Sapera Basti does not have electricity, but Sahir’s family was donated a solar lantern a few months back. However, there was a fire in the village, which destroyed everything, including the solar lantern. Your generous donation, Khalid, made it possible for TRF to provide a new solar lantern to Sahir’s family. Sahir, and her children are very happy to have light back in their lives. Since solar lanterns are powered by sunlight, it reduces fuelwood and kerosene consumption, enabling the family to save some money.

Thank you, Khalid, for providing light to Sahir’s family.

She lives with her younger son who makes furnishings and decorative items by doing block printing on cloth. Your donation of a solar lanter, Julia, means that Shanti’s son can now continue working even after nightfall. He can therefore increase his production, and their income.

Shanti likes to help her son when she can, and with her savings is hoping to purchase a sewing machine which will help her further increase the family income.
Thank you, Julia, for bringing light into the darkness that was Shanti’s life.

Rajunath lives with his pretty wife, Dholi, and her parents in Sapera Basti, a hamlet of 11 families near the city of Jaipurin, Rajasthan.

Rajunath’s main source of income is the three goats he has. He sells milk in the nearby village of Chaksu to make ends meet. Rajunath had trouble milking his goat early in the mornings as it is always dark and this tiny village does not have electricity.

With your generous donation of a Solar Lantern, Katie, he can now milk the goats early in the morning and work as a labourer during day time thereby increasing his income. His wife is also happy since she can cook food late in the evening without having to worry about insects falling into the food. She can now spend more time collecting small pieces of  wood from the nearby dry forest, which she can sell to make some extra money.

Rajunath and Dholi also get to spend a little more time together, because they don’t have to go to bed as soon as it got dark, as they used to earlier.

Thank you, Katie. Your generosity has made a huge difference to Rajunath and Dholi’s life.

Ashok Nath lives in the village of Saper Basti near Jaipur, Rajastan, with his wife, Reena, and 8 month old son. He is a Beldar (mason), by trade, and is slightly better off than the other residents of the village, in that they live in a mud hut. Since the village is not electrified, they depend on oil lamps for light. They also collect dry wood for burning from near the river which is often dry.

Your donation, Howard, enabled The Restoring Force to donate a solar lantern to Ashok and Reena. Now they have light at night, and don’t have to be worried about the dark.
Ashok and his wife like listening to Rajasthani songs on their mobile phone which has a built in radio. They could not do it often, however, since they have to travel long distance to get the phone charged as there was no electricity in the village. Now Ashok will be able to charge the mobile phone from the Solar Lantern.
Thank you, Howard, for your generosity.

Premnath and her eight year old son, Deva live in Sapera Basti, a settlement of around 11 families near the city of Jaipur in Rajasthan.

Having lost her husband two years back, who used to sing folk songs to earn a living, now Premnath and Deva, survive on the pension she receives from the Government. The Indian Government  provides a pension of Rs. 500 ($10) per month to widows, who have no source of livelihood. Under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), the Government also tries to create avenues of work, for poor widows and Premnath manages to earn a small amount, this way.

With no electricity in their village, your wonderful gift of a solar lantern, brought smiles into their home. Both mother and son suffer from tuberclosis and the fumes from the kerosene lamps used to affect their eyes and lungs.

Thanks to the lantern, they can now avoid inhaling the fumes and also do a lot more things, during the evening.

Thank you so much, Kim, for this wonderful gift of light!

Kusum, a widow lives with her two sons, daughter-in-law and a widowed daughter in Sapera Basti near the city of Jaipur in Rajasthan. Sapera Basti can barely qualify as a village- it is a settlement of 11 families, with all the property belonging to the local Panchayat. No electrical power lines run into the village, and neither does the village boast of a school, a healthcare centre or even shops. The residents of Sapera Basti have to go to the village of Chaksu, which is 5 kilometers (3 miles) away, for all their basis necessities.

Kusum’s son works in Chaksu, as a laborer on daily wages and usually manages to find work only for fifteen days in a month . With his meager income, they struggle to run the household and meet their most basic needs. Her daughter helps by cutting firewood from the nearby forests for cooking food.

Kusum’s eyesight is weak and she was delighted when she received the gift of a solar lantern. She can now see better in the evenings. Till now, she couldn’t do much work because of her poor vision and no electricity, although she knows stitching. But with the arrival of the solar lantern, she hopes to save up and buy a sewing machine and start stitching during the evenings, thereby increasing the income of the family.

Thank you, Laurent, for fulfilling her wish and giving her the opportunity to supplement her family income.

Eighteen year old, Rakesh is unlike other city teenagers, of his age. He hails from a conservative and traditional community in rural Jaipur and was married at the age of 12. Child marriage, is one custom that still prevails in many parts of rural India where children as young as 10 and 12 years old are married and made to live separately till the girl turns 18.

In a custom called ‘Gauna’, the young girl of 18 is sent back to her husband’s house to live with him and his family. In all those years of separation, the couple are not allowed to meet or communicate and this was possible, as there were hardly any means of communication in rural villages, until now.

Rakesh, who just turned 18 himself, has to wait a couple of years more before he can meet his wife, but thanks to a public phone in his village, he can stay in touch with her. But this was proving very costly for him as he had to pay Rs. 5 for each call and also had to travel a long distance, to reach the phone booth. He bought a mobile phone which proved to be even costlier as it had to be charged every day and with no electricity, in his village, he had to travel far to get it charged.

With the arrival of the solar lantern, life has become easier as the solar lantern has the provision for  charging the mobile phone. He can thus, save much time and money and most importantly, can stay in touch with his wife.

Thank you, Laurent, for this wonderful gift of a solar lantern that has brought much happiness in Rakesh’s life!

Jagdish Nath lives with his wife Daka, three sons Ghanshyam, Sitaram and Chotu and one daughter Guddi in Sapera Basti a settlement of around 11 families near the city of Jaipur in Rajasthan.

His major source of income was snake charming but due to the ban from the Forest department, he has taken up other jobs. People from nearby villages still call him when they spot snakes, near their houses. He usually keeps these snakes for a few weeks and then leaves them in the forests. He earns his income by exhibiting the snakes during Nag Panchami (a festival of the Hindus where the people venerate live cobras). As this does not give him sufficient income, to manage his household, he recently bought three goats and some hens for an additional source of income.

Jagdish Nath and his family were excited to have the solar lantern as they could now avoid using the chimney lamps which used to send out fumes. He is the only person in this settlement who has the knowledge of making medicines from herbs for snake bites. He can now make them early in the mornings or late in evenings and continue with his other jobs during daytime.

Thank you so much, Laurent, for this wonderful gift of a solar lantern with which, Jagdish Nath can continue saving lives by making useful herbal medicines for snake bites!