Solar Health Spreads Hope and Smiles

by Sarah Baird | Dec 6, 2018 | LTBLI news and updates | 0 comments

Last month Let There Be Light International (LTBLI) traveled to Uganda where we met with solar beneficiaries and inspected solar health facilities.

Site Visit Highlights

LTBLI loves heading into the districts to meet with our local solar health partners. In fact, although the journey can be long, we always return invigorated and more committed than ever to our cause. Uganda is an incredibly beautiful country filled with passionate and welcoming people. As an example, we were greeted with boisterous singing and dancing on more than one occasion!

Let There Be Light International in Wakiso with KACCAD and Solar Health Uganda

Visiting Eastern Uganda where we met with new partners, the Sisters of Mary in Salalira

Visiting the offices of CESA-Uganda in Kampala before heading into the field in central Uganda

Pictured above are a few of our primary partners in Uganda including KACCAD and Combined Efforts to Save Uganda (CESA-Uganda).

Solar Health

While in Uganda, we visited 10 rural health clinics. We couldn’t be more proud of our solar projects! For instance, we met with nurses, midwives, doctors and administrators who told us about how access to reliable, safe energy impacts healthcare access and delivery in their communities. In addition to the 8 solar systems installed in 2018, LTBLI’s outreach and educational posters – “Solar Lights Change Lives” – now are displayed at community centers, schools and clinics. Because many adults are not literate, the posters use images to describe and amplify LTBLI’s solar programs.

LTBLI Outreach Educator, GeorgeMike, and Executive Director, Sarah, put up Solar Health posters at local clinics

Board Member, Bridget, and Solar Health Educator, Caroline, conduct site visits in Wakiso District

Director of Health Services in Kyankwanzi District and members of LTBLI and KACCAD

Solar Health Impacts

Rural clinics offer primary and emergency services to hundreds of thousands of people in Uganda. Because the electrical grid does not reach these areas, however, clinics operate for limited hours. They also rely on unsafe and nonrenewable lighting inputs like kerosene and phone flashlights. With solar-electrification, therefore, clinics can remain open longer. More patients can be seen and better health outcomes are predicted.

Gloria safely reading beneath her bed net

Solar helps Teopista extend the hours at her vegetable stand and take care of her children

LTBLI speaking with a solar beneficiary, a single mother battling advanced cancer

Florence in the doorway of her home with her solar light

A family in Uganda with their solar light they use daily with their 10 children

Madilla lives in a remote area with her 10 children who all use their solar light

Solar Beneficiaries

We spent our favorite days visiting solar light beneficiaries. We were greeted with smiles and hugs and saw mothers using their solar lights to care for their babies. Students proudly read to us while using their safe lights. Elders told us that they treasure their connection to the “modern world.”

Together we celebrated the power of love and compassion to overcome obstacles and geography! To donate light, click here.

0 Comments

Lights4Literacy Shines During COVID-19

Guest blog written by Siriman Kiryowa, Solar Health Uganda Field Research Analyst.Lights4Literacy is an innovative solar project in Uganda. It is a collaborative educational program undertaken by Let There Be Light International (LTBLI), Kyosiga Community Christian...

Shine On: Campus Voices – Connor Flynn

Connor Flynn, an Environmental Studies student at The University of Washington, connected with Let There Be Light International while developing his e-commerce clothing brand, Transcendental Dreamer. In an interview with LTBLI Communications Consultant Rachel...

Celebrating Solar on World Energy Day

Let There Be Light International is marking World Energy Day by celebrating the hundreds of thousands of off-grid lives in Uganda, Kenya and Malawi brightened by our innovative solar programming! When LTBLI began working...

My Summer Internship

Written by guest author Annie Lee Inclusive Sustainable Development and Storytelling through Interactive Mapping Tools My name is Annie Lee, and I spent the summer of 2021 working as a Solar Intern for Let There Be Light International (LTBLI). As a rising Senior at...

An Earth Day Message

We all have our own capacities and talents and together we can save our home, the earth.

“Energy Poverty Impacts Every Aspect of People’s Lives”

Rachel, Let There Be Light International's Communications Intern, spoke with Dawn, a member of the Wharton Global Impact Consultants (WGIC) team, about energy poverty and Dawn's work with LTBLI in March 2020. Since early March, when the team of volunteers from the...

Learning in the Time of COVID

Written by guest author Siriman Kiryowa, a Field Research Analyst at Solar Health UgandaThe Global Pandemic and Education in UgandaHere in Uganda, students are suffering from the compounded issues of school closings, lack of access to scholastic materials at home and...

Shining Solar and Empowering Women in Off-Grid Africa

Written by guest author Amanda Ulman, Let There Be Light International InternIn the midst of a pandemic, it’s easy to feel powerless. How can you make a difference in the world when your actions are restricted and everyone is socially distancing? I decided to work...

Join the Wharton Global Impact Consultants in Uganda

March 2020, Kiboga, Uganda We are a team of six University of Pennsylvania Wharton MBA students who traveled to Uganda to work with Let There Be Light International (LTBLI) on a field project this past March as part of Wharton’s Global Impact Consultants (WGIC)....

Solar Shines During the Pandemic

Written by guest author Caroline Mwebeza of Solar Health Uganda and Let There Be Light InternationalThe global COVD-19 pandemic illuminates the issue of energy poverty. Accelerating energy access is critically important to improve health outcomes. In last mile health...