By the time the sun sets over her garden, Evan Chibatabata has already done more than most do in a day.
Evan Violet Chibatabata fills a space with energy with her big laugh, quick wit, and sharp sense of humour. She is engaged, jovial, opinionated, and full of life. Whether she’s tending to her flowers or telling a story, she does it with boldness and joy.
At 69, Evan still lives in the house she grew up in, tucked within the grain barns and semi-green fields of Chikonka Village, in Chongwe District, Zambia. Her yard is immaculate, lovingly maintained, and bursting with greenery — a reflection of her care for her surroundings. “I like to attend to my flowers and plants whenever I am free. I love flowers and plants as they beautify my place and surroundings. It brings me joy to tend to my flowers and plants and seeing them grow.”
Olive Hamasamu and her mother, Evan Chibatabata, stand together under the warm glow of their solar light at home in Chikonka Village, Chongwe District. Photo: SolarAid/Jason J Mulikita
It’s a quiet evening when we visit. The clouds hang low and crickets hum in the background. The distant sound of cowbells mingles with the laughter of children playing nearby. A visitor arrives unexpectedly — a mother with a baby burning with fever, 39.8°C. Olive, Evan’s daughter, quickly steps in to help.
Olive, 45, is not only a farmer and mother — she’s also a community health volunteer, and has been for over seven years. “My motivation to work as a volunteer comes from the passion to help people,” she says. “Working as a community health worker, I am the main bridge between the health facility and the community.” Her home is often an extension of that role — a place where care doesn’t stop after hours.
But it hasn’t always been safe.
“It usually gets very dark at night and so it was difficult to see without proper lighting,” Evan explains. Before solar, she relied on candles and kerosene — tools that brought light, but also danger. “We would have frequent fire accidents in the house. Fortunately, we never had a severe accident that would lead to serious burns or loss of life but just minor fire accidents where some things in the house would catch fire and we would quickly put it out.”
There were other risks too. “Before we got solar lights, we had the danger of snakebites and fortunately none of us had been bitten but we would have incidents of snakes entering the house.” In fact, just recently, she spotted a black mamba slithering through the garden. “I saw it with the solar light,” Evan says.
Samuel Mwakashanga, Margret Mwakashanga, Fred Mwakashanga, Veronica Mwakashanga, Olive Hamasamu, and her mother, Evan Chibatabata, gather together at their home in Chikonka Village, Chongwe District. Photo: SolarAid/Jason J Mulikita
That first night with solar light felt like a turning point. “The first night with a solar light was a great feeling. We were able to cook with enough lighting and didn’t sleep in the dark.” Since then, life has changed in quiet but powerful ways. “We are now able to see clearly at night and life has been made easy and we are saving money which we used to spend on buying candles.”
The shift goes beyond comfort — it’s about resilience. As climate change and drought continue to hit Zambia’s rural areas, the need for affordable, sustainable energy has become urgent. “There have been several changes I have noticed,” Evan says. “The standard of living has gone up and it has become hard to have basic needs… especially rainfall and the frequency of drought which is now happening almost every year.”
Olive has felt it too. After last year’s failed harvest, she had to pause poultry farming and redirect her savings just to buy food. “The drought has really affected our livelihood as farming is our main source of income. We were unable to produce anything last year due to lack of rainfall.”
Yet through all this, they keep going — Evan in her garden, Olive in the clinic or the fields. They sing together in the church choir. They care for their neighbours. They build. And they do it in the light.