Enkanini Solar Lights to be installed ... for real.

Since the first installation of the 10 solar lights donated by The Philips Foundation in Feb 2018, a lot has happened. There was extreme joy and happiness when the lights were working, even though they were switching off in the middle of the night, there was still much gratitude and excitement as they increased safety and ease of movement in a significant area of the settlement.

Then the lights stopped working all together. There were rumours that when Philips came in to fix them so they were be on all night, that they intentionally broke them so they didn’t work at all. This was not the case. Philips did come in to fix them and to this day they still do not understand why the lights stopped working. This occurred in May 2018.

In January a few InSite staff members went to Enkanini in an attempt to understand what happened and how the residents were feeling towards the solar light project since the lights had not worked in months and were then vandalized. Philips was wondering if new lights were provided if they would be taken care of by the residents.

It was made clear from that visit that the lights were valued and wanted. We had many meetings and conversations with many residents so that it was made clear that there was something wrong with the lights, and Philips wanted to make it right.

During this time, The Philips Foundation rebranded to Signify, and there were new people to work with and try to sort out what was needed to fix the mess in Enkanini.

Presently, Reckoning has been informed that the new solar lights - even more advanced and better quality lights will be installed in October 2019. So this is something to celebrate as we all look forward to seeing this initiative to bring more light into Enkanini a reality.