Stephen T Chifamba
Harare (NewsoftheSouth) – Zimbabwe has men and women of a distinguished nature, we are bound by love and culture. Sharing has always been a part of our culture and when the time for action comes, the distinguished men and women stand up and get counted.
This is the case for one charity foundation, the Tendai Patrick Zindoga (TPZ) Foundation which partnered Sollatek, a Tanzanian company that manufactures solar lights. They have been donating solar lamps to different non-electrified communities across the country.
TPZ Foundation founder donates Sollatek lights in Mash West in February 2020
TPZ Foundation founder Mr Tendai Patrick Zindoga said the partnership with Sollatek is part of the sustainable energy initiative aimed at reducing carbon emissions but targeting the disadvantaged communities.
“When the Foundation first approached us, we were touched by the amount of work they were doing, albeit on limited resources. We were especially touched by the plight of the communities challenged and immediately appreciated that the Foundation’s mandate of helping the challenged communities was a mammoth task, requiring unparalleled dedication and substantial resources,” said Sollatek representative Mr Andrew J Soper.
Commenting on the deal Zindoga said, “Sollatek’s involvement and contribution has enabled the communities to save much on lighting from buying candles and paraffin.”
“We are happy for the support given to us by Mr Zindoga, as he is always supporting us as a community and these lamps will go a long way in making life easier for us on costs,” said one beneficiary of the lights.
However the Foundation and Sollatek’s efforts are now being disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic as it is now difficult to transport the solar lamps from Tanzania to Zimbabwe and movement within the country to the affected communities.
But before the lockdown was enforced locally and international travel suspended the pair had begun their work. The first community to benefit was in Mashonaland West where they donated over 200 units to women in the community.
Mr Zindoga explains how the Sollatek light works to one recipient
“Rural communities use fire wood, the solar lights help make is easy for women to move around and it also increases their safety and that for their families,” said Zindoga.
The focus has been on going beyond the simple donations and help to disadvantaged communities. We hear a lot of talk on sustainable energy but less work is done to focus on the smaller communities that have not gained anything from the traditional fossil fuel energy to start with.
We need to target all sizes of communities in order to reduce global warming, and this is one of our first initiatives of community development in order to reach the overall government goal of an upper middle income country.
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