Beyond Darkness: How Solar Lights are Changing Lives in Honduras

For millions of people, the day doesn’t end when the sun goes down—it simply becomes harder.

Without light, simple tasks turn into challenges: cooking, caring for children, fetching water, studying, working, even stepping outside safely. For those living without electricity, the setting sun dictates their schedule, often forcing them to sacrifice productivity, safety, and connection.
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At Unite to Light, we’ve spent over a decade designing and improving solar-powered Luke Lights to meet the needs of those living in energy poverty. But in 2021, we set out to answer a deeper question: How do these lights actually change lives?

A Field Study in Honduras 

Unite to Light has been manufacturing our own lights since 2011 with a goal of making affordable, durable, high quality reading lights for people living without electricity. We call our solar powered task light the Luke Light (read the history of Luke here). After almost 10 years of manufacturing the Luke Light we decided to undertake a major redesign to make the unit waterproof (not just water resistant), extend the battery life to 10,000 hours (or 7 years), enable an "automatic off" switch (so people did not need to read English, or another language, to use the unit effectively), and extend the solar run time (a fully charged battery will give 15 hours of night light).

Despite years of customer feedback informing these improvements, we wanted to learn from our clients directly about how these new lights would impact their lives (if at all) and also test the durability. 

This photo depicts the faces of all 200 people we spoke to as part of this research.

In partnership with Community Health Partnership Honduras (CHPH), we distributed 200 Luke Lights to individuals in two vastly different but equally underserved communities:
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1. Villanueva Cortes – A remote, mountainous region where residents live hours from the nearest town, surviving on subsistence farming. Here, light is a luxury most have never known.
2. Rivera Hernandez – An urban neighborhood marked by extreme poverty and violence, where rolling blackouts leave homes in darkness for days at a time.

Here is Lourdes Ayala. She is 25 years old and holding Lamp #5 of the study.

Every recipient was assigned a numbered light, photographed, and interviewed to track how these lights would be used and what impact they would have. We followed up two years later to see what had changed.

What We Discovered 
We expected to confirm the obvious: that solar lights would make life safer, save money on candles and batteries, and allow children to study at night. And yes—Luke Lights did all of that.

But what we didn’t anticipate was how profoundly these lights would transform everyday life in ways we hadn’t imagined:

✅ Families saved money—allowing them to afford more protein in their diet, buy chickens that lay eggs, or purchase school uniforms.
✅ Homes became safer—reducing respiratory illnesses from kerosene fumes and preventing burns from open flames.
✅ Mothers could mother — could change diapers, cook dinner later in the evening, and clean up for the next day—without struggling in the dark.
✅ Livelihoods were strengthened—allowing artisans, shop owners, and tailors and farmers to work longer hours and protect their goods.
✅ Students could study longer—leading to better grades, higher graduation rates, and brighter futures.
✅Communities became closer—because when the lights came on, people gathered, talked, laughed, and shared moments they never had before.

A Lightbulb Moment: Beyond Illumination

In a world where the Surgeon General has declared loneliness an epidemic (read the report here), we didn’t expect solar lights to be part of the solution. But time and time again, we heard stories of how these little lights did more than illuminate homes—they illuminated lives.

Instead of silence after sundown, there was laughter. Instead of isolation, there was connection.

We thought we were just providing light. It turns out, we were helping restore something even more powerful—human connection.

Take Action: Be the Light

Solar light changes lives—and you can be part of the movement. Here’s how:

Know of a Grant?
If you’re aware of funding opportunities for research or light distribution, let us know! More grants mean more lights for those in need. Contact Us. 

Bring Lights on a Service Trip
Traveling to a community without electricity? Take Luke Lights with you! We offer discounted rates for anyone delivering lights to those in need. Whether you're a volunteer, a student, a medical brigade, or part of a charity group, you can help spread light. (Minimum order: 10 lights or 5 chargers.) Find out how.

Buy One, Give One
Every purchase from Unite to Light helps someone living in darkness. For every light or charger you buy, we donate one. Get yours today and make an impact!

Donate a Light
A small gift makes a big difference. $10 provides a solar light to someone without electricity. Every dollar helps us bring hope and opportunity to more people around the world.

We want to extend a special thanks to Gisela Voss Kernan, Erika Braun, Jennifer Smith, Ailin Pineda Martinez, and Branford. Without you our lights would not shine as brightly, and we would not have been able to hear the voices of the people of Honduras. Thank you for lighting the world.