Hi, this is Morgan from the Americas Division in New York.

On July 25, 2023 Executive Vice President, Mr. Suraj Bhatia hosted an SDG activity Rise and Shine. 50 employees attended the event to create solar lights for children living in energy poverty, to help them to study after dusk and improve their education outcomes.

Each night, 789 million people are plunged into darkness since they don’t have equal access to clean energy. They depend on primitive forms of energy like charcoal and firewood to ignite their way through the night. These forms of energy have a devastating impact on health and well-being, economic stability, educational outcomes, and the environment they live in.

All lights were donated to Solar Buddy, which is a global nonprofit organization that is uniting a global community with a big dream to gift six million solar lights to children living in energy poverty by 2030, to help them to study after dusk and improve their education outcomes. SolarBuddy is focused on not having energy be a privilege, but a right for all.

The SuMi Trust team built 80 solar lights to support children in the Dominican Republic that face energy poverty, to illuminate their future, help with their education studies, and break the cycle of poverty.