Improving World Literacy One Lantern at a Time

For some kids, the Rivertowns can be somewhat of a bubble; but for 16-year-old Ben Hirschfeld, Hastings has been anything but.

Interviewing remotely from his laboratory research program in Haifa, Israel, Hirschfeld described the project that recently garnered him a $2,000 grant from BIC and dosomething.org.

"Lit! provides solar lanterns for African students without electricity," Hirschfeld, who started the program independently when he was only 15, said. "We have partnered with literacy organization LitWorld to distribute the lanterns directly to African schoolchildren."

Knowing that education is hindered in sections of Nairobi and Kenya due to lack of electric light, Hirschfeld wanted to tackle both social and environmental issues simultaneously.

"Solar lanterns are important for literacy because their bright light allows students to study," he said. "The solar lanterns also replace the dim, expensive, dangerous kerosene lamps normally used."

In addition to causing fires, Kerosene lamps "release huge amounts of carbon dioxide and smoke," he continued. "The carbon dioxide contributes to global warming and the smoke is inhaled by the kids and their families, giving them diseases like pneumonia, bronchitis and lung cancer."

Hirschfeld plans to use the grant money to purchase 30 solar lanterns for his project.

"Ben is fantastic," Amanda Ashton, a grants assistant for dosomething.org, said. "He loves his project and is very thorough and impressive in everything he does."

Dosomething.org is one of the largest American nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping young people further community service efforts, and this year the organizations teamed-up with BIC to seek out exceptionally activist-minded teens. Hirschfeld was one of only 11 recipients of "BIC 4 Good" grants—something Ashton stressed was no small feat. 

Working in conjunction with LitWorld, a Hastings-based nonprofit focused on promoting literacy, Hirschfeld has been able to oversee the distribution of his solar lanterns and collect user-data to research toe effect good lighting has on literacy rates. 

"Pam Allyn's LitWorld has been hugely helpful," Hirschfeld said. "We are providing the lanterns for students in LitWorld-served schools because together the improved teaching from LitWorld and increased study time and decreased sickness from the solar lanterns can have a multiplier effect."

Though entering only junior year in High School, Hirschfeld already has his sights set high on how far Lit! can go. 

"I want to expand Lit! to help as many students and families as possible," he said. "We have already raised enough for all the students at the Red Rose School in Kibera, Kenya, and have additionally secured enough funding for another hundred kids at the next school."

Recognizing the problem is not limited to Africa, he added, "There are so many students and families in need of clean, inexpensive light all over the world, from Kenya to Liberia to Fiji, "We hope to put in place systems that will let us reach as many as possible."