Turn the Page Uganda: A Successful Delivery

An educator from Lira, Uganda.

The trek from California to Uganda is certainly not easy, as Turn the Page Uganda volunteer Vicky Harbison has come to learn. Navigating the ins and outs of international travel is difficult enough on its own, let alone with an additional 80 pounds of solar lights at her side. On her way through Ugandan customs, she was stopped for her suspicious luggage and lack of formal paperwork approving it. This is it, she thought; she had made it all this way just to be stopped right before the finish line. Yet, 139 lights is better than none, right? Noticing the curiosity of the airport employee, she offered her one of the lights. The employee eased up a bit, and after almost 24 hours of travel time, Vicky, and 139 of the 140 lights, made it.

Turn the Page Uganda is a nonprofit organization that provides books to schools in Northern Uganda to help raise the educational level of students who will need to compete in a global culture and economy. Since 2015, they have provided resources and aid in hard-to-reach areas to open opportunities for a better education. As a recipient in our 2024 Gift of Light Partner Program, Vicky applied to bring 140 of our Luke Lights to teachers at 30 schools to aid in lesson planning, reading the newly provided textbooks, and other operations after dark. 

Teachers in Lira, Uganda celebrate their new solar Luke Lights from Unite to Light and Turn the Page Uganda.

After arriving in the capital Kampala, Vicky traveled north to Lira, a town still recovering from war-induced infrastructural ruin. Igniting in 1986, the war in northern Uganda forced many residents into government-controlled displacement camps for their safety; books were burned for cooking and most schools were bombed or severely burned. In the rural areas, electricity is still rare. Most of the locals live in huts with no running water or electricity, relying on dangerous kerosene lamps to complete necessary tasks after sunset. 

Two teachers celebrate the gift of light in Lira, Uganda.

Vicky had brought a few lights to these schools the year before, and the other teachers in Lira were excited to receive solar lights of their own after seeing how useful they were to their colleagues. With new textbooks and solar lights from Turn the Page in hand, these teachers were no longer restricted by the setting of the sun or  dangerous kerosene lamps.  They could now plan their lessons and review coursework after dark with safe, free and bright light from the sun.

As she handed out the Luke Lights, Vicky explained some of the light’s other features. They could, for instance, hang the light around their neck using the bendable arm or “lock” the arm in place and hang it from the ceiling or a wall. The lights would also turn off automatically in the sun, and because they were waterproof, the teachers didn’t need to worry about leaving them out in the rain. Importantly, the educators could expect to get 5+ hours of night light for every day the light was charged in the sun and up to 16 hours on a full battery, meaning they should never need to resort back to kerosene lamps. ​

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To complement their oral teaching traditions, the teachers are excited to review the textbooks and build upon their lesson plans. 

This project was funded through our Gift of Light Partner Program, which draws Lights and Chargers from our Buy One | Give One campaigns. Thank you to everyone who has purchased a light or made a donation so that we can create these opportunities to light the world together. We greatly appreciate your continued support. To see more projects like this across the globe, check out some of the ways you can donate and get involved.