A Clean Solar Alternative to Kerosene Lamps, Nepal

Established in 1956, Shree Sagma Secondary School, located at Bhogteni – 6, VDC is also one of the oldest school among 12 schools located in Bhogteni VDC of Morang District. Located in northern hilly rural region of the district, it provides secondary level education for above 250 students of the community. Students walk a minimum of 15 min to 2 hrs to reach the school for their education. Only connected with rural road network with sparse existence of public transportation facilities during dry season only, the community needs to walk for nearly 6 hrs to reach the nearest marketplace for purchasing their daily required commodities.

Lack of electricity access in this community has forced students to use kerosene as an only option during evening hours to study. Purchase of kerosene is also very rare for the members of this community due to low economic condition of families. Hence, students have hard time studying during evening hours. Some families had installed solar home system in their houses for lighting facilities. But, the poor income families do not have income enough to purchase and install the solar home system in their homes, forcing them to use kerosene lamp as an only alternative for lighting during evening hours.

Recently, through the support of Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Kathmandu, we have been able to support the installation Community Charging Centre in the School and support 100 set of solar tuki to the students. After the distribution of solar tuki for the students in this school, we made a monitoring field visit in the community. Here are some of the glimpses from that field visit which I would like to share with you.

The smile in the face of children and families after using solar tuki encouraged me to continue my work in this field and support the needy families of rural areas in order to support their education of students and children.

THANK YOU for your support and believing in US. YOUR Help and Support is Invaluable to US in our WORK. Because of Your help and support, we have been able to make difference in the life of needy families. We look forward towards the same support in coming days ahead. Please share our stories within your circle of friends and family to help us bring changes in the rural communities of Nepal.

Also, please like our facebook page for updates regarding our activities and twitter to receive our tweets. We are also looking forward towards your valuable suggestions and comments regarding our works as well.

Thank you & Regards,

Angel Chitrakar

Senior Program Officer

ECCA