Testimonials

Rwanda

SunLight SL1 - What a Wonderful Light

Three years ago a family friend from California visited us and gave me one SL1 – the BoGo light. At first I did not value much what I was receiving. I thought it was just one of those fancy modern electric toys. But it is one of the amazingly useful appliances I ever came across. I needed other people to know and own it. Wanting to promote renewable energy promotional activity, I came to (falsely) believe that solar energy was expensive and hardly accessible to the poor. Perhaps you have seen the outside solar light from China that can hardly light one m². So we looked into other options of renewable energy. However this product has proven me wrong. How do I buy more?

Haiti

Just got back from a medical mission trip in Haiti last week. The BoGo Light came in very handy for our eye surgeon who had to do surgeries in a poorly lit room with no electricity. At the end of the week we did over 30 eye surgeries with the help of the BoGo light.

Bola Adebisi

There is a big famine in Haiti now; people do not have money to even buy food for their children. So buying the white gas is another burden on their back. Praise the Lord for the ones who had the opportunity to get BoGo Light. It is a really big difference; they just charge it with the Sun. They take good care of them because they realize how it helps them.
Everyday people come to Duty and say, please add me to the list so when there are more BoGo Lights, I can get one. They even call me on the phone.
We do not have electricity in our house; just my BoGo Light provides the light every night. BoGo Lights are a big blessing for us and we start getting them at the right time.

Thanks and God bless!
Coty.

Uganda

Regarding the SunLights, as our hospital is run on solar and we live adjacent to a rain forest it is a constant battle to provide light at night. One area of the hospital that operates particularly at night is obstetrics. Our nurses never leave home without their solar flashlights. Many newborns’ first view of the world is the illumination from your SunLights.
Thanks to the donor who provided the ability to keep the maternity unit and the rest of the hospital operational after our power has failed.

Blessings,
Scott

Nicaragua

I am a Peace Corps volunteer living in rural Nicaragua working in agriculture and rural development. My community consists of around 200 people and 50 homes. We have no electricity or clean water, for that matter. My dad sent me one of your SunLights at the beginning of my service and it turned out to be the greatest thing he has ever sent down (and that's saying a lot as I receive a steady supply of pistachios and Hershey's chocolate). I can charge the SunLight on my roof during the day and at night or when the rain starts in the afternoon, I cook, clean, read, and play with my dog by the light of your product.
It is such a hit that the members of my community have been asking me how much it costs and where I got it.
My community is my family and I will do all I can to help them improve their living conditions and health.

David Kuhn
Peace Corps Nicaragua

Sierra Leone

I am more than an ardent fan of BoGo lights - I am their main propagator and chief advocate in the Kwako region of Sierra Leone. As Principal Investigator of a three-year research project, I set, as one of the project's many goals, to eschew the use of fossil fuels. (Solar power is our main source of energy.)
We have just completed the first year of the project and will resume our work at the end of the rainy season in Sept 2008, and the BoGo lights have been invaluable, primarily for us to work in the evenings but also to the people helping us out there.
I originally bought just enough "flashlight torches" (what everyone calls them there) for the research team - there are six core members with many others helping out as part-timers, but they have been so wildly popular I have brought more after each trip back to the States. What is so nice about the company is that they actually offer me double the number that I actually pay for since I save them the distribution costs for their buy-one-give-one policy.
When I say "wildly popular", I mean virtually everyone who sees them asks us for one for themselves. (It is common for people to ask for things.) I wish I had more project money since they have changed the complexion of evenings of towns in which we work. There are no schools unfortunately, so they mostly function as the focus of social gatherings at night - if you have a flashlight you usually have it on and share it. Batteries are expensive and of low quality - they last only a short time and are thrown away to join plastic, etc., and do all the horrible things we know about.
BoGo lights are the best thing to hit the Kwako since, since ... I don't know - there's not much else that has hit Kwako.

G. Tucker Childs, Professor
Portland State University

Direct Relief International

Since 2006, Direct Relief International has supported a growing network of hospice and home-based care programs in Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and Zimbabwe. It is my pleasure to highlight these programs in the attached report, and thank you for your support. SunNight Solar contributions have been essential in providing critically needed assistance to patients who are too sick, poor, or isolated from hospitals to receive the care they require.
Together, Direct Relief and SunNight Solar are keeping alive and healthy some of the most vulnerable of Africa. It is my privilege to convey our thanks and that of each individual touched by SunNight Solar contributions.

Warmest regards,

Kristin Brown
Direct Relief International

Angola

Last year ExxonMobil Foundation arranged for the purchase of 5,000 of the SunNight Solar flashlights and distribution of these clever devices to families in very remote communities of Kwanza Sul
Province. Through Save the Children, the Foundation funded a six-school construction project in 2005-6 and another four schools and three community health posts are currently under construction in the same area. Africare is also undertaking a malaria prevention effort in the same communities and
they will distribute the SunLights through their network of community activists. These activists will ensure the people know how to use bed nets to avoid malaria and the SunLights to minimize the upper respiratory distress of the many children in Kibala Municipality. The SunLights are a healthier alternative to traditional light sources in small homes at night, candles, wood or kerosene.
When we were first introduced to the SunNight Solar lights Mark sent us a case of the prototypes. We gave the prototypes for field use by the Palanca Shepherds. The pilot test was very positive; the Shepherds were very much admired by the other villagers for having these prized lights.

W. J. (Bill) Cummings
Public Affairs Manager
Esso Exploration Angola
Luanda, Angola

Zimbabwe

Just to reiterate my grandmother's appreciation for the SunLights you gave her. I am told they are saving the whole village, especially when there is a funeral when people gather at the bereaved family home day and night right until the deceased is buried.
You did a great service to the whole, Matizanadzo Village in the District of Gutu, in Masvingo Province, about 300km south of Harare. God bless your heart.
The other good news is children (my grandmother looks after orphans) at her household are now able to read and do their homework in the evening.
There have been a lot of enquiries about the SunLights from my other relatives.
Thank you once more for your generosity.

Kind Regards

Eunice

Solomon Islands

The response from the local people I've given the lights to has been fantastic so far. "Hem nubawan torch. Hem 100%, 200% 300% torch...etc". The only issue is that I have not got enough to satisfy all the friends and relatives who now want them.
I was told a nice story today by Grace who said she had been hanging hers in her house and all the village children lie in a circle on the floor reading every evening until she has to kick them out to go to sleep. However this only lasted 4 evenings before she sent the light to another island so her son could use it to study. Back to kerosene for her for the time being. So I have no doubt that the product is excellent and the number of people who now want one show that there is definite demand here.

Toby Barber

Hello,

I've had an original BoGo light for oh, about a year now. I decided last night to leave it on to run down the batteries for a full recharge. I turned it on at 1030PM and my wife turned it off at about 0700AM this morning. We have solar lanterns on our deck that don't stay on nearly that long, and they don't put out nearly as much light as the BoGo.
Just a heads up that you do have a truly great product (and humanitarian project). My light's success last night caused me to come back and purchase another light, this time the Super BoGo.

Keep up the good work!

Clint

I wanted you to know that your lights are also popular with another group of American patriots. In July, I visited my daughter, a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) in the southern highlands of Tanzania. There is no electricity in her village. She uses candles and a head lamp, but both have limitations. I took a SunNight light with me to give to her. She was very happy, in part because her nearest PCV neighbors, a couple serving in the village of Kifumbe, already own two and she had lusted after them for a while! The SunNight flashlight is a safer, more powerful portable light than either candle or headlamp.

Thanks for your good work.

Melissa