Security needs

All of that was in the works before the quake, Schnitzer said. But the need for portable solar-powered lights became devastatingly apparent after the earthquake.

“It came to our attention pretty quickly that there was a big problem with violence against women in the camps,” Schnitzer said. “And a lot of that problem was attributed to the darkness. The darkness made them vulnerable when they were on their ways to the latrine or if they weren’t in a tent at all.”

That’s when EarthSpark began working with organizations on the ground in Port Au Prince to get solar lanterns into those tents.

“We used our knowledge of the best solar lighting technologies out there to get lights to the camps,” Schnitzer said.

Vulnerability and danger in the camps drove several other solar projects as well. Amnesty International announced in March that violence against women and girls was widespread in the camps and called for more measures to protect them.

More than 35,000 solar lights were deployed in the camps to hedge against violence and vandalism, according to a March National Geographic Magazine article.

Sol Inc. donated 100 solar-powered security lights to Haiti in the first few months after the earthquake, said Sol General Manager Audwin Cash.

“These are lights similar, smaller, but similar to the ones they use on military bases and to secure the perimeter at prison facilities,” Cash said.

They were used at the camps to provide light and help keep people safe. They were also used as makeshift street lamps and in clinics and public buildings, he said.

Sol was built around the belief that solar power would be the most reliable energy source for providing light before, during and after major disasters. In many ways, the lights were specifically designed to serve the purpose they went to in Haiti.

Cash said Sol has received letters from women who said the lights helped to relieve their fears of going for help or even to fall asleep in their tents.

“We’re in southern Florida,” Cash said. “We’re not that far from Haiti here. We felt like it was our obligation.”

Story continues here.

Pictured: Bob Freling, executive director of SELF, and Dr. Paul Farmer, founder of Partners In Health, on the roof of the clinic at Boucan Carre, courtesy of SELF.