Suzanne and Hurbain stay switched on

Older people are amongst the most vulnerable in Haiti and like many others, Suzanne Lucien, 62, and her husband Hurbain Julien, 82, have no income or money. In August 2010 they received a solar powered kit from a partner of Age UK which included a telephone charger, lamp and radio.

Suzanne said "One of the problems in the camps is that we don't have electricity. When it gets dark, we used to have to get candles or kerosene for our old lamp so we could see and stay up. Otherwise, we had to go to bed. I prefer not to use candles or kerosene lamps because they can cause fires."

Hurbain said: "When HelpAge gave us the kit over four months ago I said to my wife that it didn't look very solid. I was wrong. All the different parts of my kit are still working perfectly…Now we have the lamp we can continue reading or even walk around the camp…We feel a lot safer.”

"At the moment, the only entertainment we have is listening to the radio. Every Friday and Sunday we make sure we listen to the HelpAge radio show ‘Koze Granmoun Pawol Timoun’. It's the only one that talks about the issues older people face.”