Change-makers in the city are making an early start — as early as class 10. Over 70 students from Queen Mary School in Grant Road visited slums in and around Bhayander to provide its inhabitants with low-cost lighting solutions.
The students, who are part of the school’s club Enerji, spent the weekend installing ‘bottled light’, which they have been creating over the past few months.
Based on Brazilian mechanic Alfred Moser’s idea, bottled light is a clear plastic bottle filled with water and bleach, which gets converted into a bulb when installed in a hole of the same diameter in a roof, providing an alternative source of natural light during the day. A single bottle can be used for almost five years.
Under the mentorship of volunteers of St Xavier’s college’s Jal Jyoti project, the students have been working on making bottled light since June this year.
“We started making the bottles in June and we have made 50 such bottle bulbs. However, we could not install them due to the rains. Now, we are going from house to house and fitting the bulbs ourselves,” said Tanisha Chaudhary, a student of the school. The students were split into groups of two and over two days, they conducted the installations with help from Jal Jyoti Project and club Enerji.
However, for the youngsters, it wasn’t about just completing their project. Shreya Bhora, a participant, said, “The families stay in very poorly lit huts or shanties and they require to switch on the lights during the day too, so they end up with a bill of almost Rs500. These bulbs will help them save money. They are extremely delighted to have them installed. It is exciting to see our efforts make them happy.”
In phase two of the initiative, the team plans to engage women in the slums to make and install the bottled lights.
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