Eco Hero - Empowering women in rural Uganda
Jamlia Mayanja is an award-winning social entrepreneur committed to empowering women in Uganda. She's developed a solar-powered bag designed to make it easier for girls to go to school each day and still do their studies when the sun goes down.
Transcript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 The young women are eagerly awaited.
00:10 But it's no visit by neighbors or relatives.
00:13 Shalom Kayinza and Lilian Amojin have an order with a customer.
00:16 The two solar technicians installed a solar module here
00:25 a little while ago.
00:26 Now the light bulbs are flickering, probably
00:29 due to the intimate flow of electricity.
00:31 They have to find out where the problem lies.
00:34 The job gives them new prospects.
00:37 I've got some money from the systems, like to install them.
00:42 Then what has enabled us that we have really, really eliminated
00:49 this process of polluting the environment,
00:53 the fossil fuels into the environment.
00:55 So that's what has benefited us all.
01:00 Susan Natumbwa also benefits from solar energy,
01:04 but in a different way.
01:06 The 15-year-old schoolgirl owns a backpack
01:08 with an integrated mini solar panel.
01:11 It can charge a lamp that helps her study at night.
01:14 In turn, the lamp can load her father's cell phone.
01:17 This solar bag, it helps me to read my books at night.
01:24 You don't have electricity at home, as you see.
01:28 It also helps me to change my performance.
01:32 I'm going to pass my exams.
01:35 The three young women we've introduced
01:37 can thank Jamila Mayanja, a social entrepreneur
01:40 from the Ugandan capital Kampala,
01:42 for their experiences with solar energy.
01:45 Mayanja herself gets involved when her employees
01:48 look for plastic bags on the side of the road,
01:51 as the solar backpacks are made of recycled plastic.
01:54 Garbage is a big problem in Kampala.
01:57 So we try and make a difference in using these,
02:00 recycling these plastic waste,
02:02 and showing the community we are coming from
02:04 that it's easier to recycle waste
02:06 than dump them within the water system.
02:09 After the plastic bags have been cleaned,
02:11 they are turned into solar backpacks
02:13 with cute waterproof material on the outside.
02:16 About 20 women are employed by Jamila Mayanja's foundation.
02:20 They receive about $5 per backpack.
02:23 Some of the backpacks are sold for more than $20,
02:27 but poorer women and girls can get them for free.
02:30 More than a thousand backpacks have already been sold or donated.
02:35 The backpacks allow the young women to be able
02:39 to discreetly bring feminine hygiene supplies to school.
02:43 Many teenage girls would otherwise stay home during their periods,
02:46 causing them to suffer academically.
02:49 We needed to show that it's OK for you to stay in school
02:58 when you're in your menstruation periods.
03:00 And the bag has created that comfort,
03:02 hence increasing their performance in school.
03:05 So the bag has absolutely kept a girl in school
03:09 and increased their performance.
03:12 Back to Susan.
03:14 She often has to do work around the house after school,
03:17 and she's only allowed to study once it's dark out,
03:21 which would be impossible without the solar lamp.
03:24 The next morning on her way to school,
03:30 the solar lamp in her backpack is recharged.
03:34 Susan has shown improvement, according to her teacher,
03:37 who also covers scientific and environmental subjects.
03:41 She is pleased that the solar backpack
03:44 is a convincing practical example of plastic recycling.
03:48 The bags are from waste materials,
03:54 so it has made our lessons to become a reality,
03:58 a practical and real great one.
04:01 But what use are good grades
04:03 if all there is to look forward to is unemployment,
04:06 as is so often the case for young women in Uganda?
04:10 But there is another way.
04:14 Girls with Tools offers a solution,
04:16 a program set up by social entrepreneur Jamila Manyanja.
04:20 Young women can receive vocational training certificates
04:26 for supposedly typical male occupations.
04:30 Shalom Kayinza has also received solar module training here.
04:34 Now the 22-year-old solar technician
04:37 has started up her own business.
04:40 And she has now solved the problem with a flickering light bulb.
04:46 After cleaning up the solar module,
04:48 enough electricity is now flowing through.
04:51 Then after a minor difficulty,
04:53 she can now use the solar module to power her house.
04:57 Then after a minor difficulty,
04:59 the light reliably stays on.
05:02 [BLANK_AUDIO]