Afrigadget: The ‘Can Do’ Attitude Personified
by Warren McLaren, Sydney 
on 05.22.07
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
We’ve had many other inspiring stories out of Africa. Here's just a few:
the Elephant Pump,
the ITDG (now knowns as Practical Action),
the Malaria Watch,
the Play Pump,
the Hippo Water Roller,
and outstandingly the Pot-in-Pot.
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Focus Earth: June 27, 2009: The Roots of Eco-Terrorism and Saving the Whales
- Focus on Focus Earth: The Beginning of Eco-Terrorism (Video)
- Green Glossary: Cultural Genocide
- UFO Sighting in VA Makes Us Ask: Could We Just Move to Another Planet?
- How Thailand Taught Me to Give Up Toilet Paper for Good
- Raw Food for the Rest of Us
Warren, thanks for taking a look at AfriGadget. Just so you know, it's a team blog done by Africans all around the world. Stories are sent in to the various authors and they post them - so anyone can contribute.
FYI, Treehugger is one of my personal favorites, and is a big part of the inspiration behind AfriGadget. Shining a positive light on positive, but not well known, things is what we try and do too.