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.

Cement-bag Bellows in Lamu

I was in Lamu in June and came upon a metal workshop tucked away behind the front row of buildings on the main path from Lamu Town to Shela. Inside were two blacksmiths, Adam Marabu and Abdul Ahmed, working diligently at creating a new anchor. What caught my eye though, was the bellows. They had taken old cement bags and hooked them up to metal pipes in the floor that fed air into the make-shift furnace.

Here’s a short video with some footage of them at work:


Lamu Cement-bag Bellows (AfriGadget) from WhiteAfrican on Vimeo.

One of my favorite stories on AfriGadget was the other unique bellows I found, this time in Nairobi, made out of an old bicycle. Both of these go examples go to show what can be done with very little. It’s about improvising what you have and overcoming a challenge.

Adam and Abdul make all types of items, but they told me that their main products are anchors, which range from small to large (2000-5000/= or $26-65) and, chisels and coconut shellers. They create a lot of the small metal pieces on the local dhows, and also make doors and window frames for the homes in the town. Really, they can make just about anything that you desire, like experienced metal workers anywhere in the world. What’s amazing is what they do it with.

Cement bag bellows and blacksmiths in Lamu Kenya
Cement bag bellows and blacksmiths in Lamu Kenya

Final Presentations at IDDS Ghana

IDDS Ghana 2009
IDDS Ghana 2009

The International Development Design Summit is put on by Amy Smith and her students at MIT. This year it took place in Kumasi, Ghana – which will be followed by Maker Faire Africa this weekend in Accra, where some of their work will be shown.

Here’s a quick list of the projects they have been working on over the last five weeks:

– A press that speeds up the process of extracting oil from shea nuts
– A device for generating electricity from a playground carousel
– A machine for making recycled plastic products from used water sachets
– A set of tools for threshing groundnuts
– A mechanism for producing chlorine from salt water using readily available materials
– A simple, low cost battery made from local materials, for household lighting and other uses
– A human powered grating machine for speeding up cassava processing
– A thresher to improve the quality of rice by preventing stones from mixing with the grains
– A chlorine dispenser for disinfecting drinking water
– A family friendly latrine designed to promote use and hygiene among young children
– A device for monitoring the growth of children under five through cell phone technology
– A container that extends the shelf life of tomatoes during transport and storage

Edward tells Hazwan some of his thoughts on the rice threshing machine.
Edward tells Hazwan some of his thoughts on the rice threshing machine.

The importance of being in Ghana

Niall Walsh has written this information about how the importance of the move to Ghana for this year’s IDDS was to both MIT and the participants:

The main difference between IDDS Ghana and IDDS in MIT is the proximity to community partners and potential end users of the projects. IDDS prides itself on the spirit of co-creation and this movement from the States to Africa is a crucial one in line with this vision. The difference between participants sitting in lecture halls in MIT, learning about international development and the importance of speaking to at least fifty villagers before designing a technology, and actually living with and talking to hundreds of villagers all over the country, is immeasurable. In total IDDS this year worked with ten villages throughout the Bromg – Ahafo and Ashanti regions and teams had the chance to make three separate two night visits (spread throughout the design process to make sure they had input into every stage) to these villages. Among a huge number of other factors, the simple experience of having end users actually become extremely excited about your prototype, and seeing them test it out, is an incentive for teams to continue their project after IDDS.

Another way in which IDDS interacted with the local community, rather than simply for it, was through it’s interactions with Suame Magazine. This is an engineering cluster located in the centre of Kumasi, spanning twenty miles and with a working population of over 200,000 people. There are approximately 12,000 independent micro, small and medium enterprises located in the area and their main activities of vehicle repair and metal fabrication (welding and casting) are renowned for their ingenuity all across West Africa. During the summit, participants worked extensively with these engineers and mechanics in the ‘Magazine’ and had the chance to share ideas, techniques, and technologies with each other

The point has been stressed home at this year’s IDDS that these villagers involved in the process, as well as the workshop guys in Suame, are partners in the design process, rather than simply people we should talk to along the way. Without these partners, the technologies presented tomorrow at the Great Hall would quite simply not be possible, and I think that knowledge, in and of itself, will prove invaluable to our participants as they continue to work in international development after the conference. In light of this, five villagers from each village, as well as workshop managers from Suame, will be provided transport, accommodation and food to come to the final presentations to see all the different prototypes.

Systems have also been put in place to ensure that the projects worked on at this year’s IDDS will continue to be worked on after IDDS. There are project grants and partnership grants available for the teams and there will also be a full time country liaison for Ghana, responsible for integrating the technologies into all of our partner villages, as well as sourcing new villagers and markets to help disseminate and create business models for the technologies. On a far more practical level, villagers will also have the opportunity to decide which of the prototypes they are most interested in, and then work with our partners in Suame Magazine to have these manufactured.

Bush puncture repair gadgets in Masai Mara

On a recent trip to the worlds greatest natural wonder (well, ok, one of!), the wilderbeeste migration in the Masai Mara, we had the pleasure of discovering an extraordinary bush vehicle repair outfitters in the lovely slum village of Talek, after our extortionately expensive rental car suffered from not one, but three flat tyres.

If you haven’t been to the Mara during the spectacular migration, then you might find it hard to imagine our frustration – try rousing 5 kids and 4 adults at 5 am, pack them and lunch and head off to the Mara River to witness for the first time in our lives, the crossing of thousands of wilderbeeste, zebra, gazelles, lions, – images of crocodiles leaping for the bleating calves … adrenaline racing with anticipation…..and then “poof”, a flat, right at the edge of the Mara reserve.

No big deal right – just change the tyre and continue. Five minutes delay? No, 3 hours later,  we’re screaming at the rental agent because the key for the spare tyre’s lock does not work! Aaarrrggghhhh

With second car we head to Talek hardly expecting to find an outfitter who can repair tubeless tyres.

This is what we found.

Finding punctures in a converted wheel barrow - there were 15!
Finding punctures in a converted wheel barrow - there were 15!

A modified wheel barrow full of silty water and a bit of detergent to find the holes. We stopped counting a  15 – it was very depressing! I don’t even remember  going over a thorn bush either!Should have been my first warning – these tyres were seriously worn and thin.

The air compressor system comprised a tank and engine and a compressor unit – the last part was an adaptation from an airconditioning unit off a vehicle! Very creative.

Modified compressor
Modified compressor
Home made tyre remover

In the end we had to opt for converting a tubeless tyre into a tube tyre – and this is the gizmo that was used to remove the tyre. It was completely home made and very effective. We found an old inner tube with just about the right dimensions at one of the tented camps, 350 shillings and 3 hours later we were on the road again!

Mara never fails to impress
Once back on the road Mara never fails to impressWe witnessed the crossing
Wildebeeste crossing the Mara River
Wildebeeste crossing the Mara River

It was well worth the hell to get to the crossing point – and of course this is where we experienced puncture no. 2! Crazy place for a puncture as you aren’t allowed to step out of your car while animals are crossing. Hours later It was back to Talek jua kali puncture repair for us!

Yeah, the predators were in good form too
Yeah, the predators were in good form too

After 3 days of stunning experiences we headed back to Nairobi on what may easily be described as the worlds worst road. That was where the new tubed tyre went totally bezerk on us and exploded ripping the tube completely in half! Turns out the tyres were so worn that the wires in the tyre  simply ripped the tube open. Nice one!

We discovered that the spare lock could be opened with a good whack! with a tyre spanner and off the lock fell. Away we went.

Words of advice to anyone renting a 4×4 to go on a major trek to Mara or anywhere in Kenya – check everything  before you go, take rental company managers personal cell no with and make sure you have credit and full phone charge, take a second car if you can, and a fundi (without my brother I’d probably still be on the road side – thanks a million Dom!). Despite the annoying hassles of the rental car and the unbelievable road, the trip was well worth it. I refused to pay for the lost day and was so glad to see the back of that damn rental car – the agency didn’t quarrel.  Gonna buy my own safari car now.