Addressing Energy Poverty

Ukusebenza kokusa (Operation New Dawn)

With COVID19 paramount on everyone’s mind at the moment, we often lose sight of the realities and what happens after this terrible Pandemic has been resolved. There will still be poverty, crime, Municipal Infrastructures failing, stock markets booming (or crashing), the rich becoming more prosperous and the poor becoming more desolate.

One needs to step back and take a view on how we can contribute or at least connect with others globally who are able to make a difference in someone’s life in any form, shape or size. To this end, South Africa has many challenges, and too many to mention, but is a country of incredible cultures, people and landmarks. A country that has been ravished by State Owned Enterprise capture and tender fraud corruption by the politically connected, (which is well documented on many forums), still has so much going for it.

With mass migration into South Africa from north of its border has caused some serious knock-on effects to the country’s Municipal Infrastructures which are failing on a daily basis and unable to guarantee consistent sanitation and clean drinking water to its population. With South Africa’s only Electricity Service provider (Eskom) unable to provide sustainable and consistent electricity to its population, only exacerbates the situation.

But with this all said, those who have access to the National Grid and Municipal infrastructure have mechanisms in place to cope, what about those who live off the grid such as Informal Settlements and Shack Dwellers.

How many informal settlements are there in South Africa?

There are more than 2 700 informal settlements nationwide with the number of household informal settlements increasing every day.

How many shacks are there in South Africa?

Along with 1.9 million people in backyard shacks, 2 million on farms belonging to others, and 17 million in communal areas, this means that around 21 million people, nearly 36% of all South Africans, live on land or in dwellings held outside of the cadastral system.

There are over 2,5million shack dwellers in South Africa. The poor shack dwelling people of South Africa face many challenges on a daily basis. Access to food, basic sanitation, drinking water and electricity are but some of the vital resources that are out of reach for them on a daily basis. The amount of deaths as a result of kerosene lamps and candles setting shacks alight, run into the hundreds every year.

How can we make a difference?

Being able to introduce technology that can address at least one of these challenges is vital. With this said, I am the exclusive importer for Southern Africa of an incredible product called Nowlight that addresses energy poverty. It requires NO electricity, has 6 levels of light brightness and takes 15 minutes to charge a mobile phone. One minute of pulling the chord produces 2 hours of electricity and power to charge a cellphone. When Nowlight is fully charged, which takes 24 mins of pulling the chord, will give the shack dwellers up to 50 hours of light and access to power to charge their phone or tablet.

In order to make a life changing difference to the disenfranchised, I would like to make an appeal and reach out to all individuals, companies and philanthropists who are in a financial position to donate Nowlight unit/s for any individual or disenfranchised community of your choice in South Africa. With winter approaching in South Africa combined with an already unstable Electricity Service provider, does not bode well for communities who do not have access to electricity.

Herewith please find a couple of specifications on Nowlight for point of reference.

NOWLIGHT IN SA - CLEAN, SAFE AND AFFORDABLE POWER

·       1 minute of pulling will create over 2 hours of light.

·       With six different brightness settings from 5 to 160 lumens get up to 50 HOURS of light when it’s fully charged.

·       With built-in USB out 5V 1.5A charge your mobile phone – one minute of pull-charging powers 15talk time minutes.

·       3200mAh 8Wh battery.

·       Live power display, it’s a Modular System that you can use to power up to four additional ‘satLights’ with independent brightness controls.

·       With a DC input for mains charging, it can also be supplied with a small solar 3W panel for solar charging.

·       Showerproof (IP43 target)

·       1-year warranty.

·       With easy manual charging you no longer need to rely on sunlight or electricity.

·       Designed to replace kerosene lamps making homes safer.

Should you wish to contribute to this campaign and make a difference to someone’s life, please email me for further information in confidence at [email protected] or [email protected]

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