We all know what it’s like to cram all night for an exam. It’s stressful, but you can make it through with some coffee, good music, and a friend or two to keep you company. But there’s one absolute necessity that you may have taken for granted as a student – access to electricity.
Without something to light up your books, papers, or charge your computer, how could you possibly get your work done? But as the students at Nakivale’s only high school are preparing for their own final exams, those are the very challenges they face.
“We don’t have a generator,” says Issah, a senior student getting ready to graduate. “When the power is out, your work is done.”
While this may seem like the perfect excuse to skip out on studying, for the high school students in Nakivale this can be a real detriment to their education. And for kids like Issah, who loves history and wants to be a journalist, they’re looking to soak in all the knowledge they can get.
“I love history because it tells me about the ancient stories, I get to know how ancient people lived,” he says. “Especially, I like learning about my own culture. We’ve done very amazing things that inspire me.”
We thought that Issah and his fellow senior students could really use a boost as they prepare for their final exams – with solar-powered headlamps.
What will a solar-powered headlamp mean to a kid like Issah?
“I live over an hour’s walk away from school,” he says, “so this will help me avoid accidents in the early morning and at night on the road. And when we reach home we find no light. With solar lamps, it will push me to do more with my education. I’ll just go with my books to work and read.”
Our teammate Andrew was so happy to see these students excited and ready to learn. “We can’t solve it all,” he said, “but we can do this little something.”
