Poor Ivory Coast pupils' ray of hope: solar backpacks The equatorial sun has been up for about an hour as a gaggle of children set off from the Ivorian village of Allepilla on their hourlong trek to school. Back home in the evening, eight-year-old Marie-France Amoandji Ngbessoo does her homework by the light of her backpack's LED -- captured by solar panels on her way to and from school. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES