Solar Suitcases bring light to delivery rooms in Mozambique and Madagascar

– with files from Lucinda Congolo

It’s no secret that women give birth at any time of day – babies don’t care if the sun is out or it’s pitch dark. For families in off-grid parts of Mozambique and Madagascar, nighttime deliveries can be challenging, and even dangerous. If labouring moms-to-be don’t have access to a health clinic where there is electricity, they’re not likely to venture out.

That’s where the Solar Suitcase comes in. A solar suitcase is a bright yellow case that is mounted to the interior wall of a health clinic and connected to a solar panel on the roof. The case opens up to reveal power outlets for portable lights, a head lamp, a fetal Doppler and cell phone chargers. Medical attendants have the tools they need to support women through labour and delivery, especially at night.

This ambitious project will install 35 solar suitcases in Mozambique and 14 solar suitcases in Madagascar, bringing clean and affordable solar power to remote health clinics that do not have access to electricity. It is the focus of “Coming Alongside Hope with Light,” the second phase of a 12-month fundraising campaign, which will also include the annual Wild Ride.

Midwife Ancha Amido Abdala knows first-hand the difference a solar suitcase makes. “The Muripotana health centre does not have access to the national power grid, we rely solely on the lighting provided by the Solar Suitcase,” she says. Before the Solar Suitcase was installed, Muripotana Health Centre did not operate at night. Even the maternity ward remained closed because people were afraid of snakes, and it was unsafe; there was a high risk of robberies during the early morning hours.

“Everything became difficult; there was no way to handle medical materials in the dark.”

That changed when Alongside Hope and We Care Solar installed a Solar Suitcase in 2022. “When a patient arrives at night, we don’t need phone flashlights or lamps. During rainy times, it charges a little, and that charge helps us too.”

One patient said, “I gave birth at night… I felt very happy because I could see what the nurse was doing.”

Background

This is Alongside Hope’s third solar suitcase project. The first was in 2016, an initial installation of 30 solar suitcases in Mozambique as part of the All Mothers and Children Count program. In 2021, the Light for Every Birth project saw the installation of 49 more solar suitcases and the replacement of lithium batteries in the 30 original solar suitcases.

Today, the suitcases are providing electricity to 79 delivery rooms in healthcare centres that previously had no source of electricity, where midwives and nurses used flashlights and light from their cell phones – often held in their mouths – to deliver babies in the dark. This project will mark the completion of solar suitcase installations in every ministry of health clinic in Nampula province, working with partner EHALE, and the beginning of a new partnership with PIVOT in Madagascar. The budget for the project is $320,000. Thanks to a generous donor, all gifts will be matched up to $150,000.

Since 2016, more than 80,000 women have given birth in the Mozambican clinics with solar suitcases, more than half at night. Expectant moms now know they can safely give birth in the dark and are more likely to seek health care. Clinics in Liupo, Meconta, Nacarôa, Nacala Velha and Mossuril districts experienced approximately 17.5 times more night deliveries.

How you can help

Support the “Coming Alongside Hope with Light” campaign by joining this year’s Wild Ride. All gifts will be matched, up to $150,000. Learn more, give to the campaign and register to participate at alongsidehope.org/wild-ride.