How Solar Light for Africa, Ltd. Began

“ Let there be light.”

By Bishop Alden M. Hathaway, Founder

Solar Light for Africa, Ltd. started in 1997, when I made my first trip to East Africa in order to see a small orphanage in Uganda that the Pittsburgh Episcopal Diocese had helped build. While there I discovered that the orphanage had no reliable electricity for taking care of the babies and young children at night. I also met Bishop Zebedee Masereka of the diocese of South Rwenzori and he told me of his concern to provide his pastors in the rural areas where there is no electricity to replace the hazardous and dim kerosene lanterns.

Upon my return to the States, I spoke to my son, Alden, who is an electrical engineer working in the field of renewable energy and an authority on solar application. He told me, “No problem; we can provide solar power and light. By coincidence, it turned out that Alden has a Ugandan Friend, John Ssemanda, who had recently started a small business in Kampala to distribute solar products in East Africa.

Alden drew the specifications for a small solar package capable of powering four fluorescent lights and a light appliance. He contracted with a solar manufacturer to provide the equipment at minimum cost, $1000 per installation. John then organized the transport to Uganda and the African crews to install the units. And that is how Solar Light for Africa, Ltd. began.

On August 2nd, 2006 we returned from our eighth annual Youth Mission. It was three weeks installing solar units in hospitals and schools in rural Uganda. There were sixteen American, and ten Ugandan high school and college-aged youth. Twelve adults led the team, including two Ugandans, two American dentists, and one American physicians. Traveling with us was the woman who has become Mama to us, Mrs. Penina Kyembabazi, the personal assistant to First Lady of Uganda Janet Museveni.  The youth, African and American, bonded very quickly and rapidly became proficient at installing solar. They ate, slept, worked and played together, developing strong bonds of friendship for years to come.

In 2003 and 2004, we added a medical component to our solar electrification mission.  One of the most dramatic testimonies given to  Mrs. Museveni came from our doctors.  After having worked at a facility without  the benefit of electricity, we went to Rukunyu's Good Samaritan Hospital in 2003 to provide electrification, clean water, lights, and medical equipment.    Dr. Marcellin treated a young girl at Rukunyu's Good Samaritan Hospital, who had been deaf for several years.  With the electricity provided, she was able to use an otoscope to determine that an ear infection had caused the hearing loss.  The doctors were able to treat the infection with antibiotics stored in the refrigerator at the newly electrified hospital.  At the first facility, Dr. Marcellin had treated a baby girl with severe dehydration and diarrhea.   The baby was too weak to cry.  Her mother was very sick, as well.  Any facility with clean water and a moderate amount of electricity to keep drugs cool could have made both the girl and her mother well.

At our final luncheon meeting with Mrs. Museveni in 2003, Dr. Marcellin reported, "Madame First Lady, there was nothing I could do for that little girl...I am sure that by now, she has died.  I'm sorry; I'm so sorry."

To this, the first lady replied, "I know what you saw, but you came all the way from America, at great personal sacrifice to see for yourself, and to do what you could.  You cannot know what an encouragement you were to the people of Rukunyu."  We will solve our problems in Uganda, and we are so greatly encouraged and strengthened by your faithfulness."

When we return from our mission projects it is natural to feel overwhelmed by the tremendous need for clean dependable power yet to be met. But we also know that whatever can be done—no matter how little it may seem— it is of crucial importance to those whose lives are touched by it. So we are even more committed to do all that we can to provide as much solar as possible and to bring as many young people as possible to Africa to witness the great difference that solar makes in the lives of ordinary people.