As one who loves to shop, I almost salivate when I see an ad with “BoGo” on it. “Buy One, Get One.” I love a sweet deal. Here’s a better concept: “Buy One, Give One.” By doing so, you can “light the world.”

Everyone needs a couple of flashlights; one is for the house and one for the car. You could buy a relatively inexpensive flashlight down at Wal Mart and then keep filling it with batteries every few months (or risk having the batteries go dead when you need them). OR, you can buy this BoGo Light which is solar powered, needs batteries only every two years, and has a solar panel which will last twenty years. When you buy this flashlight, an identical flashlight is distributed in a developing country.

“So,” you are thinking, “why is that important?” The Bogo Light site can explain it in more detail. Here are the reasons that caught my attention:

Two billion people in developing countries have only kerosene lanterns, candles, and single use batteries to light their nights.

For a poor family, the cost of buying kerosene can eat up 1/3 of their income. IF they had these flashlights, the family could re-direct their money and have a better life.

Children in developing countries often have to work during the day. Their only chance to read is after dark, but kerosene and flashlight batteries are expensive and candlelight isn’t adequate. IF they had these flashlights, those children would have the opportunity to learn to read and escape a life of poverty.

According to the World Bank, every twenty seconds a person dies from cancer and illness associated with the indoor pollution from burning wood, dung, and coal. With a gift of solar light, 1.6 million people might have a better chance at health. Hundreds of thousands of people might not be injured or killed in accidental fires caused from kerosene use IF they had solar light. Solar light might even help in the prevention of malaria (the mosquitoes that spread it don’t seem attracted to the solar light).

The use of solar light would positively impact global warming (less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere), groundwater contamination (fewer batteries), and topsoil erosion (less wood cut for fuel).

For $25 + shipping from Houston, TX, you can help end world poverty, further education, increase world health, and positively impact the environment. AND, you get a good flashlight! It sounds like a sweet deal to me.

My friends Mark and Dawn passed this on to me. I just bought a flashlight, and I’m passing this on to you. If you buy a flashlight, and pass this on to one person, and they buy a flashlight and pass the information on to one person, and so on, and so on, etc.—why, people, we can change the world.

Let there be light.