Data from the World Health Organization shows that about 14,000 people in Kenya die annually from health conditions traced to indoor pollution, and kerosene is a major contributor. Moto Hope Capital seeks to mitigate this through provision of Eco Zoom’s Multi Light solar lamps. The 3 portable lamps come with a mobile phone charger, 6 watt solar panel, and 8hour light bulbs and have 3 year battery life.
Seline Agatha “lives in the light”, literally, she says. The mother of five despite living and conducting business in Molo town most of the time regularly travels upcountry in Rural Nyanza region for other family engagements and farming. Her rural home is in a region that is off the National Power grid and before the year 2018, she like all her neighbors depended fully on kerosene-fueled tin lamps for lighting every night.
This expensive lighting affair saw her spend at least $9 every month on kerosene which translated to $108 a year. In addition she spent at least $2 dollars every month on charging her family’s phones at the town center (8 kilometers from her village) shop that was connected to electricity. She would in most instances have to choose between buying food and providing lighting for her family especially when her tailoring business was facing down times.
Since buying the three lamps solar light from Moto Hope Capital, Seline is a walking testimony of how renewable energy can transform lives. She spent $60 to buy the Eco zoom multi light. She did not feel the pinch of the cost as she purchased it on credit paying in monthly installment. Unlike the kerosene lighting, the solar lights are efficient, inexpensive, provide good quality light, and don’t expose her family to health and fire hazards, she notes happily.
The portable solar panel produces enough energy to charge mobile phones. She is able to charge phones for her neighbors at a subsidized fee (half of what they would spend at the shopping center) and also charge all of her family’s phones at no cost, hence saving on what they previously spent on both kerosene and phone charging as well as earning money for some household expenses. When they have outdoor family events or social gatherings back in the village, it is her lamps that light up the little remote village. Her house looks as though it has electricity and stands out from the rest, she says proudly.