Namib Mills donates over 1050 solar lamps towards Education Upliftment.

29 Aug 2017 | Community | by Ashante Manetti

Eben Combined School receives solar lamps as part of the Namib Mills Edu –Light Program.

In 2014 the first grade 10 learners of Eben combined school sat for their national examination and the school was ranked second in the circuit with a pass of 37%.

In 2015 the grade 10 learner’s results improved to 41% and in 2016 the results were 51%. The school has experienced steady growth when it comes to grade 10 performance making them the ideal candidates for the Namib Mills Edu- Light Program.

240 leaners partook in the Namib Mills Edu- light survey, all who mainly use candles paraffin or flash lights for studying.

Providing 240 solar lamps to the Eben Primary School will directly impact about 885 learners in 240 households, Edu light is Namib Mills’ Social Responsibility pillar aimed at Education Upliftment and Poverty Alleviation.

In 2015, Namib Mills as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility towards Education, Community upliftment and Poverty Alleviation launched their Edu- light initiative at Immanuel Shifidi Secondary School with a donation of 300 solar lamps to the learners at the school.

The company also handed over 210 portable solar lights to school learners from Tobias Hainyeko project school in Babylon in the outskirts of Windhoek’s informal settlement; 300 solar lamps to Fidel Castro Primary School and 240 solar lamps to Eben Primary school.

Edu-Light is an initiative that aims to provide solar lights to leaners and students living in informal settlements and rural areas that do not have access to electricity and use paraffin and candles for studying.

Mrs. Ashante Manetti –Maasdorp Public Relations, Corporate Social Responsibility and Stakeholder Officer for Namib Mills in her address to the learners went on to explain that “the aim of this initiative is to increase their productivity at night in order to help them improve their school performance. The Sun King Eco light is an award-winning solar light it is two times brighter than a paraffin lamp, offersadjustable brightness settings and after a single sunny day of charging, it shines for four hours in its brightest mode or for over thirty hours on its lowest setting.”

Namib Mills is a committed corporate citizen and has undertaken this project in partnership with Greenville Solutions in a bid to tackle poverty alleviation and community upliftment. In total the company has donated over 1050 solar lamps to learners throughout Windhoek and is now focusing on schools outside the Khomas Region.