2000 djembe drums were created from 20 tons of plastic trash. “La Victoire sur les Sachets” is a short video showing their “victory over the plastic bags”.
Category: Materials
What Do You See?
I have a talk that I give when people ask me to speak on AfriGadget at conferences that is called, “What do you see?”. It’s a visual and interactive quiz where I take the audience through different images of AfriGadget and ask them what they’re looking at. It’s a lot of fun, and it proves to everyone why it’s so hard for people in the West to come up with contextually relevant life hacks in Africa.
Below are some images from an old family friend who has spent his life working in rural Southern Sudan and Kenya. Under each image you’ll see why it’s interesting. By the way, I too missed the relevance of the flip flops at first glance…
Making use of available resources for a hinge. I really like the way that Ben has used these old slippers and shoe for the hinge of his small kiosk/shop at Butere.
This old chair at Mahanga in Western Province shows the ingenuity of the local carpenters in making use of available resources, with the carton and stuffing from sisal and wood shavings.
Using available containers in a nursery for medicinal plants in Asembo area of Western Kenya.
Making use of a Fanta bottle to channel water from the rainwater downpipe to a storage container in Nairobi.
A special thanks to Roger Sharland of REAP East Africa for sending in the pictures.
Repurpose: Converted Shipping Containers
Spotted in Nandihills, Kenya January 2009.
I saw one just like this in Bungoma, but was not quick enough with the camera to get a good shot. Turns out Zain, a major mobile phone service operator is using these as pre-fab offices in rural areas.
Spotted in Nairobi, January 2008
At Lagoon, a bar/nyama choma (roast meat) joint.
Got more in your archives? If so, please comment.
Turkana zipper head dresses
While visiting a rural community in the dry bushlands of Elementata I met some Turkana women who were absolutely captivating
Did you notice the creative head dresses? Zippers may have been invented in USA but nobody would have imagined they’d be used for head dresses. I was so awed by the outfits that I forgot to ask where they got all those zippers from – I can’t get rid of the image of all the village men wondering about with gaping flies.
Toy Tractor from Recycled Plastic
Taken in the Rift Valley province of Kenya, this picture shows two young boys with their toy tractor. Notice the use of discarded plastic and a few nails. Simply ingenious, simply Afrigadget!
This picture was submitted by Bankelele, one of Kenya’s top bloggers. Thank you very much Bankelele.
If you would like to submit images, please tag them with ‘afrigadget’ in flickr.