Last Mile Connectivity Project Lights Up 86-Year-Old Kamene’s Home After Decades in Darkness
86-year-old Priscilla Kamene switches on the newly installed light bulb in her home for the first time.
For 86-year-old Priscilla Kamene, nightfall once meant the end of her day. In Kisekini Village, deep in Kitui County, she relied on a koroboi a small kerosene lamp to cook, care for her children, and check for snakes hiding in the dark corners of her mud-walled home. For decades, that faint flame was her only companion through seasons of drought, independence, and change.
Now, her world has been transformed.
When technicians under the Last Mile Connectivity Project reached her village, Kamene watched in awe as the bulb in her small sitting room flickered to life. Warm yellow light filled the space a moment she had waited for her entire life.
“I have seen light,” she said with a wide smile. “Electricity has been switched on in my home.” Born in 1938, Kamene had never experienced the comfort of electric lighting until now. Overcome with relief, she added, “Today, I will sleep well, like a child.”
In Mlango location, under Wikilili sub-location, darkness has long defined everyday life. Families cooked, studied and slept by the dim glow of kerosene lamps. But the arrival of the Last Mile Connectivity Project is slowly rewriting that story as more households are linked to the national grid, ending generations of isolation.
“I used to light my tin lamp every night,” Kamene recalled. “I would look under the bed for insects and snakes before my children slept.” Her memories reflect a lifetime of resilience one marked by hard work, motherhood, and survival in both drought and darkness.
Today, electricity means far more than convenience for her. It brings safety, dignity and a renewed sense of belonging. “Don’t you see the change?” she joked. “Even if a snake enters, I can now strike it with my walking stick.”
Neighbours frequently stop by to witness the transformation and ask what it feels like to finally live in light. She offers them encouragement: “Mtafika -your turn will come.”
Kenya Power’s wider electrification efforts are rapidly expanding across Kitui County. A KSh 22 million interconnector between Kitui and Machakos counties has boosted supply to SEKU University, Kwavonza and Katangini. Plans are underway for a new substation in Mbitini to stabilise power in areas like Zombe, Ikanga, Voo and Ikutha.
Over the past two years, the utility has doubled the capacity of the Kitui Substation to 10MVA, installed a dedicated 33kV line, and replaced more than 1,200 termite-damaged poles with concrete ones. These investments exceeding KSh 140 million have strengthened power reliability for over 94,000 households, with an additional 7,500 homes set to be connected under the ongoing Last Mile project.
For elderly villagers like Kamene, these milestones are deeply personal. Her once-dark home now glows into the night a beacon of progress in a community long left behind. As she settles into her chair, she whispers a simple prayer: “May God bless you and do good to you.”
Electricity has finally found its way to her doorstep and with it, hope.
