Solar task lights - buy one, give one free charity program

[HenryJ]

Thank you for the intelligent discussion. Playing the skeptic, or devils advocate can bring to light things that you would not otherwise have known. Technology is not always the answer. Your reference to the simple mechanical pump as a case in point. Good stuff, thank you.

It will interesting to see some further testing and reports on the donated units.

We need to design a walking stick with a light. The shaft would be spring cushioned and power the generator that would charge storage cells for the light. A few solar cells in the shaft would be a way to charge it when not in use. The light would be down low where it is needed. Half a dozen protected LED around it. It would not be shielded by the body and visible 360°. At the top of the shaft there needs to be a retractable spike. This way it could be inverted and stuck in the ground to act as a torch light.
That would be a very handy walking stick.
Perhaps a piece of cord or string to attach the BoGolight to the staff they already have and do the same thing. Back to keeping it simple.

 

[Desertdude]

HenryJ - it is interesting that you mentioned a lighted walking stick. I have seen those rechargeable lights you shake, I wonder if this could be a way to also charge while you walk.

Great useful idea! :REOutArchery02: Worth documenting...

 

[DesertRose]

Hi All,

I have been wanting to answer Henry's post, but am running around like a crazy person trying desperately to get a zillion things done for a big donor trip to Denver and then immediately thereafter a month in Kenya and TZ. So forgive if this is a bit hasty! (And THANK YOU everybody who already pretty much said what needs to be said.

Has anyone tried one of these lights first? Are they sturdy? Do they actually work well? Do they last? Do these people actually want them?

I think you forgot to perhaps read up on the BoGoLight.com website first, and then also the reviews posted by DesertDouglas. They are extremely well researched and the idea for them came from a NEED identified by someone who has 40 years experience in Africa. I think that qualifies.

Are you just sending a bunch of plastic to be disposed of in a foreign country?

I can't speak to that directly without sounding skeptical back! A lot of folks in the West seem to want to keep the rest of world without the very same conveniences as we enjoy . . . why? Why shouldn't they have rechargeable plastic flashlights when all they have now is kerosene or candles? And they or their children die of lung-related illnesses from inhaling all the particulates in tiny mud huts? The statistics are there. The need is there.

Every time we go to African countries we're asked for our flashlights because they don't have the money - or are even remotely close to a "store" - for batteries. They just beg lights from tourists, then toss them out when they're dead and beg for more.

Can you imagine how hazardous it is to walk at night in regions where there are deadliest snakes in the world? More people die of snakebite in African then many of the "scary" diseases everybody worries about.

I know it is easier to get someone to donate when there is "something in it for them". You get a light and feel better since it was a donation to someone else. The light arrives and it is a $4 piece of junk. You still feel OK, since you contributed to a good cause. Would the money have been better spent sending it directly the the people who need it to buy solar panels to provide power for a school?

We have seen the lights, they're great. They will be welll-received.

Would the money have been better spent on something else?

Gosh, you could say that about ANYTHING!

Would I rather have $100 cash than the lights?

Of course.

I'd also rather be fundraising than writing this right now!

But you could talk yourself out of ANYTHING with this kind of logic.

Here's where we're coming from:

someone has a great program to fill a big need (if you haven't travelled in the Third World and really gotten out there and visited with real people, you can't fathom the needs . . .).

We are supporting it because sometimes it is just one small deed, one small step, one person at a time to change the world.

If all I ever thought about was "oh I'm not going to do this because helping one person read at night / not step on a puff adder / not get lunch disease because I'd rather help 500 or 500,000 people" then I'd never do anything.

And I'd just sit on my rear like most of the rest of the world and get fatter in the First World.

Sorry I'm sounding snarky! I just really feel passionately that to change the world it starts with small things, and with people with heart.

We should not criticize these people til we first read up on what they are doing and then talk to them directly (that's what I did with Mark Bent and this project - before I supported it, or wrote anything about it).

Well, I must get back to work.

Oh, and by the way if you'd read the website, you'd see their next project is a cheap solar powered water purifier. Dirty water is a huge cause of massive infectious disease spread in Africa.

 

[Jonathan Hanson]

Are you just sending a bunch of plastic to be disposed of in a foreign country?

Only in the first world do we simply dispose of plastic. Elsewhere in the world it is normally either repaired or put to another use. I've seen guys sitting on chairs on the sidewalk in Dar es Salaam with a circuit tester and soldering iron and a bucket full of junk cell phones, repairing the phones of passers-by who, if they were American, would simply toss them and buy a new one.

African women still carry loads on their heads, but now they frequently use the ubiquitous five-gallon plastic paint bucket, which is absolutely superb for the task. This annoys many camera-toting tourists, who want to see quaint clay pots (which break) or hand-woven baskets (which are labor-intensive to produce and wear out quickly).

The lack of nighttime lighting in Africa is a real problem, as the developer of this project rightly realized after his extensive experience. He didn't simply sit at a desk in the U.S. and think, "Ooh: flashlights! That would be a fun thing to send over!" As far as his choice of product, he surely wouldn't get very far if he suggested people buy one Surefire 6P light for themselves for 60 bucks and he'd send another one to Africa, along with six dollars worth of lithium batteries that would last an hour. He needed something affordable and as nearly as possible self-contained. After using a Bogolight I'm impressed with its design and execution. The shake-and-bake light is a great suggestion too, but the technology for those is still more expensive as far as I know.

 

[Jonathan Hanson]

In the interests of developing the Bogolight project further, as well as to address the concerns of those who doubt the utility of the concept, we have introduced an entirely new model, which can be distributed to the Maasai anti-poaching patrols supported by the African Conservation Fund. Announcing the Bogo Maasai anti-poaching tactical light:

 

[DaktariEd]

Most interestingly, a pharmaceutical company rep came by this morning and offered a new "gadget" to promote their product.

It's a hand-cranked hand held flashlight very similar in size to the BoGo light. I don't know much more about it, but the rep is going to try to get me more data, and look into a corporate donation of these lights. And if I can get the manufacturer name info perhaps we can get a corporate donation from them as well. You never know...

Pretty interesting coincidence, eh?

:sombrero:

 

[DaktariEd]

In the interests of developing the Bogolight project further, as well as to address the concerns of those who doubt the utility of the concept, we have introduced an entirely new model, which can be distributed to the Maasai anti-poaching patrols supported by the African Conservation Fund. Announcing the Bogo Maasai anti-poaching tactical light:

That's perfect!
:ar15:

 

[Desertdude]

Beaded belt extra?

 

[Jonathan Hanson]

Optional. It comes standard with duct tape.

 

[Desertdude]

:elkgrin:

 

[DesertDouglas]

Jonathan that's brilliant, absolutely brilliant!

I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't become part of some warriors' headdresses--given some of the things we've seen.

 

[HenryJ]

I have been wanting to answer Henry's post, but am running around like a crazy person trying desperately to get a zillion things done for a big donor trip to Denver and then immediately thereafter a month in Kenya and TZ. So forgive if this is a bit hasty!...Sorry I'm sounding snarky! I just really feel passionately that to change the world it starts with small things, and with people with heart.

Sorry to keep you from much more important endeavors. Thank you for taking the time to respond. Sound as "snarky" as you wish. I have a hard crust and will not be offended. I knew full well that I may have set myself out as a whipping post, but really did want to air the discussion.

I did read the website and I would rather have confirmation from and independent source such as yourself. There are way too may out there pounding the drums of their cause only to line their pockets.
I would have been less skeptical if there were not such a long list of different beneficiaries. I can now believe the need in the areas that you know in Africa. Do the troops in Afghanistan need them as well? I will admit that the list has many that I do not recognize or understand, Hence the red flag in my mind.
Maybe I have been scammed one to many times. I like to take a good look before I jump, or suggest others take the leap.

 

[DesertRose]

I can see another side here. Something is usually better than nothing.
Would any of you just sent her cause $20. Not likely. This way there was something in it for you. They benefit by drawing you in to donate. Good marketing. I can find no fault in achieving a method that provides a return.

Many of the people responding on this thread are already donors to our conservation work in East Africa, and to other causes. I will say that none of them give because they "get" a light or something. They give because they be good folk.:wings:

You might note that there is an option to NOT receive a light but send 2 to a charity. Many folks have done that.

And also, we're (African Conservation Fund) not doing it for the marketing.

We're doing it because we want to help people through this neat cause.

It's a small part of the bigger picture that we're working on and if we can make life a little nicer for a few hundred folks in East Africa - who currently are incredibly poor - then that's a good thing.

You don't recognize many of the names on the Bogo Light dropdown menu of charities because they are grassroots groups who really get the real work done (as opposed to the BINGOs - Big International NGOs).

Again, the website clearly describes why they're doing it this way and not using huge aid orgs to move the lights. It would be a helluva lot easier for Mark Bent to just cut deals with a UN arm and make a sweet profit and the lights go nowhere.

And he supports the troops because he was a Marine. Maybe they don't need them as much, but he's doing it because he supports what they are doing.


Thanks for everybody's support on this interesting project.

I'll be leaving in a few weeks and probably will have to drop ship the lights because we're getting a lot!

 

[calamaridog]

I'll forward this concept to the Weapons Training Unit but I suspect they will not like the color.

First I should clean the juice off my monitor, which came out of my nose, thanks a bunch:shakin:

 

[calamaridog]

I just want to say one more thing.

Kids like flashlights. Even if it is just a toy for some poor kid, it would bring a smile to their little face

My daughter is 3 and she has more than one flashlight. She really likes them.