Imagine what it would be like to live your day-to-day life in the New Year without any electricity. Worse than that, imagine what it would be like to live in complete darkness. In today’s world, it’s nearly impossible to think about living off the grid with no electricity. At least until reminded about the 1.5 billion people in the world who live this reality every day.
In fact, over 330,000 people are still living in Tent Cities in Haiti since the devastating earthquake of 2010, facing threats to their safety, commerce and education without electricity. Now a new solar power lamp, the WakaWaka Light, is changing everything and former Florida Congressional Candidate J.R. Gaillot is bringing the effort to our community.
“For every light you buy, one is given to Haiti,” said Gaillot. “Our goal is to donate 50,000 lights to Haiti. I am proud to currently be associated with this company, who recently announced their plans to build an assembly plant in Haiti.”
WakaWaka Light came to life from the makers of Off-Grid Solutions. The modern design fits on a bottle, is ruggadized for extreme conditions, hangs from the ceiling, and is compact, light-weight. It also has five settings to allow different light ranging from a nightlight to ambient light to bright torch light. The solar lamp charges during the day, and close to the equator only needs 4-5 hours to charge for a full battery charge. It even charges in cloudy or rainy weather and the battery will last for three years. Every charge produces free electricity, bringing light to the “bottom of the pyramid.”
“The WakaWaka light is a solar power LED light that will allow Haitians to walk in safety, vendors to continue to sell their product, and students to study without the threat of dangerous Kerosene Lamps,” said Gaillot. “Kerosene is so expensive and dangerous; many children are burned daily due to accidents.”
With an average family size of 5 the 50,000 lights will impact 250,000 lives. Each WakaWaka purchased makes a WakaWaka in developing countries more affordable, enabling a discount for 2 off-grid families. In addition each WakaWaka sale contributes to the education of 1 student in becoming a ‘Climate Hero’ through their non-profit foundation.
The Climate Hero Education Program teaches primary school students about the direct and tangible benefits from solar energy, clean drinking water, personal hygiene, preservation of natural resources, and recycling. The WakaWaka Foundation will act as ‘interface’ so students from developed and developing countries can connect and learn from each other and learn to respect one another during their curriculum.
