A Clean Solar Alternative to Kerosene Lamps, Nepal

Studying, especially for girls, has never been easy in rural areas. Such is the case of Asmita, a resident of Loling VDC, Chitwan.

“I cannot study whenever I want to”, shares Asmita shyly. “There are house chores to do and younger sisters and brothers to look after.”

Asmita is one of the outstanding students of her class but her excellence in studies do not come easily. Like most of her classmates, she has list of chores to complete everyday before finally sitting to study at night.

“Before, I used to study without my parents knowing… only because we used kerosene lamps at night. And me using more kerosene meant more scolding!” Asmita reveals. But she doesn’t have to do it that way nowadays. The reason is solar tuki provided to her by ECCA, which uses zero kerosene and is designed for easy handling and maintanance.

“Two solar tuki lamps that I got in school, we use one for studying and my mother uses the other in the kitchen”,  she says.

For charging, she has to take the lamps to the school, where multiple charger has been kept. It has been a very good excuse to send her to school almost everyday.

Asmita’s story resonates with over 200 households, in her village and neighbouring villages, where solar tuki lamps and multiple chargers (in schools) were provided .  According to the respondents, this has minimized the use of kerosene to a huge extent and attendance number of students in schools is amplifying.

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