'Solar Cow' Encourages Kids to Go to School
A solar power station in the shape of a cow is encouraging children in rural Kenya and Tanzania to go to school.
According to UNESCO, more than one-fifth of children aged 6 to 11 in sub-Saharan Africa do not go to school. And according to the World Bank, less than half of people in the region have access to electricity.
Designed by Yolk, a US- and South Korea-based company, the "Solar Cow" is working to solve both of these problems. Yolk is placing its Solar Cows at schools, where children can put rechargeable batteries, called "Solar Milk," into the bottom of their school's Solar Cow.
The children go to class while the batteries are charging, and at the end of the day they take the batteries home. The batteries can only be charged using the Solar Cow, so children have to go to school to get the electricity.
In rural homes without electricity, many families use expensive kerosene lamps for lighting. People also go to local solar charging stations to charge their phones, which the World Bank says costs an average of almost eight times as much as it would cost to charge them using electricity at home.
Each Solar Milk battery can charge a 2G phone three or four times, or charge a radio once or twice. Each battery is also a flashlight, and a full charge can provide up to 10 hours of light.
Since 2018, Yolk has set up two Solar Cows in Kenya and one in Tanzania. The company is now asking for support on Kickstarter, where it has received more than $90,000 to help collect data to confirm the impact of its work.
