Cellphone video of transgender woman Pearl Love being physically and verbally assaulted on New York City’s No. 4 train was posted to Facebook on Monday. Pearl was on her way to New York City’s LGBT Community Center when the female passenger began to berate her. In addition to the above, she has two other videos showing the woman chasing her around the subway car. Why Pearl isn’t planning on filing a police report at this time.
“Trans women in public minding their own business aren’t appropriate for my child but what is appropriate is me abusing a complete stranger.”
Despite political and social bottlenecks in different parts of the continent, Africa’s newest generation are breaking barriers to write their names on the sands of time not only in their country but also on the world’s timeline.
Among these exceptional people are young Africans looking inward to create specialized solutions to the unique challenges that their societies face.
While there are many more out there (and more coming up), here are ten of the young African inventors providing creative solutions to the continent’s social problems.
1. Evans Wadongo, 28, Kenya
Born in the Western part of Kenya, Evans Wandogo grew up in a rural village without electricity, giving him a firsthand experience of energy poverty. He grew up walking a long distance to buy kerosene for ‘Koroboi’, a common kerosene lamp in Kenya which often cause eye problems due to the frequent exposure of smoke from the lamp. However at age 19 while trying his hands on a dorm experiment involving the timing of LED (light-emitting diode) Christmas lights, Evan discovered that could create an environmentally friendly source of light that will light up his community. With the help of a crafts worker, Evans succeeded in designing a solar lantern, MwangaBora (meaning “good light’), which is made from 50 percent recycled material and now widely distributed in Kenya and Malawi.
2. Asidu Abudu, 28, Ghana
Self taught engineer and inventor, Asidu Abudu, has made at least 26 different inventions since he discovered his passion of invent things in sixth grade (Primary six). Over the years, Asidu has invented numerous devices that are designed to ease people’s lives. One of his inventions is a fufu pounding machine which could ease the lives of African women. His other invention includes an automatic eating machine that can help the disabled, a surveillance camera that can track vehicles via mobile phone and a device that enable users to lock one’s car engine using one’s mobile phone or somebody else’s phone.
3. Kelvin Doe, 18, Sierra Leone
Kelvin Doe is a Sierra Leonean self taught engineer who built his own generator and radio transmitter at the age of 13. At 16, he was able to build a battery that will provide electricity to homes within his community where there is no constant power supply. The battery was made from acid, soda, and metal parts scavenged from trash bins. Kelvin’s talent was noticed by David Monina Sengeh, who encouraged him to participate in GMin’s Innovate Salone idea competition where he emerged one of the finalists. Kelvin is today the youngest person to participate in the “Visiting Practitioner’s Program” at MIT. He has also signed a $100,000 solar project pact with Canadian High Speed Service Provider Sierra WiFi.
4. Duro-Aina Adebola, Akindele Abiola, Faleke Oluwatoyin and Bello Eniola; 16, 16, 16 and 17; Nigeria
In 2012, four high school teenage students – Adebola, Abiola, Toyin and Eniola showcased a thoughtful and practical innovation that warmed the heart of Africans and the international community. This invention was a urine power generator which could provide safer, affordable and more access to electricity. The invention which was first showcased at the Maker Faire Africa annual pan-African conference was born out of the girls’ school chemistry lab and could create 6 hours of electricity with 1 Liter of urine.
Ed’s note: Go read about the rest of tomorrow’s innovative Africans!
