Zanzibar’s ‘solar mamas’ are trained as technicians to help light up communities

ZANZIBAR, Tanzania — When the darkness came, so did the smoke.

Hamna Silima Nyange, like half of the 2 million inhabitants of the semi-autonomous Zanzibar archipelago in Tanzania, did not have a house connected to the electricity grid. After sunset, she turned to smoky oil lamps that provided the only light for her eight children to study.

“The light was too dim,” Nyange said. “And the smoke from the lamp hurt my eyes.”

Then one day, a neighbor, Tatu Omary Hamad, installed solar panels and light bulbs that illuminated her home with strong sunlight along the Indian Ocean coast.

“Today we have enough light,” Nyange said.

Hamad is one of dozens of “solar moms” trained in Zanzibar by Barefoot College International, a global nonprofit, in a program that brings light to rural communities and provides jobs for local women. So far in Zanzibar, 1,845 homes have been lit.

The program selects middle-aged women, most of them with little or no education, from villages without electricity and trains them for six months to become solar energy technicians. This is one of the few programs in Africa, including Solar Sister.

Women return to their communities with at least 50 home solar panel kits and the skills and equipment to install and operate them.

Barefoot College International focuses on middle-aged women because they tend to have the strongest ties to their community while being minimally involved in intensive child care.

“We want to train women who become agents of change,” said Brenda Geofrey, director of Barefoot College International Zanzibar.

The Zanzibar campus is in its 10th year of teaching local women. Before that, he sent women for training to India, where Barefoot College International was founded.

One of them was Khazija Gharib Issa, who was an unemployed widow. She is now a master trainer.

“I found a job. I found a place to live. Before, I didn’t have any,” Issa said.

Improving health is at the heart of the program’s mission.

Alongside its flagship solar energy course, Barefoot College International offers programs for women in sewing, beekeeping and sustainable agriculture. Each woman who completes a program receives general health training which she is expected to take back to her village.

“Solar moms” are health enablers in another way, replacing harmful light sources like kerosene.

“There are many problems with using kerosene,” said Jacob Dianga, a health worker at a local clinic who is familiar with the group’s work. The fuel can irritate the eyes, while inhaling its smoke can cause long-term lung damage. It is also a fire hazard in cramped homes and stores, and can poison children who mistake it for a drink.

“Clean energy is very important,” Dianga said. “It helps protect our health.”

Barefoot College International has expanded across Africa, with additional campuses in Madagascar and Senegal. In recent years, women have been brought to Zanzibar from Malawi and Somaliland, and this year some are being recruited from the Central African Republic.

Funding remains a challenge as major donors, including the United States and Europeans, have cut foreign aid and projects face increased competition for the money that remains.

Barefoot College International is run through public and private donations and income generated through its social enterprises.

Another challenge is resistance within local communities, where some people struggle to accept female technicians in a radical new gender role.

While the solar training program recruits with the approval of village leaders, who nominate candidates, some husbands have prevented their wives from receiving training.

“In most African communities, women are portrayed as people who simply stay at home,” Geofrey said.

But sun moms say the results often speak for themselves.

“People said this job was only for men. They were surprised and made fun of me,” Issa said. “But now they see how important my work is. I have become an example.”

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