Peace Boat and Liter of Light distribute lights around the world
A few weeks after the start of the 100th Global Voyage, the joint project of Peace Boat and Liter of Light is giving the first results. Since the voyage started, close to 200 participants have taken part in some of the workshops that have been organized onboard to build sustainable lights. On January 18 and 19, the first large delivery of lights took place in southern Madagascar.
The Voyage of Light began on December 26 in Yokohama, Japan. This is one of the special projects that are being carried out on board the 100th Voyage to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Peace Boat. The Japanese and the Filipino NGOs have joined forces in this project to promote renewable energy and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) around the world.
One of the journey’s highlights has been a series of workshops from Liter of Light Executive Director Illac Díaz during which Peace Boat participants onboard learned how to make sustainable solar lights. The first workshops took place between Japan and China.
The workshops have proven to be a very popular activity among Peace Boat’s participants. Passengers of all ages and linguistic backgrounds are learning to build different types of lights with the help of the Liter of Light members onboard. In addition to Illac Díaz, Ami Valdemoro, Director of the Board of Trustees of Liter of Light, and Camilo Herrero, Litro de Luz Colombia Director, are joining the voyage in some sections.
The finished solar lamp products will be donated during the voyage to communities via our local partners in ports where Peace Boat docks. During two days in Madagascar, Liter of Light organized several solar lamp workshops for different Peace Boat local partners: SEED Madagascar, SOS Villages d’Enfants Madagascar and Volunteer Southern Cross Japan Association (VSCJA). Dozens of lights assembled by Peace Boat’s participants onboard the ship were delivered to different villages.
Peace Boat and Liter of Light are planning actions to deliver the lights in several ports that the ship will visit in the next few weeks. In Cape Town, South Africa, both NGOs will work with Ikhaya Le Langa NPC (the House of Sun), an NGO in Langa, the oldest historically Black township in the Western Cape. This NGO works to revitalize the Langa Quarter, an area of 13 streets (500 homes and around 7,000 people).
The Voyage of Light will cover a southern hemisphere route, docking in 19 ports around Asia, Africa, South America and in the Pacific, including South Africa, Brazil, Chile and Samoa. This collaboration between the two NGOs will help create awareness about SDG7 around the world. The ship will return to Japan on March 31 after a full circumnavigation of the globe.