You Delivered Light to 100 Families!
January 2021
You saw the need. You took action to address the problem.
Health & Hope Foundation donors are thoughtful and generous. With your help, the goal to provide 100 families with solar light was met and exceeded. You delivered bright, clean, renewable, and safe solar light to students, households, and women’s workplaces.
Solar lights bring health home.
Through your support, Health & Hope Foundation Programs directly serve over 600 vulnerable women and children in Mwanza, Tanzania. To make the most of the opportunities you bring to their healthcare, education, and economic empowerment, light is needed. At the equator, Tanzania experiences 12 hours of light, then 12 hours of total darkness. Over 85% of the families, we serve live in homes without electricity. Even when power is available it remains limited and erratic. They depend on dangerous and toxic light from homemade kerosene lamps.
Solar lights drive student success.
Your gifts provide vulnerable and impoverished children free education 6 days a week at Tumaini Tutor School. Lack of light was a limiter to the children’s ability to read and study. Students were depending on the dim light from a candle or the smokey and messy light of a kerosene wick.
“My solar is so nice. The same as daylight.” Rosemary, age 12.
“I will never miss that kerosene!” Maranatha, age 16.
“This is a great honor to receive this light. This lamp is important to my future.” Saidi, age 17.
Solar lights mean business.
Health & Hope Foundation Women’s Business Program brings economic opportunity to help break the cycle of poverty for a widow and her family. You help her with business choices, education, microloans, and strength in buying power. To make the most of her business opportunity and keep moving forward she needed light.
“Bright light from my solar lamp attracts more customers. They see my fruit is fresh, my selection is good, my table is clean. My business is increased. This light does not blow out in the wind or make soot on my fruits.”
A solution that is not sustainable is not a solution.
Health & Hope supports the sustainability of the local economy by buying locally whenever possible. Solar lamps for this project were purchased from local Tanzanian vendors. The lifetime “guarantee” of a solar lamp is 1-2 years. Family lamp deliveries are provided by Tumaini Tutor teachers and community leaders with education for care for the lamps together with savings plans to prepare for the lamp’s eventual replacement. The cost of candles and kerosene may consume 15% of a family’s income. The goal is to save these funds, as well as funds saved by charging cell phones on the solar lamp’s USB port, for the purchase of their replacement lamp. Saving is new to many families and will require education and practice. A schedule is set for follow up visits at 6-month intervals to mentor each family regarding their saving plan and progress.
Let there be light!
