Lighting the Pacific Islands, One by One

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Children throughout the Pacific islands are literally receiving new illumination in their lives, thanks to an ingenious tool assembled for them with love by unseen friends hoping to bring new light to their learning.

In eleven different locations—from Perth in Western Australia to Papeete, French Polynesia, volunteers with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have happily assembled more than 11,000 small SolarBuddy solar lights in recent months, making them ready for use by children, youth and their families in remote communities with no electricity. 

The SolarBuddy is very simple. Consisting of a strong impact-resistant plastic case, an LED lighting array, a solid-state controller, and a solar panel and battery, it's a small individual solar-powered light that is charged by the sun during the day and used at night for studying and personal safety.

Each light was assembled by a volunteer, who left a note of love and encouragement to the end user of each device they assembled.

For children on islands with little or no electricity, a common situation on many Pacific islands, the SolarBuddy accelerates their ability to learn and grow. So, it was with great excitement that senior missionaries with The Church in Tonga recently delivered SolarBuddy lights to three villages in the outer islands of that country.

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Elder Gary and Sister Deidree Torres, of Monticello, Utah USA, visited the two remote islands of ‘Otea and Matamaka in the Vava’u region of Tonga (approximately 350 kilometres north of the main island of Tongatapu) from 21-27 February 2024. The Torres’ travelled to these islands by boat and faced significant challenges in reaching them.

“We only got to two islands because the ocean just became too rough," said Sister Torres. "So, the skipper said we needed to turn around and go back to Tongatapu."

The islands visited were selected with the assistance of local church leaders and government officials, to make sure those children needing them most received these lights. The Torres’ delivered seventeen lights to 'Otea village and nine lights to Falevai village, both of which are located on the island of 'Otea, and another eight lights to Matamaka village, on the island of same name.

The Torres’ said everywhere they went they were greeted by big smiles and grateful hearts.

“We explained to [the children] how to use and maintain their SolarBuddy’s. Their teacher helped them read the letters delivered with each light and explained what we were saying,” Sister Torres said.

“The kids loved the lights and repeatedly said "Malo" (Tongan for thank you) with big smiles.”

She said they would have delivered more lights to other islands, but storms and the rough seas stymied their efforts. “This effort might take several months because of the difficulty in getting to these remote islands,” Sister Torres said.

“But we will definitely try again, and we’re looking at early March to deliver more lights to the outer islands near Ha'apai,” Elder Torres added.

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