A #100DaysofSolar Human Impact Story from Mulajje, Mukono District, Uganda
For decades, Nanyombi Moureen’s hands carried a skill older than many of the people around her.
At 82 years old, in Mulajje, Mukono District, the elderly grandmother survived by weaving mats and baskets, carefully shaping reeds into the small pieces of craftwork that helped her buy food and survive another day.
But over time, darkness began stealing even that from her.
As evening approached, Moureen rushed desperately to finish her weaving before night swallowed the room completely. Her aging eyes struggled to see clearly. Her fingers moved more by memory than sight, tracing patterns through reeds she could barely distinguish in the fading light.
And hidden among those reeds, danger waited silently. Snakes sometimes slipped unnoticed into the weaving materials stacked near her home. More than once, Moureen reached into the darkness not knowing what might already be there.
Other nights, her trembling fingers pricked themselves repeatedly against the sharp reeds as she fought to finish one more basket before she could no longer see at all.
For Moureen, darkness did not simply end the workday.
It threatened her survival. Because when she could not weave, she could not earn. And when she could not earn, hunger waited quietly beside her.
Then Solar M7 arrived. And suddenly, the world around her seemed to unfold again.
The first night beneath reliable solar light felt almost magical to her. The reeds became visible clearly again. The room no longer disappeared into shadows. Her hands slowed down, no longer rushing against the coming darkness.
For the first time in years, she could weave peacefully. Safely. With dignity.
Now Moureen works long into the evenings beneath warm, steady light, creating more baskets than before and earning enough income to buy her own food without depending entirely on others.
And perhaps most beautifully of all, the craft she feared losing forever has returned to her hands fully alive again.
“Before Solar M7, darkness made weaving very difficult and dangerous for me,” Moureen shared during her interview. “Now I weave peacefully at night, earn more money, and take care of myself better.”
According to Doreen Nanfuka, many elderly women in underserved communities depend on traditional crafts and small home-based work for survival.
“When reliable light enters these homes, it restores both safety and economic independence,” Doreen explained. “People regain the ability to continue their skills, work, and livelihoods with dignity.”
Innocent Kawooya says stories like Moureen’s show how energy access directly supports economic empowerment and preservation of traditional livelihoods.
“Reliable light helps people continue creating, earning, and surviving through the skills they have carried their entire lives,” he noted. “It restores both dignity and opportunity.”
Today, nights inside Moureen’s home no longer feel rushed by fear and fading visibility.
The reeds lie safely beside her. The baskets continue taking shape. And in a life where darkness once threatened to steal both craft and survival from an elderly woman’s hands, Solar M7 is now helping restore something deeply meaningful.
Purpose. Independence. And the quiet dignity of earning one’s own tomorrow again.
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