Let Us Not Forget A Very Basic Education Technology: On Light
8 Nov
Destination: Philippines
Location: the Slums
Situation: You are a parent of two children trying to make ends meet. You are good at sewing and cooking, but your electricity-less tin hut makes working inside almost impossible. Without light inside you spend most days outside socializing with neighbors and doing odd jobs. You want a better life for your children. You want your children to go to school. Unfortunately, the local school is dilapidated without access to electricity, light or running water… Not to mention you need them to work to bring in much needed family cash.
Enter: Isang Litrong Liwanag (A Liter of Light)
“MyShelter Foundation’s latest venture, is a sustainable lighting project which aims to bring the eco-friendly Solar Bottle Bulb to disprivileged communities nationwide. Designed and developed by students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Solar Bottle Bulb is based on the principles of Appropriate Technologies – a concept that provides simple and easily replicable technologies that address basic needs in developing communities.”
Impact: By turning recycled Coke bottles into 10+ year sources of light, you can now start the sewing and cooking business out of your home that you always dreamed of. This means your kids can go to school, instead of having to work on the streets to support the family.
It Gets Better: Thanks to MyShelter Foundation, your children can attend a new school. Made using two-liter Coke bottle “bricks” filled with adobe, your children’s school is not only three times stronger than concrete, but it too is filled with glorious light! Click here to see it.
One Last Thought: Illac Diaz’s TEDxDubai talk on Isang Litrong Liwanag was a much-needed reminder to me that we often take the most basic education technologies (light and basic infrastructure) for given and for granted. While many of us live in a world of tablets, Twitter and fancy TVs, let us not forget the simple and elegant technologies that enable us to learn around the clock.
To light!
Anna