Written by Kristine Pearson
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’.
