Power play

The Solar Mamas who are lighting up Zanzibar

Carlos Mureithi

In a dimly lit corridor of a mud-walled house nestled among coconut trees, Sharifa Hussein stripped red and black cables, a screwdriver voltage tester balanced between her lips and rolls of cable lying by her feet. Then, with the help of three other women, she attached the two wires to an electronic device nailed on the wall. The women, all wearing colourful hijabs, were installing solar power to a house in Muyuni B village in Unguja, the main island in the semi–autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar, which lies off the coast of Tanzania in eastern Africa. They are part of a larger group – known as Solar Mamas – who assemble, install, repair and maintain solar power kits in villages across the archipelago. They receive training from community-based organisation Barefoot College…

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Guardian Weekly (Digital) - 1 Issue, 24 January 2025

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