Posted on 15 October 2012

View all three films here.

Today marks a the beginning of three filmed interviews with SunnyMoney Malawi Field Coordinator, Brave Mhonie. Brave is on Twitter too so simply drop him a tweet and ask a question at any time about his work. It’s a great opportunity to engage with someone who has experienced first-hand both the success of solar and the frustration of life without light.

Back in March, Brave dropped by the London office to catch up with the team here. He’d just returned from New York where he was a judge at the Hult Global Case Challenge finals and was stopping off in the UK for all the usual meetings and catch ups, before heading home to Mzuzu. Luckily he agreed to meet Filmmaker Brad Bell and me for an interview.

We met in Café Candid, a small place only a couple of minutes’ walk from Angel tube in London. We chatted for a while about all things solar but soon decided to get the camera rolling – there was so much to talk about and we only had a couple of hours! What followed was a conversation covering everything from headmasters spending a fortune on kerosene to fuel lanterns that hang from classroom ceilings; to parents lighting branches on fire as torches for the house; and what it’s like to run several hours each week to collect kerosene from the market because walking takes too long.

And who better to tell our solar story? Brave is a fully fledged member of the Malawi team having worked for us since 2008. Going back further though and he was a volunteer; before that a customer! Now, he leads the field team on strategy implementation, directly helping the Malawi staff to sell over 6,000 solar lights this year under incredibly difficult circumstances, due to an awful fuel shortage in the country. The shortage means off-grid families are using less kerosene, but as a result they are buying more candles or simply burning wood in the home for light. We need them to learn about our solar alternative.

I hope Brave’s passion shines through these films. Rather than make one film we thought with all the material we could make three. So there you go, enjoy your week with Brave.

Ask Brave a question @BraveMhonie

Keep up to date with the conversation #WeekWithBrave

Ralph

Follow me on Twitter: @ralph_greenland

PS - remember to visit our movies page for even more stories.