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SolarAid is an international organisation working to combat poverty and climate change in sub-Saharan Africa. Through its social enterprise, SunnyMoney, SolarAid are providing access to solar lights in some of the most remote regions of Malawi and Zambia. Constantly innovating new ways of giving access to clean, renewable energy to families living without electricity, SolarAid are working towards leaving no one in the dark by 2030.

Mtakataka CDSS in Malawi is located far away, in a rural part of the country. The houses in the village surrounding the school are mostly basic huts, and there is no access to electricity in this area of Malawi. Many of the students walk up to 10km daily to reach the school and most families do not have the means to buy a solar light. Many are forced to buy candles – which are extremely dangerous. In the 21st century, that’s no way to study. In April, SolarAid set up a Light Library at the school. A Light Library works just like a regular library – but for solar lights. It gives the students the opportunity to borrow a light home with them in the evening, to study, and for their parents to get to know the light and how it works.

Harriet Zuwawo works as a librarian at the school library. She is seeing how performance has been improving. ‘In 2018, before the introduction of the lights, we had no girl passing the national exam, but as for the 2019 national exam, at least we have three girls passing the exam. And those girls, they’ve been borrowing the lights’, Harriet says. She explains to the students how to use the lights, as some people had never seen a solar light before, they normally use candles at home, which are dangerous and hard to read by. Harriet says that more and more students are coming to the library to borrow a light, when they see the performance of their friends in class is improving.

Chris Nthala is one of the students at Mtakataka CDSS that has been borrowing a solar light. ‘During this month I stopped, because my Dad has now bought some solar lights’, she says with a big smile. Before, Chris used candles when studying, but her dad saw her grades improving when she started borrowing a solar light – she could see and study properly. To help Chris realise her ambitions of becoming a journalist and traveling the world – her Dad decided to invest in a light. Chris is now one of the top students of her class, and her brother and sisters are also benefitting from the solar light, helping them all to study.