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Nurse Latia has strong teeth

Delivering an average of 198 babies a month at a birthing clinic in rural Mozambique, she often held her cell phone between her teeth so it would cast a light on her patient. Babies are more often born at night and her clinic – like many – was not equipped with electricity for proper lighting.

As part of the All Mothers and Children Count project, PWRDF and its Mozambican partner EHALE installed 30 solar suitcases at government-run health facilities in 2017. A solar suitcase is a bright yellow, hard plastic, water-proof suitcase that is mounted on the wall of a clinic and wired to a solar panel on the roof. The suitcase is equipped with four lamps, one head lamp, a Doppler, and a lithium battery that lasts five years. The suitcase can also charge cell-phones and other electronic devices such as laptop computers.

We Care Solar provided the solar suitcases and trained four EHALE staff and eight staff from the Ministry of Health electronic maintenance department in Nampula province. The training included classroom instruction and theory as well as applied learning — trainees actually installed solar suitcases at six health facilities under We Care Solar supervision.

The training has paid off. One year after installation, all 30 solar suitcase are still welcoming babies into the world at night.