It’s hard to believe that in less than a year, we’ve been responsible for placing solar suitcases in no less than 9 countries! We have sent seven solar suitcases to Haiti for medical relief efforts. Feedback from two medical teams has suggests that these portable, immediately operational units are a great help to health care teams working under challenging conditions. One group, the Enoch Choi Foundation, is providing medical care in a tent city serving 100,000 people. Their needs for energy are so great that we are augmenting our solar suitcase with bigger solar modules and an inverter. The new suitcases will supply power for fans and computers, in addition the basic functions of powering lights and phones.
In India, team member Terry Lo is testing out our solar suitcase in a family planning clinic, where our powerful directional LED lights are aiding health workers doing pelvic exams. In Zimbabwe, Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa is bringing a suitcase to a maternity clinic in a rural village and will be showing the suitcase to the entire community as the beginning of a project to transfer technology skills to Africans. And soon we will be sending four MORE solar suitcases to Uganda, where UNICEF will utilizing these in clinics. In Thailand, midwives from Burma will be learning how to use a solar suitcase especially adapted for their situation. They need to hike for 10 days to bring their ‘solar backpack’ deep into the jungles of Burma where they will set up maternity clinics. The backpacks will power overhead lights and charge headlamps for the midwives – providing a bit of dignity and improved care to patients wishing to deliver with skilled attendants.
We’ll be posting pictures to the gallery in the coming week, so stay tuned.
