"Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our daughters and granddaughters are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty. Think big." -- Daniel Burnham, Chicago architect. (1846-1912)

Yes, I did edit Burnham's words a bit (he predicted that it would be sons and grandsons to do things that would stagger us).  But I feel justified in putting words in his mouth because I have seen things that he never dreamed of:  Women with the power to change the lives of their families and their communities by creating a women-to-women network of distribution for solar lamps.  In rural Uganda, where 95% of the population has no access to electricity, solar lamps can be life-changing technology as they replace the open flame kerosene lamps that are used in most homes.   The solar lamps are - safer, avoiding the burns and fire accidents that are far too common - improve the indoor air quality, thereby reducing the incidence of respiratory illness - and free up a good portion of the household income, up to 40% that would otherwise be spent on kerosene.  It is such a simple change that makes a profound difference in the life of one family. 

One family.  But what about all the others.  A single lamp doesn't shine its light very far.  There are still the other 1,599,999,999 people out there without electricity.  How do we reach all of them?  Does helping one family really do much of anything compared with the enormity of the need?   How do we keep a focus on what can be done and not be distracted by what hasn't been done.  Many development organizations have the tag line "One (fill in the blank) at a time":  One child at a time.  One smile at a time.  One mosquito at a time.  Doing anything "one -- at a time" helps us to breakdown the enormity of the need to something more manageable.  Something you can get your arms around.  It helps to know that even if you can't do everything, you can do this one thing.  So we can think of ourselves as solving the problem "one light at a time".

But there is an element of comfortable cowardice in that thinking.  It's like trying to dip a toe in change and check the water temperature before diving in head first.  But to really make a difference, to meet the needs of the 95% of households that don't have access to electricity, we have to "Think big".  It is great that Solar Sister is helping families gain access to solar light.  But if we are going to be really effective we have to create a network of entrepreneurs that provide access not just to a few communities, but across all of Uganda, indeed across all of Sub-Saharan Africa.  And that requires scale.  Big scale. 

I was recently challenged to: "Go bold or go home". 

I choose "Go Bold".

Which brings me back to the beginning of this post:  "Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our daughters and granddaughters are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty. Think big." -- Daniel Burnham, Chicago architect. (1846-1912)