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Nickson Zhuwayo, a Grade 7 learner at Manyoshwa Primary School in Seke, Zimbabwe, uses this lantern to read and do his homework at home. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe/IPSSEKE, Zimbabwe, December 5 (IPS) - When going home after school, Monica Ben not only takes with her a pen and exercise books but also a lantern to light the dark room and completes her daily homework in Mashonaland East province.
Known as the Chigubhu lantern, a Shona name for a bottle, this portable light was made using recycled materials by a 12-year-old learner, Ben, at Manyoshwa Primary School in Seke, a rural area 54 kilometers from Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare.
“Candles are expensive,” Ben tells IPS on a warm day at her school.
“Before this Chigubhu lantern, it was either I came early to do homework or I did not submit anything to the teacher.”
The lantern is charged at school during the day using renewable energy and Ben takes it home daily after school, giving her about four hours of portable lighting.
Making Lanterns From Electrical Waste
The school compound’s air was filled with palpable excitement from the learners who had just returned after a holiday.
Ben lives with her peasant farmers in a remote farming area that is hard to access even with an off-road car.
Most houses, including Ben’s, are not connected to the main grid, making it difficult for school children to read and do their homework at night.
A local innovator, Aluwaine Tanaka Manyonga from the capital, Harare, invented the Chigubhu lantern, a portable circular lighting product made from light-emitting diode (LED) lighting electronic waste.
It is housed in waste plastic bottles and tins and the lantern is rechargeable with solar energy.
Ben is one of the more than 100 schoolchildren at Manyoshwa Primary School who were taught how to make these lanterns using readily available electrical waste.
“I take an empty bottle and cut it in half. I then take a piece of cardboard and mark it with a pencil before cutting it. I install switch cables and close the light with a bottle top,” she says, smiling.
“I put a handle on it. Thereafter, I test the voltage in the battery before putting it inside.”
Godwin Kadiramwando, a headteacher at Manyoshwa Primary School since 2021, says it all started four years ago with a solar system installation at the learning facility.
“Manyonga did it for free. The solar system supplies power to one of the classrooms for lighting as well as charging smartphones and laptops,” he tells IPS.
The following year, Manyonga gave a class of Grade 7 learners, about 30, some Chigubhu lanterns so they could read and do their homework at night.”
Kadiramwando says in 2023, instead of giving them already-made lanterns, Manyonga decided to teach them to make the lanterns and fix any technical issues.
Monica Ben attending a lesson at Manyoshwa Primary School in Seke, Zimbabwe. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe/IPS“The situation of learners not having light at home is dire in this community. There was a need for an intervention,” he says.
“The invention is helping them to improve in their studies.”
Inspired by poor access to electricity and the rise in plastic and electronic waste that is contributing to climate change, Manyonga works with schools across the country, empowering learners with the secret behind the making of the lanterns.
“What is innovative is how we chose to tackle this problem through our sustainable skills transfer that teaches students how to make the lanterns covering waste management, circular economy, renewable and how to make and fix the lanterns,” he says.
Manyonga says they reuse LED lights and batteries where possible.
“The lantern can easily be maintained and fixed, giving it a long lifespan. This is why we equip students with hands-on skills like carrying out basic repairs on the lanterns,” he says.
In partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Embassy of Australia in Harare and local companies like Securico and Manyonga, they have so far distributed 1500 lanterns across the country.
Hundreds of learners have been trained on how to make the lanterns.
Nickson Zhuwayo, a Grade 7 learner at Manyoshwa Primary School, says it took him a few lessons to make the lantern on his own.
“It is easy to make. I started making these lanterns when I was in Grade 6,” says Zhuwayo, who attended the lessons because of his interest in science and engineering.
Zhuwayo, who stays with his paternal grandmother, says the lantern gives him enough time to read and complete his homework.
“Four hours is a lot. I would be done by that time,” he says before adding that he wants to be a science teacher when he grows up.
Engineering at a Young Age
Only 44 percent of Zimbabwe’s 15 million people have access to electricity.
In rural areas, where more than 60 percent of the population lives, electricity access is only 20 percent leaving most communities like Ben’s and Zhuwayo’s disconnected from the national grid.
They have to walk long distances from home to access electricity generated from home solar systems.
But those with access to electricity are enduring load-shedding schedules lasting more than 12 hours a day due to low water levels in Lake Kariba, the country’s biggest power plant, as well as aging equipment at Hwange Thermal Power Station.
Access to electricity is not the only challenge, but plastic waste is too.
Zimbabwe generates about 1.9 million tonnes of waste annually, according to the State’s Environmental Management Agency.
Of this waste, plastic waste alone amounts to approximately 342,000 tonnes per annum, which is about 18% of the total waste in Zimbabwe.
Sharon Hook, an environmental and sustainability expert with Miracle Missions Trust, says recycling is a must for Zimbabwe.
“Recycling reduces the plastic and other garbage in our environment,” she says.
“Upscaling all recycling projects will benefit our economy and empower communities.”
Kadiramwando says there is a need for a common charger to improve the portability of the lanterns.
“The chargers are unique. A common charger like USB Type-C is easier to replace. Some learners will also charge the lanterns at home,” he says.
Kadiramwando says the initiative is motivating learners to pursue engineering.
“This is more productive. They are an inspiration to learners in other schools. Our learners are already mentoring their peers from other schools,” he says.
Ben wishes to make more lanterns and reduce waste.
“I am happy that by using materials from dumping sites and landfills, I am reducing waste,” she says.
IPS UN Bureau Report
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