let there be light

Let There Be Light International, a Buffalo, New York-based nonprofit, was founded in 2014 with the aim of combatting energy poverty in sub-Saharan Africa and fighting global climate change.

LTBLI provides solar lighting to individuals and families living in extreme poverty, without safe and reliable light sources, and helps to bring solar energy to rural health centers across Uganda, Kenya, and Malawi. 

The organization’s focus on solar lighting and energy is strategic. 

Millions of people living in energy-poor households and communities rely on kerosene lamps and candles for light. These sources are expensive to operate and they’re dangerous, putting people at risk of burns, ocular problems, and respiratory illnesses. 

A lack of safe and effective light sources can also mean that health clinics are unable to operate after sunset, and that people lose access to critical medical care. 

The success of LTBLI in their sweeping mission comes from a strategy of collaboration and direct engagement with the communities they serve. 

LTBLI works hand-in-hand with local NGOs that have well-established relationships with communities in rural Uganda, Kenya, and Malawi. 

These partners share LTBLI’s commitment to poverty alleviation and climate action and they assist in the development and implementation of LTBLI’s programs, helping to deliver solar lighting in the ways they know to be most effective for their communities. 

By making it possible for these communities to access solar light and electricity, LTBLI is helping to facilitate improved health, safety, and economic outcomes. 

In the eight years since the organization’s inception, LTBLI has touched over a million lives with its work.

The team behind LTBLI has had a real, lasting impact across the globe, and in the course of that work has built a community around their mission at home in Buffalo, bringing together people from all walks of life in support of a common goal.

This community came out in force in late June of 2022 for LTBLI’s annual Solar Celebration at Duende, on the grounds of Silo City in downtown Buffalo. 

LTBLI Founder and Executive Director Sarah Baird greeted people as they arrived, her enthusiasm for the work she does and the people with whom she does it pouring out of her in every interaction.

Business owners, students, musicians, and community leaders, members of Buffalo’s immigrant communities and families with deep roots in the city, all rallied around LTBLI’s vision of a safer, brighter world.

They listened as LTBLI board member Rubens Mukunzi introduced the organization’s new Deputy Director, Jean Hakuzimana. They watched and learned traditional Rwandan dances from Christine Uwimbabazi and Nadia Mugisha, members of Buffalo Sunrise Rotary Club. They cheered for the kids who make up the Maendeleo Soccer Club, a camp for migrant and refugee boys spearheaded by Silo City’s Rick Smith and Gabriel Shalamba. They shared African food cooked by Louise Sano, who sells handmade goods from around the world at her two shops on Grant Street. They danced to local bands and DJs and celebrated the work of LTBLI’s Ugandan-based artist-in-residence Ssenyondo Gabriel. 

They reflected on LTBLI’s accomplishments so far and they looked ahead at what’s to come while celebrating culture, community, and the power of collective action.

LTBLI has much work ahead of them as they continue on their mission. Tackling a global challenge like energy poverty, which affects hundreds of millions of people in Africa and around the world, may seem daunting. But LTBLI’s impact in the eight years since they began their work is proof of what the tireless work of this deeply passionate team can accomplish.

As of today, one million lives have been touched by this work.

These are the lives of mothers free from worries that their children might be burned by dangerous kerosene lamps; students who can study after the sun sets; families who can use the money they save on lighting to afford food, medicine, and education; and people who can access medical care when they need it in safe health clinics.

Tomorrow, a month from now, next year, and beyond, LTBLI will continue the work of improving lives through solar light, lifting communities out of darkness so that they can, as Sarah Baird’s common refrain goes, “Shine On!”