Schoolbag lighting up homes

For six years, 11-year-old Beatrice William has been straining her eyes to do her homework with the help of a candle light every night.

Her family could not afford to install electricity in their home something that left her with no choice but to use the candle as a source of light at night.

Sometime last year something unexpected happened when she won a solar schoolbag, which has turned into a precious item as it doubles as source of light.

“I carry my schoolbag during the day and at night it lights up my house. We do our homework and read during the night. We were used to reading and doing house chores under the candle light but now my family does house chores using the light,” says Beatrice.

The energy that is emitted by the bag is enough to provide light for five hours, and sometimes even six hours daily.

A schoolbag that can be used as a source of light was an idea that was conceived by two brothers Innocent Junior and Senior in Mwanza.

After having seen what most learners go through the founders of ‘My Little Travelling Library’ (MLTL), Innocent Senior and Junior came up with solution which was rather simple.

They attached solar panels to schoolbags that collect energy during daytime.

The backpack movement during the day is converted into electricity, as a child walks with the backpack from home to school and school to home.

“It got us thinking when we observed that the children faced the problem of reading during the night. This was because the areas the children dwelled in had no electricity and kerosene lamps did not emit enough light and did not last long for the children to read at night,” says Innocent Junior.

The two brothers who founded the mobile library as a solution to combat lack of quality reading materials in government schools to reach out to deprived school going children, orphanages, street children and juvenile prisons have added the back pack to this initiative.

The backpacks are made out of scrap materials and local Maasai Shuka.

The colourful backpacks look like regular schoolbags with the solar panel and its source is attached on the front pocket, and can power the whole room for six hours.

“The solar panel attached to these bags does not necessarily need sunlight to activate charging. It can even add energy when a child is in class with just enough natural light, of which, a regular school day will charge the in-built lamps/panel to work for around six hours,” says Innocent Senior.

This initiative under the MLTL dubbed ‘Bags Providing Books’ has created a conducive environment at home for children like Beatrice to read books borrowed from the mobile libraries and also a way for the families of young learners have access to electricity to charge electronic gadgets such as mobile phones.

Pelagia Kayagula, a Standard Five English teacher at Sweya Primary School believes that the solar schoolbags have created a better learning environment at home.

“Not every school child can afford these bags, but I have few in my class who use such a bag and honestly the families and my pupils are benefitting from it. It has provided source of light to areas that experience complete blackout most of the time. And the children are now able to finish their home-work in time,” says Miss Kayagula.

She adds: After the Innocent brothers came around with their mobile library to our school; I have enjoyed teaching my class. My students have never been this active, you know, complete participation, exchange of views with each other and I am happy that the contribution of knowledge is good from my students.

The solar schoolbags cost between Sh45,000 and Sh50,000. The beneficiaries of the schoolbags cannot afford to buy the bag because majority of the children come from a poor background. “We have donated around 200 solar schoolbags to these children and some are given out as prizes during our reading competitions,” the brothers explaine.

At a very young age, the brothers learnt sewing skills from their mother who used to stitch cloth after her work hours for church decoration.

“I remember our mother never used to like the fact that we sit idle. Without any hidden motive, she used to encourage us to help her with the flowers. No one knew at that time that such a skill would help change lives of so many children,” Innocent brothers on how they learnt how to stitch.

Currently, the brothers are the ones who put together the bag – from purchasing the materials to sewing the bag. They have the capacity to sew up to 120 bags per month.

So far, the brothers have produced 1500 bags, some which have been sold internationally and locally, the profit which directly benefitted in buying 10,000 new children storybooks for MLTL.

Even with such a success the brothers are aiming higher as they intend to reach more children in Mwanza and where possible even beyond.

“This year we want to reach as many vulnerable children as possible in Luchelele and Shadi villages in Mwanza, which have no access to electricity,” the brothers say.