The Guardian ~ Cheap Solar Lamps Help Villagers Keep Their Health, And Cut Emissions

MwangaBora lamps are distributed to women’s groups to sell on, and they use income generated to set up small businesses Photograph: PR

In Kenya, where less than a quarter of the 45-million population has access to electricity, a solar lamp project is helping rural communities save money on expensive and harmful fuel while reducing carbon emissions. The Use Solar, Save Lives initiative was set up in 2004 by Evans Wadongo, 29, an engineer who experienced the dangerous effects of kerosene lamps growing up in a western Kenyan village. Studying close to an open flame, he was exposed to kerosene smoke, notorious for provoking breathing and vision defects, which left him with permanent eye problems.