While Erick Hersman of whiteafrican.com & Afrigadget was in Kenya last month, he offered me one of the Portable Light Kits to test in Sudan. Armed with my PLK, I trekked back off to South Sudan (my new home) to find a willing participant in the FLAP bag project.

The FLAP bag project is a collaboration between PopTech, Timbuk2 Designs, and the Portable Light Project. Read more at FastCompany.com.

After looking around, my Sudanese friend and I found that no strong materials were available locally, however, there are plenty of imported bags available. Insisting that this was to be his bag at the end of the day, I requested that he pick out the most useful bag for his needs. He chose a canvas backpack. Before purchasing it, I gave it the once over and brainstormed with him how the 'portable light kit' could be integrated. We decided it could be sewn onto the front with Velcro on one side so that the front pockets could still be accessed and the light would be installed in one of the shoulder pads.

With no Velcro available locally, we decided a zipper would work just fine and might be more appropriate, as it would last longer.

Prior to installation, I tried my hand at hacking the portable light kit so that this one would have a USB port. After doing the necessary installation, I came to the conclusion that the battery included with this kit must not be a high enough voltage, so I removed it before the kit was installed on the backpack.

We have yet to fit the reflective material to the back, but I think we will sew it onto the back of the solar panels or the back of the backpack. It's quite possible that it's best use may just be to leave it loose. I will leave that up to my Sudanese friend.

While my friend was quite bummed that he would not be able to charge his cell phone with the kit, he was still excited to have the light. I'm not sure if the bag is something he would actually use regularly as most men who do carry bags, prefer a brief case of some sort. It's a status thing.

More pictures and feedback to come...