Wildfires are increasing in the West. According to the Insurance Information Institute five of the top twenty largest California wildfires occurred in 2020, burning more than 10.3 million acres. When wildfires hit, communities across a large region can be cut off from electricity and communication as power lines are impacted. In addition, electricity companies are increasingly using power shut offs as a tool to reduce fire dangers to the communities they serve. Combined, this means that people in high fire risk regions are experiencing the loss of power exponentially more frequently than in modern memory. ​

Like many of you, we had big ambitions for 2020. We had a whole new program in partnership with the University of California to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the sale of our Luke Lights, an exciting partnership between two schools in Ghana and Newton, Massachusetts, and a tenth anniversary event that would bring us all together… ​

“How do we shelter in place when we are without a home?” asks Gorge, a man living in a homeless encampment in Chicago. According to a point in time count in January of this year, Gorge is one of over half a million people in the United States experiencing homelessness in 2020. About 200,000 of those people are living “unsheltered,” meaning they are living either on the streets, or have made use of other spaces not intended for human habitation.  ​

You don’t often hear of twins in the county of Turkana. It is not because women don’t have them, it is because it is nearly impossible for mothers to sustain two children. Mothers often have to make the impossible decision to let one go, or risk losing them both. This is what people have to do to survive in an environment where malnutrition is part of daily life. ​

Light makes up the very essence of life -- from photosynthesis that enables plants to grow -- to advancements in education, health and communication. At Unite to Light we understand the power of light: that it can increase graduation rates, improve maternal and infant health, aid in disasters and offer hope to people living on the streets. So, on Saturday, May 16th we celebrate the International Day of Light! According to UNESCO:

The International Day of Light celebrates the role light plays in science, culture and art, education, and sustainable development, and in fields as diverse as medicine, communications, and energy...This day is a call to strengthen scientific cooperation and harness its potential to foster peace and sustainable development.

​For students living without electricity, having a solar light increases graduation rates by 20-30%. We have seen this success in South Africa when we examine test scores in exit exams (called matrics) before and after the students have access to our solar lights. Giving students the opportunity to study at night is our goal; we aim to boost their education and increase opportunities. But for those of us that live with electricity, the day-to-day reality of these students can be difficult to imagine. We recently received a note from one of these students and want to share it with you here. 

Ngcebo is an orphan living with his three siblings and tells us how he and his brothers use their solar Luke Light. The words below are his own and we’ve added parenthesis where we think clarification for terms will help translate the story. 

Life is getting tough here in the US. We are practicing social distancing, adapting to working from home, home-schooling our children, lecturing our parents to not go out and worrying about running out of toilet paper. And this is just the beginning. Experts tell us that things are going to get much worse - less so if we significantly limit our contact with each other - but they are estimating 2.2 million Americans will die from the coronavirus, COVID-19. 

This year we sent over 12,000 solar lights and chargers around the world. These went to students in South Africa and Haiti, midwives in Bangladesh and victims of disasters around the world. Dozens of partners also took lights to places like the Philippines, Nepal, Kenya, Ghana, Sudan, Rwanda, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Paraguay and Mexico. Everywhere lights go they are improving health, giving opportunity and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.