LWF supports vulnerable families in Ethiopia with solar panels and lanterns. The project provides a green energy source and fosters the development, especially for women and girls.
The Muhamed family in front of their home: Shabu Muhamed 13, Yasmin Muhamed 10, Mudeser Muhamed 16, Ukasha Muhamed 18, and Rukiya Mohamed 55 (left to right). Photo: LWF/ S. Gebreyes
From darkness into the light
(LWI) - "For the first time in my life, I still have light at 11 pm," says Rukiya Mohamed, pointing to a solar-powered lantern in her traditional home. The 55-year-old woman lives in one of the 57 households in Ethiopia's Oromia province that have received a solar panel and lamp from The Lutheran World Federation (LWF). The photovoltaic cells introduce a green energy source to rural communities and relieve the financial burden on low-income households.
Expensive kerosene
Rukiya is a single mother of five and the family's sole provider since her divorce ten years ago. Subsistence farming and livestock keeping is the main economic activity in Gololcha, where Rukiya lives. Her family depends on agriculture for their livelihood. They grow crops like maize and keep goats and chickens. In Ethiopia, only 44 percent of the population has access to electricity. Marginalized, women-headed households with low income like Rukiya’s are normally not among them.
Four out of five families in the community use firewood, leaves, charcoal, and animal dung for cooking and heating. As the population grows, firewood is becoming increasingly scarce, and most households have to buy kerosene. The region is also vulnerable to the effects of climate change and hit by recurrent droughts. With years of failed harvests and rising energy prices worldwide, it has become difficult for farmer families to make ends meet.
Rukiya Mohamed turns on the light. Photo: LWF/ S. Gebreyes
The provision of solar lamps is one of the activities aimed at promoting green energy and saving household earnings. LWF trained Rukiya and her neighbors to use solar lights and do simple repairs. LWF also provides solar lanterns to vulnerable families in the province of Tigray.
Light and time
Solar panels and lamps do not only provide light and energy to the most vulnerable families. They also save time, especially for the women: many girls help with chores in the afternoon, and only have time for schoolwork after sunset, which this close to the equator, is around 6 pm. Collecting firewood is also traditionally the work of women and girls, who spend much time gathering the wood and face a risk of gender-based violence on the way.
A photovoltaic panel on the roof of a tukul, a traditional clay house in Rukiye’s community. Photo: LWF/ S. Gebreyes
"The solar panel I received from LWF gives me light during the night. Two of my children use the light to read and do their homework," says Rukiya. "I use the light to prepare food and other things in the evening. In the past, I used to stay up until 8 pm and work in complete darkness, but now I can even stay up until late at night and have enough time to finish all my work."
I am happy because I use the money I saved to buy food and clothes for my children.
Rukiya MOHAMED, Ethiopian farmer
Rukiya Mohamed estimates that the solar lamp saves her 200 Ethiopian Birr per week, the equivalent of four dollars. In a community where many families live on 6,000 Ethiopian Birr (113 USD) per month, these savings go a long way. "I am happy because I use the money I saved to buy food and clothes for my children," Rukiya says in conclusion.
11,519 people participate in the Climate Change Resilience Project in the Gololcha District of the East Bale zone in Oromia. The project runs for three years and is co-funded by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and ACT Church of Sweden (Act CoS).
Providing a lantern and solar panel to a family like Rukiya's costs about 205 USD.
