December 2009 Archives

SolarAid, in conjunction with SolarChill and Greenpeace piloted a brand new refrigerator system in September and I am pleased to announce that it was a great success.

The hospital clinic in Muhuru Bay uses the solar fridge to store vaccines and serums which had been powered by a costly gas system.

The nearest gas refill site used to mean a round trip of 56 - 75 kms costing 2,500 Kenyan Shillings every two months. The introduction of solar technology has eliminated running costs completely. The money saved is now spent on updating and maintaining other essential areas of the clinic.

The clinic recently reintroduced highly toxic kerosene lamps after an old solar lighting system failed. SolarAid technicians will now educate staff on the importance of maintaining solar panels and set up a new system by early 2010.

Please support us in pioneering solar technology throughout Kenya.

Miguel and I spent a total of a week staying with the SolarAid franchisees and their families in North Bungoma. The reason for this is so that we could really get to know them and understand what they need from us. It was also a good chance to do some prototype testing for our new product.

PHOTO ABOVE: Elvis and Simon, children of SolarAid Sunnymoney Franchisees, demonstrate the new Sun Click product

It's amazing how dark it can get in the rural areas! Luckily for us, we had a couple of solar powered lights to keep us lit up at night. Not sure what we'd have done without them. Our stay was a great opportunity for us to really understand how these lights are used and what the real requirements for them are. It's very reassuring to know that they work so well and are having such an impact.

So far, we've had some really good discussions with one of our star franchisees, Maximillar, about what she thinks she needs and what she thinks would sell. Mobile phone charging is a must. The market is definitely there. Maximillar herself uses her own product to charge phones as a small business on the side, that's great for her and great promotion for the product too!

More soon...