Give a Little Light - Or Maybe 1 Million

I move from room to room happily flicking lights on and off as I need them - lately preferring the low, romantic lighting that casts a softness about my face - but I digress! My worn little spot on the couch that so coincidentally is shaped exactly like my behind is great for watching TV, but a pain to read in. There is no direct lighting strong enough to light up the pages of whatever I am trying to read for these dazzling green AGING eyes of mine! So I complain.

When Kidlet and I were in Kenya last summer, we saw first hand the cosy little clay and dung homes that relied on a single window-type opening for light. Our hostess Jane showed us her new block house she built with her earnings from her farm, which is the only one of its kind in the community, but told us about how it was still difficult for her children to do their homework by the light of the cooking fire and kerosene lamp.

SO - this week for my Give a Little challenge, I donated one Kiran solar lantern ($15) to One Million Lights, an organization with a goal of replacing one million harmful and polluting kerosene lamps with clean and healthy solar light.

Good lighting provides more opportunities for education and income generation for rural, families in a developing country. It helps the environment by reducing carbon emissions and ultimately helps improve the health of people living in rural communities by eliminating dangerous kerosene smoke fumes as well as the risk of deadly burns and fires from kerosene lanterns.

I applaud One Million Lights for having a creative, effective solution to a problem that may not seem huge, but the solution of which will have lasting impact. It provides what I and all of us in our country enjoy with wild abandon - often in excess and wastefully. I am going change my ways ... and I started by buying myself a solar lantern as well. And gosh darn it, it feel so good to give - even if it is just a little!

Read about my personal Thursday's Give a Little Challenge. I have to give ongoing props to Wendy Smith for her inspiring book, Give a Little. Give it a read.