Just last week two African inventors won recognition for inventions that involved scrap, bicycles and mobile phones. William Kamkwamba grew up as a farmer in Malawi, at the age of just 14, he had built his own wind generator. During a drought his families fortunes collapsed and he spent his time in libraries reading and … Continue reading “Charging mobile phones with bikes and scrap”
Happy New Years everyone! (The following series of images were sent in by Teddy (aka TMS Ruge) a professional photographer and an all around amazing individual who runs Project Diaspora.) The SUV was made from an old Cooking Oil container, I can’t remember the brand. The “top” is cut-out and they put other little belongs … Continue reading “Village Toys (Uganda)”
Madmoet Abrahams has been living and working on the street for more then 20 years now. He found a great way to make a living. Everyday you’ll find him in the streets of Cape Town, South Africa collecting White paper. 1 KG of White paper will pay him 23 South African Rand (approximately $2.35) at … Continue reading “Re-using a wheeled carriage for babies to make a living”
This weekend I’m at Brown University in Rhode Island for A Better World by Design, a conference focused on answering the question, “How can we use technology to improve the world?” The line up of speakers is quite impressive. I’ll be speaking tomorrow on AfriGadget during in the time slot allocated on technologies that can … Continue reading “AfriGadget at “A Better World by Design””
A couple weeks ago one of our inspirations for AfriGadget – Emeka Okafor of Timbuktu Chronicles – put forward an idea on the Ned forums about a “Maker Faire Africa“. The aim of a Maker Faire-like event is to create a space on the continent where Afrigadget-type innovations, inventions and initiatives can be sought, identified, … Continue reading “Maker Faire: Africa 2009”
