Rural Kenyan women on vanguard of African ’solar revolution’

KAJIADO, Kenya (AFP) – Elizabeth Leshom may not know it, but she is among a legion of African women at the vanguard of what many hope will be a “solar revolution” that could empower them and help save the environment.

The 25-year-old Kenyan is part of a rapidly growing programme across east and central Africa that aims to replace or at least reduce traditional wood-fired cooking with efficient energy from the sun.

Here in Kajiado, a dusty rural township about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Nairobi, she is part of a group learning how to use, then make, market and sell so-called “cookits” under the tutelage of a US-based development agency.

“I’ve used a cookit for three months and it’s really good, smokeless and less expensive,” Leshom says, marvelling at the savings of both money and time as well as new income the small contraption has brought her.

AFP