Providing light and life-saving equipment to maternal health clinics in rural communities

Alongside Hope summer intern and Youth Council member Heather Jenkins demonstrates the Solar Suitcase at General Synod in June 2025

~ from a post dated July 16, 2025 on the Alongside Hope website

An Alongside Hope Campaign

A Solar Suitcase is a bright yellow power system that brings light and life-saving equipment to maternal health clinics in rural communities. These clinics often don’t have reliable electricity, or any at all. Nurses and midwives often have to deliver babies at night by candlelight or phone flashlight.

That’s where the Solar Suitcase comes in. It’s compact and carries practical tools: a high-efficiency solar panel, long-lasting battery, medical-grade LED lights, phone charging ports, and a fetal Doppler to help monitor babies during labour. It’s everything needed to safely support births in places where there is no electricity.

The Coming Alongside Hope with Light campaign aims to provide 49 Solar Suitcases – 35 for clinics in Mozambique and 14 in Madagascar. The budget is $320,000, and with the matching gift in place, we need to raise $170,000 to reach the goal. The first $150,000 will be matched dollar for dollar.

For more information and ways to donate, see this Alongside Hope webpage.