“Solar panels have helped a lot with my everyday needs. I hope everyone can have solar panels as I do."

Oscar Soares, a 68-year-old farmer, resides by himself. His three children have moved away towards more urban areas to build their lives. In his home in Manatuto Municipality, his days mostly revolved around farming and managing his evenings without reliable energy. 

For years, Oscar relied on makeshift solutions—using car batteries (ranging from $30-$100), candles, and kerosene lamps. Each option only offered limited solace, with monthly costs accumulating up to $20 for alternate energy expenses, straining a farmer's modest income.

"Some of the difficulties I faced were charging my phone, navigating around the house, cooking and cleaning," Oscar recalls. "Everything was harder in the dark."

When batteries would die, and money ran short, Oscar turned to collecting firewood. He began spending long hours climbing hills, next to his home, to gather pieces of firewood to burn and generate enough light to last through the night.

"I didn't feel unsafe," he explains carefully. "I could light the house with firewood. But it meant constant work, constant effort just to see."

Finally, in March 2025, his struggle came to an end. As one of the beneficiaries of UNDP's Pacific Green Transformation Project, supported by the Government of Japan, Oscar received a solar panel kit. This kit, containing simple equipment (lanterns, panel, cable, charger, remote control), transformed Oscar's sense of safety, comfort and security within his own home.

"I feel at ease now," he says. "I'm not preoccupied with electricity anymore."

Daily tasks became significantly easier. Oscar cooks under reliable light now, without rushing to finish before sunset or saving his limited kerosene for only the most essential work. The lantern, provided by UNDP, also offers adjustable brightness, a respite for aging eyes. "The brightness is good for older people like me," Oscar notes with quiet satisfaction. "I can see what I'm doing. I can move safely through my house." These lanterns are also portable, helping Oscar move around in and around his home to finish tasks, meet other community members, and eat dinner with friends.

On the evenings that his children visit, dinners are filled with joy and laughter. Families and neighbours gather without the constraint of dying batteries or dwindling kerosene. Time together expanded, no longer measured by remaining light. Oscar says, “The light has helped us be together more compared to before."

"This is good for children and elderly people in Timor-Leste," he emphasises. "The solar panels help children study better at night and help many elderly people gather and navigate their way around the house."

His hopes for the future envision children studying at night, elderly people navigating homes safely, of communities across Timor-Leste still waiting for what household in Uma Naruc now have. Oscar also speaks of better roads and Infrastructure that would ease the physical burden of rural life, especially for aging farmers.

In Uma Naruc, Oscar Soares continues his routines—farming, cooking, and maintaining the land that sustained his family across decades. But now those routines extend beyond sunset without struggle. In its place lies ease. For Oscar, at 68 and alone, this is not a small thing.