Light & Future



Climate Heroes

An enormous positive impact on school results. Research shows that this is the effect of the light from solar powered lamps like the Wakwaka solar LED lamp. That makes sense: it’s not only safer, cleaner and cheaper than kerosene, it gives much better light. This enables students to do their homework in the evenings and teachers to prepare their lessons.

An education kit is being developed for school classes in developing countries in comic style, with a comic hero named “Climate Hero”. The program is intended for children aged 10 – 16, and primarily children in areas where power outages are frequent. That’s where people have to resort to dangerous, toxic and expensive kerosene.

An education kit consists of:

  • 1 WakaWaka solar LED-lamp for the teacher
  • 1 Climate Hero handbook for the teacher
  • 30 Climate Hero workbooks
  • 30 pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners and notebooks
  • 1 soccer ball for the class
  • (upon completion of the Climate Hero program: 50% discount on a WakaWaka for every student)

The Climate Hero program is about topics that are directly related to the lives and surroundings of the children and their families. They learn the immediate advantages of economical and safe solar powered lighting, clean drinking water, thorough hand washing, replanting of trees and how to deal with waste.

When the students have successfully completed their program, they are officially “Climate Heroes”. They’ve also earned a significant discount of 50% for their parents to purchase a WakaWaka (one per child).

Why not give the WakaWaka away free to everyone? In the first place, even those who live from less than US$ 2 per day have their pride and we don’t want to approach them as needy people. The idea is that the WakaWaka comes within their reach. We also want to avoid a free WakaWaka being seen as ‘not valuable’ and being exchanged for clothing or extra food. No matter how important these things are, the long-term effects of good lighting will be much more valuable in the end.

Secondly, if people make a conscious choice to spend money on the WakaWaka (and are able to do so because it has been made affordable with their small income), they will treat it with more care. After all, the WakaWaka is valuable.

In the third place: Because the WakaWaka isn’t free, we can make the lamp affordable and available to more people.

A teacher’s first reaction to the WakaWaka