Solar lights provide hope for Bangweulu communities

As part of the Dutch Postcode Lottery's contribution to Earth Hour in 2012, 2500 solar lights were donated to WWF and African Parks for distribution to rural communities in the Bangweulu Wetlands.

2,500 d.light solar lights have been distributed into areas throughout the 6000km2 Bangweulu ecosystem. There is no electricity supply of any kind over this vast wetland, which has a population of over 50,000 people. People are thus forced to conduct most of their activities during daylight hours. This has a direct impact on intellectual productivity, as most of their time is spent working on subsistence livelihood activities with little time remaining for learning and recreation. The d.light solar lights were mainly distributed to school children and children from the Wetland communities. There was also an emphasis on social service nodes such as clinics and health posts where health practitioners work under very difficult conditions at night. Each family member that received a d.light unit will experience a positive change in their livelihood.

We thank the Dutch Postcode Lottery and WWF - The Netherlands for this generous contribution that has given hope to Bangweulu's rural communities.