At the Muripotana Health Centre in Nampula, Mozambique, midwife Ancha Amido Abdala begins each shift by greeting her colleagues, checking admissions and examining patients in the maternity ward. But for years, her night shifts happened in the dark. This effectively closed the health centre to nighttime patients or admissions. Even the maternity ward remained closed because people were afraid of snakes, and it was unsafe; there was a high risk of robberies during the early morning hours.
“Everything became difficult,” she says. “There was no way to handle medical materials in the dark.”
That changed in 2022, when Alongside Hope and a local partner installed a Solar Suitcase. The suitcase is mounted on the wall of the clinic and connected to a solar panel on the roof.
Suitcase is a bit of misnomer. The bright yellow, hard plastic box with a handle looks like a suitcase, and it does carry stuff – electricity generated by the sun – but instead of being packed with clothing, pyjamas and toiletries, it is stuffed with LED lights, headlamps, a fetal Doppler to monitor a baby’s heart during labour, chargers for cellphones and laptops, a thermometer and more.
“The Muripotana Health Centre does not have access to the national power grid, so we rely solely on the lighting provided by the Solar Suitcase,” Ms. Abdala says. “When a patient arrives at night, we don’t need phone flashlights or lamps. During rainy times, it charges a little, and that charge helps us too.”
The results have been immediate and meaningful for health workers and patients alike. “Both the patient and the companion feel free and comfortable because they can follow the procedure and see what I’m doing,” says Ms. Abdala. “Without the Solar Suitcase’s lighting, they wouldn’t be able to see and would have doubts about the procedures. This causes them to speak badly about the care because they don’t have clarity about what happened.”
Installation of the suitcases in Mozambique began in 2016, funded in part by a grant from the Diocese of Toronto’s Our Faith-Our Hope campaign. The initial project saw 30 suitcases installed and the beginning of a partnership with We Care Solar, based in California. In 2022, 50 more suitcases were installed.
Thanks to those 80 suitcases, more than 80,000 babies have been delivered safely in the project area, many in the middle of the night. In some districts, the number of nighttime births increased by 17.5 per cent because women knew they would be cared for in properly lit spaces.
Now, in 2025, Alongside Hope is finishing the job. With the addition of 39 more Solar Suitcases, all off-grid Ministry of Health clinics in the province of Nampula will have a suitcase. This new project, called Coming Alongside Hope with Light, also includes the installation of 14 Solar Suitcases in Madagascar, working with a local partner. The total budget is $320,000. Thanks to a generous donor, donations will be matched, up to $150,000. The project is also the focus of this year’s Wild Ride, Alongside Hope’s annual fundraising campaign.
For Ms. Abdala, the Solar Suitcase is a game-changer. She now calls the patient’s companions into the room to explain sutures, using the light to ensure full transparency. “Even when suturing, the patients and their companions can see why we are suturing. At that moment, we call the companions to explain, for example: ‘Mama, your daughter tore. We can’t leave her like this. We need to suture here.’”
The Solar Suitcase helps Ms. Abdala monitor newborns more closely during delivery, including how the baby is presenting. And in critical moments, that visibility can save lives. In one case, a preterm baby was born tired and not crying. “The mother asked, ‘Will this baby cry?’” Ms. Abdala recalls. With the light guiding their actions, she and her team were able to resuscitate the baby and begin skin-to-skin contact with the mother.
Patients have noticed the change. “I gave birth at night, around 10 p.m.,” says one patient. “It was with the light from the Solar Suitcase, and I felt very happy because I could see what the nurse was doing.”
Another said, “I am a first-time mother. I gave birth to my baby here at the centre around 6 p.m. I liked having my baby in a well-lit place. Here, I could see everything the nurse did and talk to her. If I had given birth at home, it would have been in the dark, and something could have gone wrong.”
Over time, the community’s perception of Ms. Abdala has also shifted. “In the beginning, it wasn’t easy, there was a lot of mistrust, and not all community members treated me with respect.” But after helping a woman who had once been unfriendly to her, everything changed. “With the Solar Suitcase, I’ve noticed that people trust my work more. My work spoke for me. Today, I am respected by almost everyone.”
The suitcase provides more than electricity, she says. “Even in centres that have electricity, for me, having only electricity is not enough; sometimes there is no power for long periods. I am grateful for the Solar Suitcase, and I ask that it be provided to other centres that don’t have it. It doesn’t matter if they are connected to the grid or not; the Solar Suitcase is very important.”
For Ms. Abdala, the motivation remains clear. “As a midwife, I take pride in my work because I am a midwife. I enjoy receiving babies and do this work with all my willingness. Even when I have personal problems, I forget everything when I arrive at the maternity ward and see patients waiting for me.”
Help fund a suitcase
A Solar Suitcase costs $6,500, which includes installation and training of local staff in how to use and maintain it. “It’s a perfect opportunity to work together with your parish to host a fundraiser,” says Janice Biehn of Alongside Hope. “Bake sale, concert, lemonade stand – anything works! When you raise funds for one suitcase, they will be matched, effectively lighting up two clinics.”
Anglicans in the diocese can also join Alongside Hope’s Wild Ride, which is supporting the Solar Suitcase project this year. Participants can take part in the annual event either as individuals or on a team. They can ride, walk, run, bake, knit, sing – whatever they want to do to raise funds. To register or sponsor participants, visit alongsidehope.org/wild-ride.
I see a new heaven and a new earth