Or the Wadongo Lamp. Evans Wadongo deserves to have won a CNN Hero award for sure for both his invention of a solar lamp and his charity in giving them to poor Kenyan families for free.
"My family are very supportive. I got many offers from different companies after they saw the work that I was doing. But I turned them down. At first people did not understand, but they soon came to understand that I was determined in my cause. Now they support me."
'Saving lives' with solar-powered lights
Nairobi, Kenya (CNN) -- The villagers' faces light up as Evans Wadongo arrives. Men, women and children sing and gather around as he shows how his invention -- a solar-powered LED lantern -- will soon light up their homes.
"These families, they are so poor. They don't have electricity," said Wadongo, a native of rural Kenya. "It's only kerosene and firewood that they use for lighting, cooking.
"The amount of money that every household uses to buy kerosene every day -- if they can just save that money, they can be able to buy food."
Wadongo, 23, not only is giving his country's rural families a way to replace the smoky kerosene and firelight with solar power, he says he also hopes his invention will ultimately improve education and reduce poverty and hunger. And he's providing it for free.
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