LMF Penduka Solar Lantern Assembly Training

Namibia’s communities face daily hurdles, but they also hold promise: when skill meets simple tools, light appears where darkness used to be.

For years, many women in the Penduka network earned a small income with textiles. Beautiful work, steady hands and a question: what if those same hands could solder, read a circuit, and keep vital devices alive?

So, we made a practical change: we turned Penduka's backpackers' lodge into a compact electronics workshop. Soldering irons. Safety gear. Clear, hands-on lessons. Here, 4 women train at once with 2 trainers - learning to assemble solar lights and, just as important, to repair them.

Why soldering? Because skills last. When a lamp fails, they can fix it fast and locally. That saves money, cuts waste and keeps homes bright. It’s a solution that doesn’t end after the first switch-on.

Thanks to a solidarity party, we now have funds for a 3D printer, the next link in the chain. We’ll print modular parts that fit many kinds of glass jars, so almost any glass in Namibia can become a small, durable lamp. Local materials. Local production. Local income.

Step by step, the model grows:

• New skill: women move from cloth to circuits with confidence.
• New products: affordable photovoltaic lamps built on site.
• New resilience: the power to repair, not discard.
• New livelihoods: from textiles only, to textiles and tech.

This is more than a training. When know-how lives in the community, light doesn’t depend on distance or suppliers; it’s right here, within walking reach, maintained by the very people who built it.

Empower the solder. Protect the spark. Let women’s skills light the way.