Village after village, they shared their story, listened to the community's story, and handed out the new solar lanterns. Some days they did three distributions. When it was time to move on, they piled into the Toyota and hit the beautiful red dirt roads.
Each day followed a pattern, but there was variety. Sometimes they shared meals with the elders, chicken, bananas, sticky dough, meats and fruit, always eaten with your hands. Sometimes they worked through lunch, dizzy from heat and exhaustion. And every time, Tom and his team were moved by the happiness radiating from the men, women, and children as the lanterns were passed around.
Between distributions, they made a point of circling back to villages they'd already visited, to see how the lanterns were holding up. That, Tom said, is where he felt real confidence that they were making a difference.
Small lights, real change
Kids at school swung their lanterns and giggled, telling him they could finally read after the sun went down. Lanterns hung in homes and gathering spaces. One older man kept his tucked under his arm all day. "I don't want to put it down," he whispered. "I'm afraid somebody might steal it."
Those moments carried Tom through the exhaustion and the crammed Toyota rides, and through the grief, too. Because many of the villages' hardships still remained, and that was hard to hold. Some evenings he found himself crying, overwhelmed. "They would share their problems, their pain, and they would look at me, praying I could help, that I'd find a way," he said. "It was a lot to take in."
And yet, for an afternoon, there was something he could do, something positive, something that made a change. He saw it in the schoolchildren's eyes when the lantern lit for the first time. He saw it in the singing and the smiles as families traded old kerosene lamps for new solar ones. "You can see the lanterns will make a difference," Tom said. "You can see it had an impact on their lives."
Coming home
Fifteen days later, Tom was back in Kampala with a journal full of notes and his heart raw. Gando offered a trip to the zoo, a tour of the city. Tom politely declined. "My friends, I'm sorry. I have to rest."
That evening he found a nearby market for dinner, and ordered the fish, of course. As he finished the last meal of his first trip to Uganda, he reflected, and wrote some final thoughts:
When I think back to the beginning idea for GoodBulb, we only had statistics, what kerosene does, how many people live without light. I'd only seen it on paper. Being here, it's real.
These statistics, he realized, are more than numbers. They are men he shook hands with, women he laughed with, children he danced with. His friends.
It was important to see in person that what we're doing is going to make a difference. I am now confident, and I have SEEN, that what we are doing IS making a difference. Yes, these people need more. But our lanterns are impacting a small part of their lives. And that is a start.
You made this happen.
You made this story happen. Every time you buy a GoodBulb, you support our mission to bring light to families without electricity. You get to buy a light, and be a light.
The need is real. On this journey we reached 11 villages and gave out more than 2,000 lanterns, and there are still hundreds of communities waiting. Gando has already reached out about the next trip.
We need your help to make it happen. Light your business and your home with GoodBulb, and light another home in need along the way. Browse our bulbs → · Support our mission →
Special thanks to our driver, Ben, who could work a camera as well as he could work those roads.
