Archive for month: June, 2020

ENERGY FOR EMERGENCIES : NDIAO BAMBALY – SENEGAL

About one hour from Kaffrine, reachable through the sunny beaten track that connects the agglomerations of huts of the rural Senegalese provinces, lies the hospital of Ndiao Bambaly, medical center (Poste de santé) located 5 hours from Dakar, which serves 19 Senegalese villages and represents  a key point for many people from Gambia and Casamance.

“A year-long co-planning process”

 

We were at the Ndiao Bambaly hospital for the first time in February 2019 on the occasion of the first Senegalese edition of the Lightforce project, a Corporate Social Volunteering program supported by the French headquarters of the Salesforce company and its European partners.

Accompanied by our local partner “COMI – Cooperation for the World in Development” and by the medical staff of the Presidium, with the team of corporate volunteers of Lightforce, we had the opportunity to see the true hospitals of the Senegalese rural provinces which are actually small structures mainly off -grids or partially connected to the supply of national electricity which, in addition to exposing them to frequent power drops, does not allow carrying out even the simplest actions in safety.

 

“Children are born very often in the light of cell phones, power cuts are harmful for the storage of vaccines and medicines in the refrigerator and the sterilization of medical tools is not always possible.”

 

 

In February 2020, after numerous e-mails and phone calls with the French team of the Lightforce project’s second edition, always accompanied by COMI and the local medical staff, we returned to Ndiao Bambaly and optimized the hospital by installing three home light solutions to illuminate the rooms of the hospital even in the evening and some solar panels on the roof, essential for the permanent and independent activity of the vaccine’s refrigerator and sterilizer.

 

TECHNOLOGIES : MOBILE CHARGER

An hour’s walk on the outward journey, to be repeated on the way back if you are not lucky enough to find a ride on wheels, drive or towed by animal force.

This is the time normally used by the inhabitants of Sikilo, a community in the Kaffrine region, to reach the capital of the same name and to be able to recharge their mobile phones.

Sikilo is located 6km from Kaffrine, from this distance derives the name of the community (literally, “Six kilomètres”), most of the workers of the community spends a good part of the day in town for job reasons; the luckiest ones in nearby Kaffrine, otherwise: Kaolack, Mbour or Dakar.

We accepted the challenge: the goal was to allow free and green access to the recharge of mobile telecommunication devices”

 

Such distance between people and their loved ones requires the use of telecommunications and can find some obstacles on its way, one above all: access to electricity.

Recharging mobile systems is a constant problem in rural communities, so much that most of them are urged to request us to intervene in this field on several occasions.

We accepted the challenge, with the aim of allowing green and free access to recharge of mobile telecommunication devices

From this experience the “Mobile Charger”, multiple solar charging station for mobile phones, was born. This station allows the charging of two devices in parallel, for a total of eight total recharges per day *, in a completely autonomous and green way.

 

“A small gesture for us, two hours of daily life for Sikilo”

 

The workstations are installed in public and accessible spots around the communities, so that they can be freely used and controlled.

Thanks to systems such as the Mobile Charger we have made it possible to enable energy access to the telecommunications service: a small gesture for us, two hours of daily life for Sikilo.

 

* number of top-ups referring to the latest generation smartphones, less “energy-efficient” phones allow a greater number of top-ups during the day.

Technologies : Lightbox

When we talk about rural communities, images of small, simple and isolated houses surrounded by nature where few human beings live on the products of the ground immediately take over our mind. An almost idyllic, romantic image, where peace and tranquility are marked by the rhythms of nature. Well, rurality is certainly all these things. But rurality is also cold, heat, wind, rain, wild animals, famines, calamities that must be faced on daily basis. Let’s give an example. Let’s imagine ourselves surrounded by a sandy desert, having to face 45 degrees in the shade for nine consecutive months until the rains arrive. After that, let’s imagine three months of incessant rain, which transforms the sandy streets into brown muddy rivers, the clay floors of the houses completely soaked. All of this without access to any form of electricity, which means no light except from kerosene lamps, no air conditioners or heating. No fridge or phone.

 This is the reality of Sikilo, in the Senegalese province of Kaffrine, and it is just one of the numerous completely off-grid rural villages Liter Of Light Italia has been operating since 2015 with.

 

These on-field interventions have led our technicians to question themselves on a lighting system capable of withstanding such extreme conditions. After several years of fieldwork, tests and confrontations with the local population, Liter Of Light Italia has developed a technology that is up to par: the “LIGHTBOX” portable lamp.

Made up of a hermetically sealed ABS plastic box, the lamp allows the recharge with solar energy via a watertight USB input. A 1.5 Watt LED light develops approximately 60 Lumens of luminous energy for 8 hours of continuous use. The LIGHTBOX is designed to withstand shocks and prevent dust from entering and damaging the circuit, while the lamp casing remains inspectable and repairable. The lamp has excellent water resistance, performing even during bad weather.

In other words, the LIGHTBOX is the most essential and resistant liter of light system worldwide.

 

It is possible to decline the LIGHTBOX for different uses: for example, fixing it to the roof for lighting in a closed environment, or tied to a belt or to means of transport to illuminate a dark road. The LIGHTBOX system provides a charging station which can supply up to 5 lamps simultaneously thanks to a 10 Watts solar panel. Just like the lamp, the charging station is also impactproof, dustproof and waterproof and can be inspected and repaired if necessary, according to the OPEN SOURCE approach of Liter Of Light.

If on the one hand the technical aspects show its potential, what really makes the LIGHTBOX an innovative solution, as well as the other solutions of Liter Of Light, does not reside excessively in technology and design, but in the process thanks to which we have reached to the LIGHTBOX. A process that sees northern and southern hemispheres united, working together to achieve a common result. A solution focused on the human being and his resilience, sustainable in the long run, which responds to specific needs of the context but which at the same time is accepted and used by the rural community, following the ideals of sustainability and dignity of life.

A solution designed by and with the local population, to create real impact and improve the quality of life.

OUR NETWORK

In his spare time, a mechanic spends his spare time “inventing” solutions to make everyday home life easier. Nothing sophisticated, something simple reusing materials found here and there. Among others, one invention stands out for its simplicity and usefulness. The mechanic drilled a hole through the tin roof of his house and places a transparent plastic bottle containing clear water and a couple of chlorine caps. As a result, the sunlight that hits the bottle is amplified and radiated inside the room, illuminating it fully with a power of 60 Lumens. The mechanic has just created a daytime chandelier that costs less than two US dollars.

It happens that the mechanic is called Alfredo Moser, and that his home is part of one of the main and most crowded favelas of the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. And it also happens that, like all his neighbors, Mr. Moser is not a particularly wealthy person.

Alfredo Moser shares his discovery with the inhabitants of the favela, and in turn they share it with their known people scattered throughout Brazil, and from Brazil this simple yet effective solution spreads to the rest of the world.

From a favela house, the invention of a creative mind has today changed the lives of millions of people in conditions of energy poverty at any latitude and this solution is called Liter Of Light.

This is only an example of the changes that the sharing of knowledge can generate, and how a simple and accessible solution for everyone can go where economic interests stop: the least ones, the forgotten ones, the invisible ones.

The Liter Of Light network, while evolving technology and methods of intervention, has made this philosophy its cardinal point, applying it to all the interventions carried out worldwide. To cope with the dramatic lack of access to basic services such as drinking water, energy, food, it is unthinkable to continue with the unsuccessful welfare approach that has characterized 80 years of international cooperation.

It is necessary to share innovation and knowledge to generate sustainable business and competition on a local basis that will really benefit the local population.

In order to enhance local entrepreneurship, Liter Of Light has always pursued the “zero expatriates” goal. That is to say that if on the one hand there is an international collaboration between the teams and it often happens to make travel abroad, on the other hand all the professionals involved in the project work in the same country where they reside.

This choice allows to develop, assist and closely monitor all the on-field activities carried out, providing effective support to the beneficiary communities; at the same time, when it is necessary to carry out a feasibility study or a project is conceived, the staff is directly in contact with the interested communities and the direct relationship maximizes the effectiveness of the interventions.

The “zero expatriates” goal was also designed due to the environmental component, another cornerstone of Liter Of Light.

The geographical proximity to the interventions carried out drastically reduces logistics costs (-70%) and consequently the emissions generated by it. Moving by road or rail, where possible, generates an exponentially lower environmental impact than air transport, and the transfer of know-how to local inhabitants on lamp maintenance further lowers it.

It is possible to think of a truly inclusive, responsible, sustainable and effective international cooperation on the territory, which creates resilience and opportunities for those who are deprived of it, but in order to achieve this goal we must start from the bottom: from the needs of these people and their potential. Creating not divisive, but inclusive sharing tools.

Without these tools, we will continue to patch the problem without remedying it, thus condemning millions of individuals to mere survival rather than life.