SolarBuddy lamps Patamawai light homes and classrooms in remote East Sumba villages
Seven hours on rough tracks to reach schools without power or water
SolarBuddy lamps arrive in Patamawai after a seven-hour journey across hills and broken tracks. In a place without electricity or water, 175 lamps provide safer paths, study time after dark, and a sense of dignity at home. Two larger units illuminate classrooms and staff rooms while teams teach safe use and energy basics.
In Patamawai, children study in homes without power, and families move after sunset by memory rather than light. The team from Fair Future and Kawan Baik arrived with 175 SolarBuddy units for nine classes, plus two bigger lamps for school rooms. Each lamp provides approximately ten hours of safe light after a day of sunlight. Students placed their lamps outside, learned how to charge and conserve, then lifted them high as the first light spread across homes that had never known it. SolarBuddy lamps in Patamawai are small devices with significant effects for reading, safety, and health.
Training is just as necessary as the hardware. Niluh and Susanti explained clean energy, safe lighting, and daily hygiene, emphasising that a lamp is also a health tool, as it reduces burns, falls, and insect exposure around cooking areas. The Camat, Pak Marteen, joined the distribution with care and respect while parents and teachers observed the change on children’s faces.
Letters from Australian students who assembled the lamps connected classrooms across oceans. By night, Patamawai shone for the first time on a large scale, proving that solidarity extends beyond bad roads and steep hills. SolarBuddy lamps in Patamawai turn darkness into time for learning.
We cordially invite all captivated by this story to explore our photo gallery, witness this extraordinary effort, and further engage with our mission through our Instagram account.
Alex Wettstein – Fair Future Foundation medico-social camp in East Sumba – Rumah Kambera, Lambanapu – the 4th of November, 2025
Other inspiring organisations
