Let there be light

Agami and One Million Lights’ initiative to distribute solar lanterns amongst poor students in Bangladesh

Solar lights will go to all the students in Agami’s school projects in Bangladesh. The organization has partnered with One Million Lights (onemillionlights.org ) in implementing this rather ambitious project. We are calling it ‘Let There Be Light’ in the spirit of the famous unfinished movie of the same name by the film maker Zahir Raihan who was killed during the 1971 liberation war.

65% of Bangladesh’s population does not have access to modern power supply and, thus, their entire livelihood at night is still dependent upon old fashion Kupees or lanterns, using environmentally unfriendly energy sources such as kerosene. Although solar photovoltaic-based rural household power generation is getting significant attention in Bangladesh, most of the rural population cannot even afford the low-end integrated solar home system. This is where Agami comes in.

Agami has received 100 solar lights from One Million Lights as part of the Pilot Phase of their program. Each of the solar light costs US$25 and has an estimated lifetime of more than 10 years containing its own batteries for energy storage of sunlight exposure during the day time. After 7 hours of daytime sunlight exposure, each of the solar light is expected to last for 4+ hours at night time use with option of different brightness levels. Each solar light is good for 3-4 students studying together using a reading table where the light is hung from the top.

Agami believes in empowering the underprivileged children in rural and urban areas so that they can improve their lives as well as enhance their pursuit of education curricula. In the next phase, Agami plans to provide solar light to all of the ~2300 Agami students in 10 different Agami school projects in different geographical locations in Bangladesh. Some schools are in remote local settings and some are in slums of metropolis Dhaka city. We would love to hear your feedback and reactions to this ambitious project in empowering the livelihoods of the underprivileged children through empowering with modern but cost-effective solar power technology. One baby step at a time!

Agami also requests your generous donations for this ambitious empowering project – Let There Be Light! I hope you will open your heart and wallet for this noble cause. We will need thousands of dollars in implementing this project in next few years.