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Sri Lanka project wins BBC World Challenge '09

by lalith | December 7, 2009 at 10:09 am

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Sri Lanka project wins BBC World Challenge '09
A project nominated from Sri Lanka has won the first place in the BBC World Challenge '09 with a record breaking number of votes, the organizers announced today.

Safe Bottle Lamp Project, from Sri Lanka, received the first prize of US$20,000 at a special ceremony held at The Hague on December 5th.

The project, a brainchild of Dr. Wijaya Godakumbura, is aimed at reducing burn injuries caused by the tipping over of improvised kerosene lamps.

Dr. Godakumbura, who as a surgeon, has witnessed terrible results of these accidents and designed a safe bottle lamp that does not tip over and spill the kerosene causing the fire.

To date, his small foundation has handed out about 775,000 of these safe lamps to the people.

Many families in Sri Lanka rely on the improvised kerosene lamps made from bottles that can tip over and cause fire.

The safe bottle lamp is made of slow-cooled glass that is unbreakable and has a steady flat bottom to prevent tipping over.

World Challenge 09 is a competition organised by BBC World News Limited aimed at finding projects or small businesses from around the world that have shown enterprise and innovation at a grass roots level.

Over 300,000 people die of burns globally every year, and 95% of these deaths, disabilities and disfigurements occur in developing countries.

Some are kerosene burns due to its wide use in homes lacking electricity. In Sri Lanka, dreadful burns are caused by makeshift unsafe kerosene lamps that are used by many such families. As the provision of electricity to them is too slow, there was a crying need for a simple, inexpensive and quick solution.

Dr. Godakumbura's safe bottle lamp has won the prestigious Rolex Award and many other awards.

In certain African countries like Mozambique, Malawi and Rwanda, only 10-20% of homes have electricity. It is 70% in Sri Lanka, while it was 35% in Bangladesh a few years ago. In the other homes, lighting is done using kerosene.

In Sri Lanka, there are 1.3 million such homes. Some use makeshift kerosene bottle lamps made out of empty medicine bottles and fused bulbs. Being narrow, tall and light in weight, they tip easily. As the wick holders are not of the ‘screw-on’ type, the flammable kerosene then spills causing fires and extensive burn injuries on a person seated near by.

In the photograph above, you would note that even the kerosene vapor is burning, giving an indication of the high flammability of kerosene.