Organisation To Launch “One Solar Light Per Child” In Niger Delta Region
...1000 students from 10 schools will benefit in A'Ibom
A non-governmental organisation, Smiling Simon Greenbuild Foundation, the initiator of Light Up Africa through the lens of children, has taken delivery of 2500 solar lamps from Total Energies for distribution to schoolchildren across the rural areas in the Niger Delta region.
The Global Green Sponsors are KuCoin, the Global CSR Foundation, and Griffin Consulting.
The event will kick-start on Monday, January 28, 2024, in Uyo Akwa, Ibom State, with the distribution of 1000 solar lamps to schoolchildren in 10 public secondary schools.
The Coordinator of Light Up Africa, Chief (Dr.) Anita Nana Okuribido, who briefed journalists in Uyo on Sunday, highlighted that the organisation will be partnering with FEYReP, a humanitarian organisation founded by Dr. Martha Emmanuel, former Akwa Ibom First Lady, to ensure the success of the Green Project in the state.
According to the coordinator, “Hundreds of thousands of African children, especially in the rural poor communities, have no access to affordable clean electricity once it is dusk for studies, and they mostly rely on kerosene lamps and candles, both of which pose respiratory health risks, carbon emissions, environmental pollution, and in some cases, fire outbreaks from poisonous gases.”
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She averred, “The initiative is aimed at addressing these challenges by ensuring that each African child in rural poor communities has access to at least one solar reading light for studies at night.”
Dr. Okuribido added, “The benefits include promoting climate change and resilience in children through the use of green devices and conducting life skills opportunities to build green character and empower children to mitigate climate change.
Other benefits, according to her, include “organising community clean-up and instilling a sense of green pride in rural children to stop the use of fossil fuels and improve health and wellbeing by facilitating access to essential green devices like solar reading lamps.
She further highlighted that the initiative will promote a coordination platform for rural children, which will harness the intrinsic green value in addition to their coexistence in the ecosystem, stressing that the creation of a community of solar energy-friendly products for African children while catching them young will be of great value to the continent.
The coordinator hinted that her organisation also has special linkage opportunities with global organisations like UNICEF, the African Union, and the European Union.
