Two British MPs have been learning about CAFOD’s work helping more people access sustainable energy with a trip to Kenya during the Easter break from Parliament.

Catherine McKinnell MP, Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne North and Mark Hoban MP, Conservative MP for Fareham, spent three days visiting projects supported by CAFOD that use renewable sources of energy to improve the lives of local people. At a health centre they heard how using CAFOD-funded solar panels to refrigerate vaccines has proved more reliable and sustainable than gas, and has meant people not being turned away because the gas had run out and the vaccines had spoilt.

The MPs also met with Kenyan politicians to hear their experiences of policy making and Government.

The visit comes as CAFOD gears up to launch its three year campaign on climate change and sustainable energy in September of this year, to make sure poor people are protected from dangerous climate change and have access to sustainable, affordable and reliable energy.

Catherine McKinnell MP said: “We’ve seen how green energy is transforming lives here in Kenya. We visited a girl’s school where solar panels mean they now have lights to teach by, and where using green energy to pump water from a nearby spring means there’s hot water for the girls to wash, which is really important. As a result of these developments the children are benefitting and going on to do bigger and better things.”

Mark Hoban MP added: “The trip meant we could see first-hand the challenges faced by people who don’t have energy access that they can depend on, and also, the way that lives are transformed by dependable, renewable energy sources.”