As a widow and a farmer, Nururana Akhwari does her best to support her five children. She manages a small farm in Karatu, Tanzania, located west of Arusha, where she raises three cows and grows maize and sunflowers. Although her farm is near the road leading to Ngorongoro Crater, a popular tourist destination, she leads a quiet life.
Nururana, 52, joined Solar Sister in April of this year. By becoming an entrepreneur, she hopes to improve her future and that of her children. Her top priorities are ensuring they receive a good education and renovating their home. As she works on fixing her house and increasing her crop production, Nururana is also saving money to purchase an additional two acres of land.
Due to complications during childbirth, her daughter Josephina Aniel, 21, was unable to pay all of her hospital expenses. With the money she saved from her solar business, Nururana was able to cover the remaining costs without difficulty. She noted that, without this income, she would have had to sell one of her cows at a loss to pay for the hospital fees.
Nururana has also purchased a solar system for her home, which includes five lights and three smaller lanterns.
“I hang the smaller lanterns in the kitchen and another in the cows’ den to protect the cows from the hyenas. The solar light helps me to reduce the cost I would have spent on buying kerosene, and my family is safe from the smoke and possible fire hazards because I am using clean energy.”