Video of home made bicycle repair tools and gadgets in Nairobi

In Africa bicycle repair men can be found everywhere, from under a tree to in the local vegetable market, one of the best places to find African innovations.

At the Karen market I met the charismatic Mohammed Makokha who proudly showed me two of his home made gadgets that are critical for his business.

I’ve obviously been wasting my money in the bicycle stores.

Recycling car batteries in Rural Kenya

Maina, Rhoda and little Winnie are  a typical Kenyan family who live on the outskirts of Nairobi in an area that has no electricity.

But they have solved the problem of getting the daily news

rhoda family2

When I visited their home I was impressed that despite the lack of electricity, Maina has come up with an innovative solution and is able to keep up with whats going on and listen to his favourite Kikuyu music all day long!

taking it down

Here’s a better look at the system – a second hand car battery hooked up directly to his radio

Radio charger

The wiring is simple

maina showing

Fully charged the battery last 2 weeks. To recharge Maina has to take it to a place in town for 24 hours at a cost of Ksh 50 (about 80 cents US. If he were to  use ordinary batteries Maina would be paying several hundreds of shillings per month (15$) and creating toxic waste with their disposal (Kenya has no battery disposal system).  No wonder used batteries are in such huge demand!

bicycle ride2

And no wonder this family is smiling!

I’m wondering how much it would cost to hook up Mainas battery to a solar panel and  some lights. They currently depend on hurricane lamps.  Powered with kerosene these are not only a weak source of light but are dangerous and prone to cause fires.

rhoda lamp

Got any ideas anyone – can we charge a car battery from solar?

Post note:  This story was found while making a video slideshow about this average Kenyan families carbon footprint for WildlifeDirect.

Coconut + Zippers = Handbags

My daughter and I had a lot of fun on Lamu island, off the coast of Kenya, earlier this year. One of the items we came across was this coconut handbag. Some had designs, some were raw, all were incredibly cool.

Coconut + Zippers = Handbags

If I remember correctly, I bargained poorly and bought it for 150/= ($2). The problem was that the merchant new how badly my daughter wanted it so he knew I was stuck. 🙂 This is the one we ended up buying:

Coconut + Zippers = Handbags

Yes, these are mainly for tourists. However, it’s a good showcase of local reuse of what would otherwise be garbage for microentrepreneurial gain.

Solution for Nairobi Blackouts

It’s no secret that Kenya’s rivers are running dry as a result of forest destruction and environmental degradation which has led to a season of blackouts in the capital city Nairobi.

Typical of the ingenious people of Nairobi one street vendor has cashed in on the crisis with this wonderful gadget which he markets as

“Perfect for Nairobi black out”

juakali lamp1

As you can see I could actually read by the light of this lamp which is made from a used tin can, some pieces of wire to make the connections

juakali lamp3

And the battery compartment is ingeniously crafted from a circle cut from a retired flip flop.

juakali lamp2

I love my juakali lamp and everyone that I know  in Nairobi needs one of these lamps. Everything about it is so true to the juakali spirit – hand crafted using colourful recycled tins, and designed for a real purpose with a handle so you can move it around from room to room or hang it up. The vendor tried to sell it to me for Ksh 350 but we settled on Ksh 200 (about $2.50) though I’m sure he would have gone cheaper but the traffic was moving and I had to go.

If you want one visit the Nyayo stadium roundabout.  They stood out amongst the chinese junk that vendors are selling you could practically kit out your house from the junk on sale there. Here’s a short list of what I saw during my 30 minute traffic hold up:

Pens, hats, footballs, blow up spiderman (who needs one of these?), peanuts wrapped in newspaper cones,

smelly car things, driveres licence holding cases, scarves, giant maps, Kenya flags, apples, kits (spiderman kites),

Nike shorts, cowboy hats, socks, oanges, backpacks, cheap watches, key chains knives, olympic medals (yes I wanted one of those!),

knee length shorts for guys who sag, hazard ttriangles, cables to cack your car, name tags for meetings, torches, window wipers (!),

car mats, pears, plumbs, tiny folding chairs for children (or Chinese people?), vehicle number plates, fire extinguishers, stickers,

Enormous framed pictures of furry cats and snow leopards (I can just see one of these this in my house), bananas and bandanas, plastic lunch boxes, pillows and cussions, a huge variety of stuffed toys,

posters with Jesus’ sayings, polo shirts, stearing wheel covers, spanners, screw drivers and of course my favourite – juakali lamps.

Nairobi never fails to impress. I love it. What else have you seen on sale in the Nairobi streets?

Win a Copy of William Kamkwamba’s Book!

If you’ve been reading AfriGadget for a while, you know of a name that keeps popping up over and over – William Kamkwamba. He was first written about by another blogger friend Mike McKay and then subsequently covered here on AfriGadget a good 3 years ago. His windmills and the story behind it are an inspiration for many. There is now a book, a documentary and a foundation all set up around the inspired story of windmills from Malawi.

William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer at a book signing

Win a copy of “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”

As luck would have it, I have 2 extra copies of William’s new book. I’d like to share that with you, the readers of the blog. To do that, I want to challenge you to send in an AfriGadget-like story, picture or video. Just write it and attach the pictures in an email to main@afrigadget.com. I’ll review them and pick the ones that I think best fits the blog. It’ll be posted here with attribution to you.

We’ve got two weeks until Oct 31, so I’ll give one book away each week. Let’s see what you’ve got! And, yes, I’ll mail the book anywhere in the world.

Note: the best AfriGadget stories come with pictures, so make sure you send those in as well.

William in the news

He’s been doing his book tour in the US this month, hitting some pretty big shows, including ABCs Good Morning America and the Daily Show with John Stewart (videos below).


William Kamkwamba on Good Morning America
William Kamkwamba on Good Morning America

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
William Kamkwamba
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Political Humor Ron Paul Interview