Short Summary
Omari is 35 years and lives in the village of Mida in Kilifi County,
Kenya. He is a happy user of Marathoner Beacon Solar lamps. He has used a
kerosene lamp to light up his home for as long as he can remember. Now a father
of four children, Omar first heard about the Marathoner Beacon solar lamps in
October 2014 when his wife returned from a community meeting where someone had
come to educate women on income generating activities they can engage in. When
Omari heard the news, he first thought of how he needed the lamp to provide
adequate lighting for his children as they did their homework in the evening. Omari later caled the lady who came to educate the women wanting to learn
more about the solar lamps. After seeing the features of the lamp, and getting additional information from someone he knew, he bought it. Since then, his children no longer use the dim kerosene lamps that used to affect their eyes and produced fumes that hurt their lungs. For Omari he no longer requires the services of a mobile phone
charging agent at the market. He is even
using the lamp to light up his chicken house.
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His family’s life has changed ; he no longer
has to buy kerosene for his children so they can read after school and they now
have longer evenings with his family. And he has enough light for his hen house
to light overnight.’
As the CEO and Co-Founder of Skynotch Energy Africa, Patrick Kimathi is happy to have brought transformational change to Omari’s home. This is his passion and would like to light-up at least 6000 homes in Kenya in the next two years. Being a committed
proponent of clean lighting solutions for off-grid indoor lighting, Patrick envisions a Africa where everyone has a day that goes beyond the fall of darkness. My goal
is to create a solar generation in Kenya over the next 5 years.
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For the last one-and-a-half years Skynotch
Energy Africa in partnership with the Kenya Climate Innovation Center, Kiva
Zip, The Youth Banner and Kenya
Girl Guide Association, has been able to successfully demonstrate
that a sustainable distribution network is feasible. We have four
distribution outlets today with 12 agents, who are financed through the Kiva interest free loans. 3 Girl
Guide clubs are already educating their communities on switching to clean
lighting. We need to increase the number of distribution outlets to 8 and
train 5 more Girl Guide clubs on how to spread the clean lighting message.
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The Solar Generation Ambassadors ( The Kenya Girl Guides)
Kenya Climate Innovation Centre, a World Bank- InfoDev
initiative and Crowdfunding Capital Advisors (The CCA group) believed in our
vision and supported the preparation of this campaign. Your Support will enable more households to access the clean lighting technology.
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This Technology can change Lives
We need your support to raise $ 50,000 to
increase the distribution network and set up 3 distribution centres.
The Money raised will be used to:-
·
$25,000: Buy more solar
lamps
·
$10,000: For training entrepreneurs
and recruiting Girl Guide clubs
·
$7,500: To develop information
and education materials
. $7,500: For administration
The Impact
Contributing to this project means creating
equal opportunities for children who read with poor lighting, so that they can
compete with their peers in areas with electricity. At Skynotch Energy Africa,
we believe that in the 21st Century no one should be using outdated lighting
technology. This is your opportunity to bring change to many others like Omari
in Kenya. The United Nations has
declared 2015 the International
Year of Light (IYL 2015) which will be launched on 19-20 January
in Paris. By making a contribution to this campaign, you are contributing to
IYL 2015 and enhancing sustainable energy access for all.
Clean lighting means saving household money
used to buy kerosene, brighter light, improved livelihoods because indoor
pollution is eliminated and a cleaner environment as carbon dioxide emissions
are reduced. This is your contribution
towards mitigating the negative effects of climate change! We all will
reduce the CO2 emission and here is your chance to be part of Climate Change Mitigation.
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Your Contribution will Change this
Life can be better and brighter with your support
Rewards
As you join us to change lives we recognize your efforts and contribution. and have various reward for our supporters.
Risks & Challenges
We have demonstrated that the model of distribution can increase the number of solar lanterns users.We need to scale up to reach more people and recruit more Girl Guides clubs. With the growing number of customers and the Girl Guides interested with the Clean energy clubs, we need more funds.
Other Ways You Can Support
You can promote the campaign to your family, partners and friends by telling
them about it, sharing campaign materials and social media activity. This will
go a long way to ensure more lives are touched !!!
