Jacqti explains: “In Koundou, Mali (West Africa) the women use the WakaWaka Lights to prepare their goods for the market the next day. The peanuts that they have grown on their land with their microcredit are put in small bags to sell at the local market. Other women are preparing the cotton that they have harvested and will sell it the following morning to other individuals who will make cotton-fiber and traditional cotton cloth from it. The children use their mothers’ WakaWaka light to do their homework. The people in this village live in small houses made of loam and live a very simple and hard life, but they are resilient and strong. They have to be!”
Before the arrival of the WakaWakas, these women were reliant on the inferior light of kerosene lamps or wood fire. Or they just spent the nights in almost complete darkness. Around the equator the sun sets at around 6 pm. This made economic activity or studying very hard. The WakaWaka Lights are such a success that Jacqti is now ready to order 1000 WakaWaka’s through the WakaWaka Foundation’s Energy Poverty Aid programme to help these women escape Energy Poverty. Jacqti: “We donate the Lights to the community but we nonetheless insist that they pay a symbolic amount of money. That way the WakaWaka is perceived to be more valuable. Another reason for the fact that they have to pay a small amount is that we want to train these women to become entrepeneurs and we believe that trade is preferable to aid.”
You can read more about Stichting Dogon Vrouweninitiatief on their website. Interested in becoming a WakaWaka Energy Povert Aid Partner as well? Learn more about our Sun Sharing Alliance Program, and see if your non-profit could apply for WakaWaka products for a reduced price.