AfriGadget – Page 9 – Gadgets in Africa: Solving everyday problems with African ingenuity

Cameroonian Bamboo Magic

Our friend Bill Zimmerman, a technologist who runs a startup un-incubator called LimbeLabs in Cameroon, posted this interesting story on his blog about a teacher who makes an extra income by fabricating gadgets out of Bamboo.

Avid readers may remember the Bamboo Bike project, so the idea of using Bamboo as an alternative and sustainable material isn’t that far fetched. In fact, we’re glad that someone took the initiative and ventured into this field with so many different products at the same time. Bamboo Magic, really. Make sure not to miss out the video!

“I had an opportunity to stop by the 2009 South West Regional Agro-Pastoral Show, an annual exhibition for local farmers and craftsmen, here in Limbe this afternoon. The event was held on a community field ringed by exhibition booths overflowing with every imaginable vegetable, fruit and live animal cultivated and raised in the southwest region of Cameroon. In addition, there were a number of innovators with homemade products and gadgets crafted from local materials.

Amid all the displays, one guy stood apart with some creations that can only be described as a near perfect marriage of form, function, green design and a borderline obsession with bamboo. Lekuama Ketuafor is the proprietor of Bamboo Magic, a one-man cottage industry he’s started to supplement his work as a teacher.

Using a set of simple hand tools, glue, varnish, skill and loads of patience, Lekuama finds ways of using bamboo—a ubiquitous, low-cost, renewable material—in ways many people have never imagined. Judging from the size of the crowd gathered around his booth, I suspect few Cameroonians had seen anything quite like Lekuama’s creations before.

Among the intricately decorated bamboo shoes [2], vest, palm wine calabash, cowboy hat, clocks and so on, I was immediately attracted to two incredibly cool electronics-related pieces: a bamboo covered Nokia phone and an attractive and functional laptop case. Here’s a video of Lekuama, dressed appropriately in head-to-toe bamboo wear, demonstrating these items:

The attention to detail on the laptop case is impressive, right down to the external USB port access, shoulder strap attachments, carry handle, magnetic clasps, internal elastic keeper strap and red felt lining. And how about that chic mobile phone?

Due to the time intensive nature of his craft, Lekuama makes these items for sale in very small quantities. However, his dream is to establish a training center where he can transfer his skills to young Cameroonians and build a community of artisan microentrepreneurs.”

Obviously, agricultural shows in Africa are a great resource for AfriGadgets.

Drogba in Nairobi at juakali leather works

Deep in Kariokor, a slum and a hub of Nairobi’s juakali leather industry, you can’t miss spotting Drogba hard at work at his home made leather press.

Drogba’s leather press is an assembly of diverse components.

The fly wheels are made up of two used conveyor pulleys full of concrete. These are joined together by two used second hand vehicle half shafts.

The half shafts are connected to an old bench vice screw (hope you are singing along here)

The screw is connected to a press foot

(all together now) “Oh hear the world of the lord” (tune of the kids song Dry Bones)

The print plates are placed on the base of the press frame.

When Drogba spins the fly wheels, he sandwiches the leather between the press plate and press foot producing perfect permanent imprints in the leather

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This method is used for most of Kenya’s printed leather products, a huge industry that includes Maasai beaded belts, menu covers, wallets, passport holders, belts, key holders, coasters, handbags, purses, and many fashion accessories and leather souvenir products.

Drogba is 18 years old and works a good 12 hours per day on a casual wage. He has just completed high school and is looking for a college placement. As you can imagine, he’s a huge fan of his soccer celebrity lookalike and namesake.

(special thanks to Dominic Wanjihia for this contribution)

Jua kali dressed in Mitumba

Cat walk ready arc welder — Catwalk ready arc welder

This bizarre fabricated arc welding machine is the unique collaboration between jua kali and mitumba. Jua kali literally means hot sun in Kiswahili, and refers to the informal small traders who work outdoors in the sun fabricating mostly work metal and wood items, fixing cars and other household items. Unable to afford new tools they fabricate their own out of locally available materials. Mitumba refers to the second hand western clothing sold on the streets of many African cities. The arc welder uses stolen scrap and second hand wires that are coated for insulation using strips of cloth torn from unsellable mitumba clothes. This is then wound into the welding machine coils.

I’d gone to Limuru to get a welder for a job on a dairy where I met James Mutahi. He is a typical jua kali wrought iron artisan who operates on the sidewalk outside his street workshop using his own home made tools. I’ve seen jua kali home made arc welding machines before but usually they are housed in a protective box. To save money James dispensed with the casing revealing the guts of his arc welder.

James was making security grill for a window. There’s a huge demand for arc welding in Limuru especially for gates and window bars which are essential in the high risk security zones of Nairobi and other urban centers. Nairobi’s security is the result of the collaboration between mitumba and jua kali!

The picture speaks volumes about the Jua-Kali sector in Kenya– cost saving is paramount whilst safety is overlooked hence no housing box – look for welding goggles, fire extinguisher and other safety gear.

(This submission is from Dominic Wanjihia)

Tractor tyres and bush buckets in Masailand

I have just spent a week in the field studying Masailand ecology and community conservation with Princeton University students. The location is not that remote (Kitengela and Olerai within 40 km of Nairobi) and the community are wonderfully resourceful when it comes to day to day tools for pastoralism.

Masai salt lick made from tyres in Kenya

Tractor tyre trough for water for goats and sheep

This old tractor or truck tyre was somehow cut, opened up and sealed at either end to make a perfectly good livestock watering trough. Even Joy Adamson noted that the Masai question using modern appliances if home made ones do the job anyway.

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Tractor tyre cattle salt lick

Another way to make a salt lick, Evelyn just cut a truck tyre in half and placed it on the ground supported by stumps.

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home made bucket works perfectly

Why buy a bucket when you can just make one with an old water container and a piece of metal?

manure spadesmall

Home made shovel

And if you don’t have a shovel for your manure, just straighten out some corrugated iron, cut it and nail to a stick and Presto – probably more effective than anything you could buy in Nairobi. Manure is one of the few products sold to passing trucks on these remote ranches.

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Keeping land open for wildlife migrations in and out of Nairobi National Park can be costly to those living with wildlife. Those in The Wildilfe Foundations land lease scheme earn 4$ per acre per year to keep the properties open (no fences) and to supplement their income they make beautiful beaded artworks for sale on Olerai Conservancy.

Maasai ladies making beaded works of art Kenya

It might look like a tough life for some of us, but the Masai out here seem perfectly satisfied and at peace

Modified farm implements in Kenya

In Baringo one farmer has come up with two rather interesting innovations.

Murray Roberts is in the business of planting restoring grasslands which involves planting grass seeds in severely degraded landscapes.

The primary purpose of ploughing is to turn over the upper layer of the soil, bringing fresh nutrients to the surface, while burying weeds and the remains of previous crops, allowing them to break down. It also aerates the soil, and allows it to hold moisture better.

A traditional plough comprises a series of blades all facing the same direction.

Murray Roberts Modified Plough

Murray Roberts has modified his plough so that it has two blades facing each other. These create a hill and furrow effect which is perfect for grass seeding to improve the trapping rainwater in this semi arid part of Kenya. Normally the rainwater hits the surface and sheets off the ground carrying away the valuable top soil and seeds!

But that’s not all. Ever tried to make a fence using barbed wire – you know how tangled it can get? Well not if you use one of Murray Roberts fencing gizmo, it’s basically a tool onto which you thread the barbed wire so that when you go out into the field to fence a plot, you can release the wire in an untangled manner and under tension. Simple and obvious and you don’t need a wire tightening tool.

barbed wire fencing gadget

That’s William Kimosop and Princeton University Undergraduates checking it out – don’t ask me what that dog is up to!