Lighting up the lives of Filipinas
By empowering women and training them to fix and maintain solar lamps, we help them become entrepreneurs.” Illac Diaz, the social entrepreneur
Hundreds of families in rural Philippines were groping in the dark in the aftermath of a massive landslide and hurricane that wiped out entire villages in 2013.
Enter Liter of Light, a non-profit organisation that recycled plastic bottles filled with water and a dash of bleach. They are then fixed to roofs refracting sunlight during the daytime. A micro solar panel was added to the plastic bottle to provide lighting in the night. “For days, thousands of families had to survive without lighting. The solar lamps that were supposed to arrive from India and China would take months. That is when I decided to create a cheap, locally sourced-out and sustainable solution to bring lighting to the families. Within two months, we brought solar light to 7000 affected families,” liter of Light founder Illac Diaz told Khaleej Times.
After winning $1.5 million in the Zayed Future Energy Prize for the non-profit organisation category, Diaz’s Liter of Light expanded to more than 30 countries providing affordable lighting solutions.
“We partner with women cooperatives by giving them solar parts in loans. By empowering women and training them to fix and maintain solar lamps, we help them become entrepreneurs and power centres in their respective communities. The money they save up are used to provide better education and healthcare for children. So, sustainable solutions lift the over-all well-being of rural communities as well.”
Myrna Gayosa, an ex-inmate of the Correctional Institute for Women in Manilla is one of the beneficiaries. An expert in assembling solar PV lighting systems, she is positively impacting lives by helping Filipino women assembly solar lights. “Even though I cant give money to the poor or needy, I can still help them by making solar lights for those that otherwise have no electricity.”