Solar in Classrooms Connecting Spain and Uganda
Students from an international school in Spain work with Ugandan children to explore Little Sun’s solar education workshops for Earth Day 2017.
The Kindred Project, a student-led NGO from Sotogrande International School in Spain, came across Little Sun when three M3 students were studying for their Community Project, which focuses on finding ways to support local or global communities. We’re very grateful that the students picked Little Sun to learn about and partner with, fundraising enough to bring 102 Little Suns for The Kindred Project´s partner school Nabugabo Community Learning Centre (NCLC), near Masaka in Uganda. The Ugandan children who participated in the project and were given the Little Suns had no access to electricity at home, so being given a solar lamp means that the children can now do their homework and go to the bathroom safely at night.
Sharing Knowledge and Sharing the Sun
Knowing first-hand the transformative power of education, the Spanish students from the Kindred Project took their support for solar a step further. During their recent expedition to NCLC, they ran four of Little Sun’s solar education workshops, teaching 35 school children at NCLC about the power of the sun, and the magic of solar! The NCLC children were split into two groups; age 4-7 and 8-12. Using the Little Sun education materials, the workshops with the younger students included:
– What is the Sun?
– Project 2: Darkness and Solar Light
– Project 3: Living with Darkness
– Project 5: What´s inside a Little Sun Lamp?
The younger group explored how the solar lamp works and why having light after dark is so important. The workshops enabled the children to think in a creative way about what the sun actually is, as they drew the sun and wrote words that related to the sun and what they understood it to be.
An Adventure Beyond the Classroom
Following on from the workshops, throughout two evenings, the six visiting Spanish students split into two groups to journey to different communities, handing out as many Little Suns as possible before they lost the daylight! Hours were spent walking through bush, miles away from villages and roads to deliver the Little Suns and explain to each family how to use them.
The visiting students reported that the families were really happy to receive their own light. When distribution is combined with education, the impact is immensely powerful and has long lasting effects, not just for the recipients and children, but also for the distributors and educators. This initiative is a powerful example of how SIS students through The Kindred Project are using education as a force for good.
Here are some reflective thoughts from The Kindred Project students who were part of the Little Sun project in Uganda:
¨The work of Little Suns is truly amazing and I have been lucky enough to experience first hand the impact it can have on people’s lives. In the community of Nabugabo and surrounding villages, there are many families living with no light. For school children this makes doing their homework difficult. Even for adults, tasks such as cleaning and cooking are very difficult when there is no light. This is why the Little Suns are so amazing. Thanks to Little Suns there will be children in Uganda able to do their homework tonight.¨
Amy Denton, M4 Student
¨When in Uganda, we got the privilege of handing out an amazing product called Little Suns to children and families within the community, in order to create a positive impact on their lives by giving them solar powered light. When handing out the Little Suns, we met many families and their response to the product and the impact this had on the local community was huge! I’m very grateful to everyone within the team who allowed us to be able to make this dream a reality for the Nabugabo community, thank you.¨
Leah Wilson, D1 Student
Sharing knowledge and connecting people through kindness, creates a sustainable force for good, felt from one part of the world to another.
If you would like to explore our free, easy to use solar education workshops, you can download them here. Interested in partnering with Little Sun? Get in touch with Eva at Eva@littlesun.com
