Funds raised from this year’s International Tom Hanks Day in March are already providing clean and safe lighting to help children at Little Bees School in Nairobi to study. Before they received our solar-powered and wind-up lights, their only option to study were candles - which tip over easily - and the open flame tin paraffin lamps called korobois. Both create the possibility of fire.

The students – many of whom are orphans – yearn to earn good grades, but were limited as they could only study for a few minutes at a time because of the toxic fumes from paraffin lamps that 'scratched' their eyes. They also complained of 'spitting up black' and having sore lungs because of the noxious paraffin.

In the heart of Starehe in the Mathare Valley slum in Nairobi, Little Bees is a haven. More than 260 children, 107 who are orphaned, eagerly attend classes in makeshift schoolrooms that lack electricity and window panes. Some of the rooms are hard dirt floors that turn to mud when it rains. Despite these conditions, the atmosphere in the school is full of life. Teachers, many of whom are volunteers, prepare the young learners for the same exams that children who attend private well-resourced schools take. Because these children have daily work like washing clothes, preparing food, sweeping and looking after smaller children, the only time they can study is after dark.

With our lights, they can now study wherever, whenever and as often as they like.

(Read a report from Lifeline Energy's project manager Chhavi Sharma on her experience distributing the Lifelights to the Little Bees)