Lights for Africa has one very simple goal : to provide affordable and high quality solar lights to underprivileged people in Sub-Saharan Africa.  The vast majority of people living in this region do not have access to the electricity grid and their only light source comes from primitive kerosene burners.  Lights for Africa aims to replace these dangerous, polluting, fuel dependent and expensive burners with a robust, environmentally friendly, affordable and safe alternative.

The average kerosene burner (used for 3 hours each night) costs a family $2 per week to run.  Most can’t afford to burn it for longer each night, so very few school children are able to do homework after dark.

By replacing their kerosene burner with our solar alternative, we are

• enabling the family to have as many hours of light as they need and ensuring that their children can use it for school work
• removing the dangers of a naked flame and the health risk of breathing in the fumes
• removing the families reliance on fuel.

Most importantly for the families, we are enabling them to use this $2 saving per week on other important needs – such as food, education and healthcare.

Our solar lights are expected to last for ten years, saving family over $1,000 which they would have otherwise spent on kerosene to power their old burners.  For more info on our lights please click here.

Lights for Africa asks our beneficiaries to contribute half of the price of the solar light (approximately 7 weeks worth of fuel) to ensure that the light is cared for.

Our experience has taught us that simply giving away items such as solar lights and mosquito nets does not always have the desired effect. The beneficiary, having not paid anything for the item, treats it as such and expects another one as soon as this one is lost or damaged.