Meeting some of the locals

Mason and I visited a village yesterday and talked to several local shop owners about whether they would buy a solar lantern.

There was a sweet woman entrepreneur/shop owner in a tiny village who said that she had to use her kerosene lamp frequently as her shop closes at 10pm and it starts getting dark at 6pm. That's 4 hours of sitting next to a kerosene lamp in a tiny shop. She said she'd be willing to pay up to $30 for a solid solar lamp.

Quality or a "solid lamp" is important here because they expect these purchases to last forever, as the traditional kerosene lamp tends to last a very long time. When I asked her when she bought her existing kerosene lamp, she said she didn't remember because it was such a long time ago.

Irna

Mason Huffine, who helped SolarAid set up it's new office in Dar es Salaam