. "I was seeing the sickest patients I'd ever seen in rooms not as well equipped as an American garage," she said. "I would be there at night and think, 'I'm just here to watch these women die.'" So instead of giving medical advice to her Nigerian patients, California physician Dr. Laura Stachel decided to get them more reliable power. Stachel’s husband, Ron Aronson, jumped in and created a solar system that fit inside a suitcase, cost less than $1,000, and provides enough power for lighting, suction machines, and other low-power devices. The suitcases are hand-made, take abut three hours to assemble, and are simple to use and difficult to break. Stachel and Aronson have formed WE CARE Solar (wecaresolar.org) that has now delivered 80 compact solar systems to health clinics around the world. A larger, one kW system at a Nigerian clinic that was the inspiration for the solar suitcases coincided with a 70% drop in the maternal mortality rate with no variable besides the new power supply.