Solar lighting

This is your chance to start a revolution, a revolution in learning for Darfur refugees and villagers in eastern Chad.

Book Wish Foundation, with your help, will provide solar lighting for schools in the Bredjing, Treguine, and Gaga refugee camps and the 11 nearby Chadian villages of Barde, Bakhita, Bredjing, Faguire, Fodji, Kadjala, Kinouane, Koundoulba, Lira, Mobouguine, and Rataye. The lighting will:

• illuminate literacy classes for 2,500 students in the villages
• help school teachers at 13 refugee schools grade papers and prepare lessons in the evening
• enable self-study groups of school teachers to meet after dark, to improve their subject knowledge and teaching skill (the teachers are themselves refugees)
• improve night-time English classes for 300 Darfuris in Treguine camp, which meet in very basic homes in groups of up to 30

There are 20,000 students in the refugee camps, so the number of people who can benefit from the aid to school teachers is very large, about 1/3 of all the refugees in these camps.

Anne Goddard, our implementing partner CORD's education program manager in Chad, has said, "If there were to be lighting in the schools in the villages and the camps it will revolutionise learning — the sky's the limit."

Our goal is to provide 5 lights suitable for group reading in each of the 11 villages, and illuminate 5 classrooms in each of 13 schools in the refugee camps, for a total of at least 120 lights. To be suitable for group reading, the light must be bright and uniform over a wide reading area, ruling out commonly available solar flashlights and lanterns. There are several practical challenges in this environment, and the equipment must meet the following criteria in order for a full-scale deployment to be successful:

• able to withstand the harsh desert climate — especially, high temperatures and blowing sand
• simple enough to be used by a population with an extremely low exposure to technology
• tolerant of improper manual handling
• easily portable
• low-replacement cost for unsecured components

Update (6/29/09): Field testing of a variety of lights is under way in Chad. For details, including video, click here.

Once a winner of the testing has been determined, this page will be updated with the chosen light and its actual cost. Our current estimate is that each classroom will cost about $200-$300 to illuminate, including all system components (but exclusive of shipping, which depends significantly on the weight of the chosen light).

You can show your support for this project now, by making a donation earmarked for solar lighting. Or, you can subscribe to our mailing list to stay informed about test results and the final per-unit costs.

Please help us spread the word to solar enthusiasts. Solar is the ideal solution for these lighting needs, because of the many daily hours of bright sunlight in this area and the inaccessibility of electricity. Perhaps, you know someone who has invested in a large home solar system, and would like to spread the benefits of solar power, at a tiny fraction of the cost, to these very needy people. Perhaps, you know a green-living company that would like to sponsor the entire project, or all the lighting for a particular refugee camp. Please contact us, if you can help make this dream a reality.