Design & Architecture (less is more)

As Bob Geldof and Bono well know, Africa is the forgotten continent. Grinding poverty, rampaging disease and continual exploitation of its resources by the developed world are the stories we mostly hear. But it is also a continent rich in culture and craftsmanship, with an indomitable spirit of making the most of very little. While researching the SCORE stove we happened upon a website celebrating the spirit of that creativity. Afrigadget chronciles the stuff that Africans conjure from the simplest of materials. Seen here is a motorized bicycle, made in Kisumu, Kenya, costing about 7,000 Kenyan shillings ($105 USD). Their little tanks hold about 2 litres of petrol, but this allows them to travel about 100 km with out a refill. “To start the bicycle you start pedaling manually, then you flip a switch on the left handle that starts the engine. Then you have a normal motorcycle throttle control on the right side.” Also noted this month is a post on four Kenyan brothers who, in solving the problem of their nearest water being 15 km away, created a booming little business. They now make windmill based water-pumps out of old bike parts and roofing iron. Much more on ::Afrigadget