Indonesian Woman Wins ‘Asia’s Nobel Prize’ for Helping Poor

Jakarta Globe, July 28, 2011

Indonesian social worker Tri Mumpuni, left, pictured at the White House
 Summit on Entrepreneurship in Washington in 2010. Tri is among the
 winners of Asia’s prestigious Magsaysay award this year for giving green
technologies to the poor, organizers said on Wednesday. (EPA Photo)

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Manila. Indonesian social worker Tri Mumpuni is among the winners of Asia’s prestigious Magsaysay award this year for giving green technologies to the poor, organizers said on Wednesday.

Award foundation president Carmencita Abella said Tri, along with an Indian engineer and a Philippine charity group, had helped harness the technologies to empower their countrymen and worked to create waves of progressive change across Asia.

Each year six people or organizations are named joint winners of the Magsaysay award.

This year the other winners were a man who set up an Islamic school for girls in Indonesia, a lender to India’s poorest, and a man working to restore democracy in Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge murdered his father.

“Working on critical issues ... they are showing how commitment, competence, and collaborative leadership can truly transform individual lives and galvanize community action,” Abella said.

The award, often described as Asia’s Nobel Prize, is named after a famous Philippine president who died in a 1957 plane crash.

It aims to honor people who address issues of human development in Asia with courage and creativity.

Tri Mumpuni, 46, was recognized after her IBEKA foundation built 60 small power plants harnessing the energy of water stored in dams to bring electricity to half a million people, the awards foundation said.

She was once kidnapped with her husband by former separatist rebels in Aceh province while pursuing her nongovernmental group’s project to bring electricity to rural Indonesia.

Another winner was US-trained Indian engineer Harish Hande, 44, for bringing solar lights to a country where half of all households have no electricity, the awards foundation said.

His Solar Electric Light Co.-India has tapped the sun’s energy to light up 120,000 households and is now one of the country’s largest solar technology providers.

In the Philippines, Dutch marine engineer Auke Idzenga’s Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation won for using an ancient, near-forgotten technology, the ram pump, to help impoverished communities on Negros island.

Re-engineered for upland farms, the pump gave the communities clean, cheap water for household use and for raising livestock, fish, and small farms, it said.

A ram pump, which does not need an external power source, harnesses the force of a large body of moving water to pump a small amount of water uphill.

The winners are to receive their awards in Manila on August 31.

Agence France-Presse

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(Photo Auke Idzenga)

Solar lanterns saving lives, lighting up Kenya

CNN News, by Emily Wither for CNN, July 15, 2011

It’s estimated that around a third Kenyans rely on kerosene lamps for
their lighting needs, but Kenyan company Solanterns is on a mission to
replace one million kerosene lanterns with solar-powered ones.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Around 75% of Kenyans rely on kerosene lamps for their lighting needs
• The smoke from kerosene lamps can lead to the development of respiratory illnesses
• Solanterns is aiming to replace one million kerosene lanterns with solar-powered ones
• The company says that each lantern will reduce CO2 emissions by 135 kilograms

(CNN) -- Every evening thousands of children in Kenya sit down and do their homework by kerosene-powered light.

However, the soot emitted from the burning lamps is not only an environmental hazard but the toxic fumes could be causing children serious harm and putting them at risk of respiratory illnesses.

Alice Njeri lives with her two sisters and their children in a suburb of Nairobi called Kayole. She says the indoor pollution can be difficult to live with.

"The Kerosene lamp emits smoke and gives my children eye problems and the smoke can bring them to tears," she said.

The United Nations Environmental Program says that in rural Kenya more women die of smoke-related illnesses than they do of malaria and tuberculosis. This smoke is from cooking and lighting fuels.

The inflammatory agents in kerosene lamps have been linked with everything from cancer to behavioral deficits. The lamps are also a safety risk as they can be easily knocked over and start fires in the home.

According to the CIA World Fact Book only a quarter of households in Kenya have electricity. It's estimated that around a third of Kenyans rely on kerosene lanterns for their lighting needs.

RELATED TOPICS

• Kenya
• Nairobi
• Global Climate Change

One company is on a mission to change this and is aiming to replace one million kerosene lanterns with solar-powered ones.

It's an ambitious project but one that the team feel can really make a difference to people living in rural Kenya who do not have access to electricity.

"The solar lights have a huge impact on health, education, productivity and overall improve the quality of people's lives," said Joseph Nganga from Solanterns, an initiative of Renewable Energy Ventures.

Its lanterns cost around $25 and are powered via a solar panel, which charges a lithium ion battery. Solanterns says it has reached over 1,500 households.

This was partly helped by USAID which bought and distributed 500 lanterns around Nairobi.

But the team still has a long way to go if it is to achieve its goal.

"We hope to expand access to solar lanterns through a wider product offering to meet different consumer needs and budgets," Nganga said.

"Critical to achieving our target of replacing one million kerosene lanterns with one million solar lanterns is consumer awareness," he added.

The company says that each lantern will reduce CO2 emissions by 135 kilograms and save 52 liters of kerosene over its lifetime.

This means that as well as the environmental benefits using solar lamps will save families money on fuel.

The organization estimates that over a three-year period families will save $140 in lighting costs, making solar lamps cheaper than kerosene lamps in the long-run.

Leah also lives in Kayole and has a son in his last year at primary school. She said: "With the way life is right now and high fuel prices I couldn't always manage to buy kerosene.

"Sometimes my child has homework that he couldn't do so the lantern has really helped me."

Solar lighting is also being credited with better grades for school children. According to Solantern's research, over half of children living in households with a solar lantern were able to study an extra two hours a night.

"My child's performance is different now because he could not do homework and study at night with the kerosene lamp," Leah added. "He performs much better now."

As well as using her solar lamp in the home, Njeri says that she uses it on her market stall in the evening. Its makers say it can lead to better sales at fruit and vegetable stands as produce is no longer spoiled by fumes from kerosene lamps.

"My kids tell me not to return to the kerosene lantern but to instead bury it," Njeri said.

Dutch to help build dikes in Indonesia

RNW, 6 July 2011

The Netherlands is to help with plans for a 36-kilometer dike around the Indonesian coastal city of Jakarta to protect the city from flooding.

Deputy Foreign Minister Ben Knapen has set aside 4 million euros in development aid for the project and two Dutch experts will be sent to help develop the plans. The dike will be build two kilometres into the sea so that land can be reclaimed for urban development.

“This investment in a master plan to protect Jakarta from the sea is a good example of the new development policy in which Dutch knowledge and skills can made a difference,” says Deputy Minister Knapen.

Jakarta is regularly hit by flooding. In 2007 large parts of the city were inundated by several meters of water. At least 18 people drowned and around 300,000 people become homeless. The economic damage was huge; the airport had to be closed as a result. Pumps have been installed as a short term solution and the road to the airport has been raised.

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