AfriGadget

Cross posted on Kikuyumoja’s Realm.

I was travelling in an upcountry minibus today when the guy seated just next to me pulled out his new mobile phone he recently purchased in Embu, Kenya.

Safaricom, the biggest mobile phone network provider in Kenya with about 5 million customers, introduced some handsets in the past, which enable resellers to deliver phone services to the public. Such handsets, which look like phones for fixed-lines, often come with an external display that shows the units consumed by customers.

The two (gsm) mobile phone networks in Kenya have become very succesful, as the state owned telecommunications company only provided the country with about 300.000 fixed-lines of which many are out of order or have been subject to vandalism.

Next to providing the public with mobile phone booths, these public phones also offer a great small-scale business opportunity for the owners of such handsets. And for those who obtain their pre-paid scratchcards at a wholesale price, there’s a 5% revenue coming along. These public phone booths are just a perfect way of helping people start their own business where the initial starting costs are quite low.

(please excuse the poor picture quality)

So, instead of buying a rather expensive Safaricom handset which is specially designed for use with these roadside telephone booths, this guy next to me bought the Afrigadget-solution: This gadget actually is a very cheap MadeInChina fixed-line phone which has been ripped of it’s inwards. The person who modified it ripped an old Siemens C25 phone apart and installed its display instead of the one that came along with this phone. The keypad is soldered to the phone and a rechargeable battery is inside the box with an external power supply.

The SIM card holder at the back of the phone comes with a dual-SIM-card adapter so that the operator may add another network and switch between both networks by simply switching it on and off.

These DIY-handsets for public phone booths come at a price range of about Ksh. 2.000 - 5.000 /= (~ US-$ 28 - 70) and are about half of the price the “official” handsets are selling for.

A young man has created a windmill out of spare parts in Malawi.

William Kamkwamba says one day while reading he came across two books, Using Energy and How it Works, which are about generation of electricity using a windmill.

On a trial and error basis, he managed to make a small windmill which generated electricity enough to light his dorm. Seeing its success he planned for a bigger one so that his parents could benefit and some well-wishers gave him money to get some of the materials he needed.

In total, he spent a total of 2200 Malawi Kwachas, which is equivalent to $16. William is saving his family money on home lighting expenses, recharges people’s mobile phones and radio batteries, and also charges his own automobile battery for backup power.

Unlike most windmills, where the propellers turn the spindle connected to the turbines directly, William added pulleys to his machine to increase speed thereby generating more energy.

There are three pulleys and the last is connected to a bicycle wheel. When this wheel turns, it spins a dynamo which in turn generates electricity.

Story Link (via Hacktivate)

Marlies sends an email and pictures of a water buoy that has been converted into a water tank for drinking. Ingenious uses of materials that might seem odd to Westerners at first glance are common place in Africa. The picture was taken in Lamu, a small island off the coast of Kenya.

She says,

“I recently had a chance of spending some time in Lamu where i came across an interesting observation which made me think of AfriGadget. Here is a picture of a water suspender made out of a buoy - very neat idea!”

If you have any pictures or stories of African ingenuity, send them to us at “main [at] thisdomain [dot] com”

Rajan Harinarain, a South African entrepreneur and inventor has come up with a temporary foldaway house for use in emergency situations complete with electrical wiring and fittings, doors and windows that can be erected by a small team in 5 minutes.

The patented structure weighs less than a ton, collapses to under a foot in height and can be modified with insulation/ventilation for hotter or cooler environments.

Links to the complete story at:

- South Africa Info
- IOL
- South African Engineering News

GeekCorps has a story about a Mali radio station that is using wifi to stream video content to TVs run on car batteries in the village of Bourem Inaly in Mali. What is particularly cool about this project is that the wi-fi antennae are all made locally by recycling local materials including cans. The only imported part is the audio/video receiver that is imported from Canada. The radio station currently has 15 subscriptions to the service that make it $45 a month.

For DIYer’s who may want to try this project, here is a copy of the project guide.

You can watch the video on the making of one the antennae here on YouTube

via GeekCorps

Over at kikuyumoja’s realm, JKE makes a water filter using little more than a couple of plastic containers, a ceramic element and loads of ingenuity.

This is an great way to solve the problem of obtaining potable water in places with a plentiful supply of untreated water.

There’s an interesting story on the BBC about an Ethiopian gentleman who is taking war’s leftovers and converting them into coffee machines.

He uses old mortar shells, which stand about one metre high, to make his coffee machines.

He cuts off the pointed ends, seals them and puts holes into the aluminium cylinder. The cylinder channels the water, coffee and milk.

Read the rest of the story

(hat tip Elizabeth)

These are a few accesories that exemplify Afrocentric craftsmanship, functional, beautiful and albeit quite cool, an intersection of technology and art…
Via Timbuktu Chronicles

USB case mod from Sao Tome e principe

It does not appear to be available for purchase at this time yet, but will be available in future. The portuguese site to check is here, ofcourse if i find out how to get this, i will update this entry.

The Safari Pod.

A carved Lion ipod stand crafted by Kenyan artisans.
There are 5 types of stands available for purchase, one for each of the ‘big five’ animals, including Giraffe, Hippo, Cheetah and elephant. The ‘big five’ is a popular touristy reference to the main attractions at the renowned Kenyan wildlife parks.

The larger part of Africa’s population do not have access to “processed” fuels like natural gas or modern cooking equipment. This means they are primarily dependent on open wood fires, a method of cooking that it extremely inefficient and harzardous to the environment.

The Kenya Ceramic Jiko (”jiko” is the Swahili word for cooker) solves two problems simulataneouly by addressing the issue of high cost of raw material for making the cooking equipment as well as reducing the amount of biomass required to cook by using available energy more efficiently.

This ingenious application of appropriate technology is composed of a fired ceramic heat containing liner fitted inside a metal housing. This housing is typically made from metal sheeting from discarded packaging - such as the ubiquitous 55 gallon steel drum - that would otherwise have ended up as hazardous waste in the environment. The liner essentially acts as an insulator when burning wood or charcoal containing the heat generated to ensure that it goes to cooking rather than escaping into the environment. This means that the ceramic cooker typically uses between 25 to 40% less fuel than a regular jiko.

You can find more information about this ingenious invention at the following links:

- Daniel Kammen’s Cook stoves for the developing world.
- Equator Initiative’s A burning concern.

Hugh Allen has also published a handbook of making Kenya Ceramic Jikos through the Stylus publishing house.

Of importance to all Africans. Click here to read The DATA Report 2006.

Kind regards and Be Well

Robert 

UPDATE 8 AUG 2006: 

I wanted you all to know that Afrigadget has been mentioned in DATA’s despatches.

“One year later, DATA (Debt AIDS Trade Africa) published its annual report, providing a country-by-country analysis of the G8’s commitment in debt relief, AIDS treatment and prevention, development assistance and trade. Although links can be found at some blogs, like AfriGadget, there is considerably less commentary on the DATA report from the general blogging community. Interested bloggers and readers can find the full report, conclusions and recommendations at the DATA Report site.” 

It proves that there is still much to do in terms of bringing Africa’s problems to the attention of the rest of the world, so will you please start mentioning Africa and Afrigadget in your blogs or on the forums whenever you deem it appropriate to do so.

Even better link back to this post here at Afrigadget and to DATA