Sonia studying with her Lifelight

Location: Near Nyamata town, Rwanda

I first met Sonia in October 2009 - it was the first time she received a Lifelight.  She was shy for her age and wore her best Sunday yellow church dress with frills and lace to the distribution session held at a local community hall. Just barely 14,  she became the head of her household last September when her mother died of TB.  Sonia had also lost her father a month before.  She looks after her two year old sister, Salah, who clings tightly to Sonia’s leg. Their grandmother, birthed 16 of her own children, is frail but has taken in three other orphaned grandchildren, and looks after Salah while Sonia is at school.

We arrived unannounced at Sonia’s small,  two-roomed traditional mud and thatch house in the late afternoon just as the black sky threatened a downpour.  She was using her Lifelight to make schoolwork revisions in her tiny sitting room which is no more than a metre wide and two metres long.  Since having her light, Sonia says that she can study inside day or night and feels much safer as she can see any predators like spiders and rats when making her bed.  She also uses the light to walk safely to her grandmother’s house 100 metres away. We’re happy to hear that Sonia says her light has become her ‘guardian protector’.

Location: Near Nyamata town, Rwanda

For nearly three years, I’ve been focusing on understanding the use of firewood, kerosene and candles by vulnerable children and women in sub-Saharan Africa. I’ve often written and spoken about how kerosene, outside South Africa, is largely unregulated and of its dangers. The havoc it wreaks on people’s lives in their quest to have light after dark is not widely reported.

This week my colleague, Phil Goodwin, and I distributed Lifelights to child-heads of households between the ages of 13 and 20 and asked them my usual list of questions. But I heard something that I have never heard before. Alarmingly, they are buying diesel fuel instead of kerosene or mixing the two together because it is cheaper. Diesel is even more toxic and flammable than kerosene and this trend is very worrying. The children told us that they dig in neighbour’s fields to earn money, and the three things that they buy are lighting fuel (kerosene or diesel), which they buy by the tablespoon, salt and soap. When they have no money, they use firewood for light.

Each of the 12 children were thrilled to receive their light, saying that this light would free them from the dangers of liquid fuel and give them safe light in which cook, wash, study and walk after dark. Being able to make their bed and to see bugs, snakes or rats before getting into it, as they generally sleep on the ground, gave them comfort and they broke out into spontaneous applause.

We are proud to announce an innovative and cost effective programme to get Haitian children quickly back on an educational track following the January earthquake. Reports from Haiti are saying that children could face months or even years without education, making our project all the more important to get rapidly off the ground.

The initiative is a joint venture with leading radio education provider Education Development Center (EDC) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) - both organizations have extensive experience and an outstanding track record of working in Haiti.

The project ensures vulnerable children obtain a solid basic education, via Ministry of Education-supported interactive radio instruction using Lifeline radios. The broadcasts provide lessons in math and Creole as well as vital life skills lessons on topics such as water and hygiene.

In addition, EDC will provide the content and instruction for an early childhood education programme that caregivers and children can follow together. NDI will work with its broad network of Haitian community action committees to identify children, including orphans, whose schools have been destroyed and also distribute our Lifeline radios. Furthermore, broadcasts will be designed to incorporate post-trauma programming and provide psychosocial support to quake survivors.

Immediately after the earthquake, our US ambassador, Mr Tom Hanks kick-started our fundraising campaign. More than 1,000 Freeplay wind-up and solar-powered Lifeline radios have been committed. However, we need to deploy a further 2,000 to successfully implement this project, which will reach up to 100,000 children.

Radio is Haiti’s most popular form of media as electricity rates are low and batteries are expensive and hard to come by, especially in rural areas. Lifeline radios solve the problem of access. Let’s also remember that the radios will help with early warnings for the hurricane season.

The most recent UN reports confirm that all schools in western Port-au-Prince have been destroyed as well as 40% of schools in the southern part of the city – leaving thousands of children without access to education in a country where 47% of the population are illiterate.

“We have identified the most effective placement of our Lifeline radios for the rebuilding effort in Haiti. They’re robustly engineered for large group listening,” said Freeplay Foundation CEO Kristine Pearson. “Thousands of children, including those newly orphaned and those who cannot attend formal school, will receive essential lessons even under the most basic of conditions. We cannot allow more time to be lost – education is the key to mitigating poverty in their lifetimes.”

We are ready to launch this project and we need your help to reach our goal. The cost of a delivered Lifeline radio is $65.00/£38.00 however any amount will be appreciated. This equals a few cents per child.

Make your donation by visiting our website:
http://www.freeplayfoundation.org/haitiearthquakefund.html

President Jacob Zuma at WEF

Other sessions I attended included an update on the Millennium Development Goals moderated by Lord Malloch Brown, panelists consisted of Jeffrey Sachs, Bill Gates, Morgan Tsvangirai and Helen Clark. This was a joint creative session between the Technology Pioneers and the Social Entrepreneurs. I also attended an update on Haiti led by former US President, Bill Clinton and a South African lunch hosted by President Jacob Zuma.

Bill Clinton speaking at WEF

Setting the Stage for the Girl Effect was NY Times Columnist Nic Krystof and Melinda Gates - a reception for women leaders followed by a sensational dinner for women leaders moderated by the effervescent Rosabeth Moss Kanter and the charming Ariana Huffington.

Its Friday night, my muscles ache and my feet are sore, by brain is in overdrive and there’s another day and a half to go. Great, can’t wait! Tomorrow is South Africa’s day as we host the big soiree on Saturday night .

The start-up programme can launch in a few weeks, but additional funding is needed to reach a significant percentage of those thousands of Haitian children in need.

For the official press release, please visit our Media Centre.

You can also make a donation by visiting Haiti Humanitarian Radio Relief Fund.

Its great to be back at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. This is my 7th time attending WEF and there are lots of new faces as well as some familiar ones. There are approximately 2,500 delegates and about 150 South Africans - it’s definitely ‘our year’!

We’re hosting the big Saturday night soiree. Everyone attending received a neck scarf in the five colours of our flag and I am wearing mine with pride !

The programme kicked-off with a packed cocktail party last night with delegates then going on to private dinners. I attended dinner hosted by Schwab Foundation for social entrepreneurs and the community that I’m honoured to be a part of.

The way it works at the WEF is that there are concurrent sessions that start early, most of which you have to sign up for via their internal web-based system. They finish around 6:00pm and then crowds exit the Congress Centre to rounds of corporate cocktails and dinners with topics .

Sessions and workshops this year reflect the theme, “Improve the State of the World: Rethink, Redesign, Rebuild”

This afternoon I attended a lively session on social networking which featured best selling author Don Tapscott and executives or founders from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and YouTube. The WEF totally underestimated delegate’s interest in the subject. I sat on the floor.

I also attended a discussion on design for the future; a workshop on Business Solutions to Rural Poverty and an amazing session with five people who had just returned from the front line in Haiti. It’s only 1730 and I still have a Harvard cocktail and a dinner on ‘Imagination’. What a full and stimulating first day!

To watch the latest sessions in Davos, please visit World Economic Forum Webcasts 2010

Why radios are needed

Access to information is critical both during an emergency and in reconstruction. Although often overlooked, news and updates from local and international sources is an urgent need, along with water, food, shelter and medical attention. Radio stations are broadcasting and our radios will help aid agencies, the UN and the government get essential information to the population.

The Washington post has written an excellent about the importance of radio information

But what the article fails to cover is how will people be able to listen to the programming? Electricity levels were low to start with and batteries will be difficult to come by and expensive. The most vulnerable groups, including women and children, are in danger of being excluded.

What we can do to help

We have an established track record in humanitarian radio relief having been directly involved in the Balkans conflict, post-genocide Rwanda, the Mozambique floods, in refugee camps in Tanzania and Kenya, and the Asian tsunami. The Freeplay Foundation has an excellent network of partner organizations on the ground and a proven methodology for distribution.
The Lifeline radio we developed is one of the most successful aid-only products in history and is robustly engineered for harsh conditions. With AM/FM and short-wave bands, it will pick up both local and international stations and with its excellent sound quality, large groups will be able to hear it clearly. It operates on solar energy coupled with a fail-safe winding mechanism.

Working with credible local partners, the radios will be distributed to shelters, schools, churches, health clinics and wherever people are gathered. As always, key beneficiaries will be women, teachers and community leaders. According to UNICEF, there are an estimated one million orphans across the country and priority will be given to provide access to a radio.

We need your support in two ways:

$32.00 will provide all inclusive funding for an emergency response radio. We have 15,000 radios appropriate for smaller group listening packaged and ready to be flown in to Haiti immediately. All we need is funding.
$65.00 for each Lifeline radio, which can be heard by 40-50 listeners, and includes shipping and distribution costs. These radios will be used mostly in the reconstruction phase but must be ordered soon.

You can also make a one off or recurring donation and for any amount by visiting Haiti Humanitarian Radio Relief Fund page

Thank you for your support. If you have any questions, please contact our Digital Fundraising and Marketing Manager, Bhavna Malkani on bmalkani@freeplayfoundation.org.

Kristine Pearson
Chief Executive

Children at MaAfrika Tikkun community centre receive Lifelights

‘Good afternoon everyone, how are you today?’ said Kristine Pearson in a cheerful voice. I smiled nervously as I took out my newly purchased notebook. I had been looking forward to this visit for a while. It was the first time I was to make a trip into the field under the guidance of Kristine, my mentor who is the CEO of the Freeplay Foundation, as an aspiring researcher.

Our field site was a new MaAfrika Tikkun community centre in Diepsloot, a township settlement which sits on the edge of one of Johannesburg’s most up-market suburbs, Dainfern. Diepsloot is home to roughly 150, 000 people, most of who live in two by three meter shacks constructed from pretty much any material one can lay his or her hands on. Such materials include wood, plastic, cardboard and scrap metal. HIV/AIDS, high unemployment, food insecurity, recurrent xenophobia and persistent crime are endemic issues in settlements such as Diepsloot. MaAfrika Tikkun is a NGO which is committed to care for vulnerable children in townships in a compassionate manner that is sustainable over time.

I visited numerous informal settlements in my home country Kenya however I was embarrassed at my naivety when I visited MaAfrika Tikkun, for having never considered the importance of clean lighting. Each girl and boy in the group we visited was susceptible to contracting ailments which affect their eyes and lungs. Such children are forced to use kerosene and candles as their homes lack electricity. I researched kerosene and read that children drink it, as they mistake it for juice or water.

This fact made my nerve twitch even faster when I heard, Tshepo, 12, said that he watched his two year-old sister drink kerosene, which subsequently led to her death. Tsepho’s story makes me question the limited attention paid by governments towards the use of unsafe household fuel. In addition, the children in the group were afraid of being kidnapped or ‘stolen’ as one of the girls, Mercy, expressed. Using candles and kerosene makes it difficult for normal activities such as completing homework using the toilet, and visiting friends after the sun sets. Even though the children faced hardships in their everyday lives, each appeared to have the will to progress, a quality that made me respect all 18 children even more deeply.

My afternoon in Diepsloot made me realise the importance of distributing aid in a locally sensitive, respectful, yet effective manner. Attaining access to clean, safe and sustainable energy has the ability to plant a permanent smile on the faces of those who are not accustomed to having access to the resource. I was dually humbled and injected with hope at seeing each child engage in an astoundingly simple winding activity, and create their own light- a true Harry Potter moment.

My sincere appreciation goes to Kristine Pearson and Chhavi Sharma who over the last six months have taken me under their wings, helped to train and encouraged me to understand the broader vision of the Freeplay Foundation.

*Aalyia Sadruddin is a Researcher for the Freeplay Foundation.

There were many young people who really impressed me despite the loss of their parents and the poverty in which they live.

Zanele, 17, high school student with Lifelight

This amazing young woman, Zanele, 17, is an excellent high school student in a rural village. Her best subject is geography and she hopes to attend university on a bursary. The Gogo, 46, looks after 4 children. Zanele is eldest. After school she washes her uniform, helps cook, garden and clean and then tries to study with the others to one candle.

Xolani, 13 South Africa’s next chess champion with Lifelight

Meet South Africa’s next chess champion, Xolani, 13. This engaging young man who excels at maths and science took up chess in Themalethu Home Based Care’s after school chess programme. Xolani lives with his Gogo (whose pension they live on) and 6 other children and told me all 7 share a candle to study. His grandparents fled the civil war in Mozambique in the 80’s. He speaks Shangani, Swazi and English.

Study Group with the Lifelight

This is a study group in one of the villages I visited that is now using their new Lifelight instead of a candle. They told me that they planned to ’study their way out of poverty’. Thembalethu, will track academic performance over the next few months to see if studying to clean lighting really does improve grades as the expect that it will.

Jeanette studying to a candle

This is 14-year old Jeanette who lives with her 6 cousins and Gogo (grandmother) & Mkulu (grandfather) whose 3 daughters passed away from ‘illness’. The likelihood of it being HIV/Aids is high since prevalence of the disease in this area is an estimated 45-50%. All 7 pupils study on the floor to an inefficient candle flame. I gave her a lift home in my mini-van taxi to Jeppe’s Reef and asked her if she could please show me how she did her homework.  Like all the children I’ve come across here, she studies on the floor. The children in this household were all born in Swaziland; therefore, they do not receive government social grants.  However, the elders receive a pension.

Our visit was on World AIDS Day, which was a sharp reminder of how devastating HIV/AIDS is, especially today.