Thank you,
Mason