A simple initiative in the Philippines is bringing a bit of brightness into the lives of the country's poorest people.
The project is called "Litre of Light", and the technology involved is just a plastic bottle filled with water.
It's an environmentally-friendly alternative to an electric light bulb, and it's virtually free.
Madonna Virola reports from Manila.
I enter a rocky and narrow road. Houses are congested, people hang out in makeshift stores.This is Tondo City, a slum community, known to be among Manila’s poorest.
38-year-old Mussah Gappal welcomes me into her house. It’s just one room. Her seven children are playing on the ground.Tucked into a hole in the roof is a plastic bottle filled with bleach and surrounded by a metal sheet.
When sunlight hits the bottle, the water refracts the light and provides about as much illumination as a 50-watt light bulb.
”We’re very grateful for that bottle of light. Government officials came in April and installed that light. I can’t afford to pay electric bills. I’m due to give birth in two months. All my children have stopped schooling. My husband has another family and rarely gives even a few pennies.”
Elecriticity prices in the Philippines are the most expensive in Asia. The solar water bottle costs around 1 US dollar to make.
Mussah’s oldest child, 16 year old Mona, says the solar light has lit up her dark house during the day.
”The bottle helped me to complete my elementary schooling because I’m able to study in the dark.”
The solar water bottle is popularly called the “litre of light” and was created by the Filipino organisation ‘My Shelter Foundation’.
In partnership with the government they have installed 15,000 solar bottles in poor houses in 20 cities in northern Philippines.
They are going down south to install tens of thousands of solar bottles.
Illac Diaz the director of the group behind the invention says the project is sustainable.
”You’re looking at almost an enormous number of carbon emission savings, but the beauty about it is we’re doing this from the bottom of the pyramid. This is not high tech, high expense, but these are done by the hands of the most common people, with simple carpentry skills, and build it themselves, or make it a business and help others."
Another postive is that the solar water bottle is safe.Many fires break out in slums due to faulty electrical connections.
Edwin Florendo works as fire fighter in Intramuros.
“It’s wise for slum dwellers to use the solar bulb. Besides saving on energy, that’s better than electricity because there are plenty of people in the slum and houses are made of light materials. Solar bulbs would prevent fire, unlike when you use electric wires.”
Support for the solar bottle project is growing.
In November , thousands of volunteers installed more than 10,000 solar bottles in Manila.
The local chapter of Rotary International provided the materials while the Armed Forces of the Philippines provided the manpower and vehicles.
Illac Diaz says their aim is not just to install solar bulbs but to empower people.
"We can not do things in a big way by ourselves. I think that’s not the truth. It starts by shedding light that we can have a simple technology but we can have global Filipino leaders that can make a difference, this is the turn around that the Philippines can give globally."
Mussah whose one bedroom house is powered by the solar water bottle is planning on returning to her village.
And she will take this simple technology with her.
“ I want to leave my husband with his other family. I just want a peaceful life. When we’re home, I would install a solar light like that. When my neighbours would see that, I’m sure they would also put one up like that.”
Vocabularies:
- light bulb: bola lampu
- environmentally-friendly: ramah lingkungan
- congested: padat, berhimpitan
- slum: kumuh
- refracts: memantulkan
- bleach: pemutih
- illumination: pencahayaan
- install: memasang
- sustainable: berkelanjutan
- empower: memberdayakan
Questions:
- How do people create cheap lighting in the Philippines?
- Who creates “litre of light”?
- How do this “litre of light” help Mona to finish her study?
- How big is Mussah’s home?
- What is Mussah’s next plan after returning to her village?
