“I am very small but I fill the room. What am I?”

by Allison Archambault

When stories are told in Haiti, often the storyteller warms up the audience with a series of well-know riddles.

“Krik!” the storyteller yells to get everyone’s attention.

“Krak!” the audience - or those paying attention - will yell back to show they are ready for the story.

Gathering more interest, the storyteller often launches riddles. A popular one: “Piti piti, plen kay” (Very small, fills the house)?

“Lanp!” (Lamp!)

The Enèji Pwòp team has a variation on this well-known riddle. “Piti piti plen kay modèn?” (Very small, fills the house, is modern?)

And the answer? An Enèji Pwòp Lamp, of course. This draws smiles and nods. “Aaaaah! Lanp Enèji Pwòp,” people agree, “Lanp modèn.”

The Enèji Pwòp-branded Nokero N200s have arrived, and customers love them. While a typical kerosene lamp costs 200 gourdes to buy and 10 gourdes/night to operate, this Enèji Pwòp lamp costs 500 gourdes to buy and then needs no fuel, just exposure to sun to recharge the battery. Not only are families getting better light, reducing their exposure to dirty smoke and fire hazard, they are saving huge amounts of their household budgets.

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