Areas of Focus: Basic education and literacy, Community economic development
Activity Type:
Community Development: General
Summary: 75 Watts of Love Solar Lights distributed in Keto, Homo Bay thru Rotary Club of Nairobi, Kenya to families
Access to solar lighting eliminates the need for a costly fuel source and offers immediate savings. Solar lighting also means people can continue daily activities after dark, which directly impacts household income, safety, and overall health. Solar light starts people on the pathway to prosperity. In 2020, the Watts of Love Foundation, https://www.wattsoflove.org/, launched a Lighthouse pilot program in Kenya. The Lighthouse program is a model that allows our Host, RC Nairobi, and International Club, RC Goodyear PebbleCreek (RCGYPC) members to work with the RC of Nairobi, deliver solar lights and financial literacy education. This RC project will deliver 75 solar lights and impact nearly 375 individuals or 75 families in rural Kenya. Methods and Strategies: Watts of Love Foundation with RCGYPC intentionally seeks out the most vulnerable people in the developing world, who live without access to electrical light. For our mission to be sustainable, we will partner with RC Nairobi. Using a unique financial literacy curriculum, the Watts of Love RCGYPC team will gently and compassionately instructs these future entrepreneurs how to save, invest and build for the future. We will train families on how to properly use the solar light and provide education on the importance of compound savings. We emphasize the significance of redirecting funds previously used to purchase kerosene or other dangerous light sources and invest their savings in books and sanitation. RXGYPC will purchase 75 WOL lights in the USA and one RCGYPC member, Colleen Malany, will deliver to RC Nairobi President, Miriam Mwonge, 2023/2024 and then help distribute lights with educational training. This would be the second District 5495 request by RC Goodyear PebbleCreek and is our second priority for Dist. 5495 funding after our Xmas Food Baskets.
Signed
This project is "Signed". This means that the signatures from the club leadership have been collected. This project is now being reviewed by the district leadership for approval. Once a decision is made, the status of the project will be changed to "Approved".
Project listed for the 2023-24 Rotary Year.
Proposed Financing
Existing Contributions Towards This Project
Date
Cash
DDF
Total
Goodyear PebbleCreek (5495)
11-Apr-23
$1,250
$2,500
$3,750
Total
$1,250
$2,500
$3,750
DDF contributions in grey are pending approval of the corresponding district committee.
Project Supporting Documents
There are no documents yet for this project. Go to the administration page to upload documents.
Project Photos
History Log Entries
11-Apr-23
System Entry
System Entry: Creation of project page.
13-Apr-23
by Rebecca Wilks
Thank you for your application. Please detail how Rotarians will be actively participating in the project. Thanks.
24-Apr-23
by Buddy Sims
System Entry: Project sent for club signatures.
24-Apr-23
System Entry
System Entry: Project signed by Buddy Sims.
30-Apr-23
by Rebecca Wilks
This project cannot go through the signature process until you've addressed this question, asked in a history log question: how Rotarians will be actively participating in the project? Please allow me to start the signature process. Thanks.
30-Apr-23
by Rebecca Wilks
We cannot send this application until your report is in from this Rotary year. That report's due date is today.
30-Apr-23
by Colleen Malany
Rotarians will be the key to distribution of these lights in Kenya. They will make up teams that go into designated areas of need to give lights to families as well as teach the "financial literacy" program that dovetails the distribution. With the leadership of Watts of Love, chiefs of villages are asked to target the neediest of the needy to receive a light. We will continue to go back until all villages are "lighted". The recipient is taught how to save their kerosene money daily (since they no longer need to buy it). The box that the light comes in has a slot at the top making it a "piggy bank". We show them how the saved money enables them to buy a chicken at the end of a week or two depending on the price of a chicken. We extrapolate that money into months for them. Dreams met
30-Apr-23
by Rebecca Wilks
System Entry: Signature Process cancelled by user.