At the Lewa Children’s Home in Kenya, roughly 50 children are provided with everything they need – food, shelter, healthcare, an education and more. They even have electricity, unlike many children in the country, but it comes at a high cost.

To help defray that major expense, thanks to the generosity of long-time supporter, the Landis Family Foundation, we were able to sponsor 50 percent of the cost of equipment and installation of solar panels and hot water heaters this year.

Lewa founder and director, and our international spokesperson Phyllis Keino noted that “This grant will ensure that children of Lewa will have access to hot water as the current installed solar panels are over 10 years old and have stopped working.”

In fact, Kenya and many African countries are “going green” and we are doing our part to take advantage of the tremendous amount of solar power potential available throughout the continent.

As reported recently by Africa.com, Africa has an immense energy crisis with a population of close to 1 billion, there are 625 million people living without power – nearly 70 percent of the population.

“Africa has much greater solar resources available than any other continent because it is the sunniest continent on earth,” notes Africa.com.

Kenya is taking the lead in promoting solar power as more and more of the country’s residents are getting power for the first time, or installing solar panels and reducing or eliminating their dependence on the grid.

In 2017, we installed solar panels on the roof of a clinic in the town of Kericho enabling doctors and staff to have hot water for washing, as well as keeping the facility itself more sanitary.

And three years ago, working with our partner in Sierra Leone, the Christian Health Association of Sierra Leone, we shipped solar panels which were placed on the roofs of clinics and hospitals in the most remote regions of the country where running a power line would be impossible.

Renewable energy technology has the potential to reduce the many of the problems faced throughout the continent and we applaud the fact many small-scale companies and start-ups, such as M-KOPA Solar in Kenya which sells solar home systems to low-income earners, are making large inroads in making green energy available for all.