William Kamkwamba, born in a village in Malawi,
was 14 years old when he became fascinated with the idea of building a windmill
after looking at a book on energy at a library he frequented when his family
could no longer afford the school fees. Although he could not read the English
text, he gleaned enough to build a crude windmill that produced 12 volts and
powered 4 lights, bringing electricity and a water pump to his impoverished,
famine-stricken village.
The story above is about a young teenager who
made use of the knowledge he had to innovate solutions to his community
problems. Though he had to drop out of school because of lack of school fees
made use of the basic skill or reading to help him come up with his own
invention. William is not the only teenager who came up with inventions. The world
over there is stories of young people who have impacted their nations with
various ground breaking innovations.
Could you imagine that a 15 year old invented
braille? It’s unbelievable! Yes, Louis Braille invented Braille when he was
only a teenager. Robert G Heft a fifteen year old designed the American 50stars
Flag and it was only submitted to congress for selection after his teacher had
given him a B for that design and he had challenged his teacher because he felt
he deserved an A.
It is often the case if you ask all your
friends what they want to be after school that they all have dreams to have
good jobs that pay them much money. Few of the will have dreams to be
inventors, entrepreneurs and employers if there are any at all.
While we truly are the best African Country in
terms of literacy rate, with a literacy rate of 92% according to UNDP
statistics, something should be somehow amiss in our education curriculums at
all levels of study. Why do we boast the highest literacy rate in Africa but
still the highest unemployment rate?
Instead
of spending years of learning to line up to all become employees and get all
those nice jobs we dream of, we need a mind-set shift to becoming employers and
creators of business empires that will employ others.
In these days we live in where even those with
degrees fail to get meaningful jobs young people cannot afford to continue
thinking in the same way our fathers, mothers and older brothers and sisters
did. We need young people who will learn in order to innovate and be employers,
bosses, businessman and inventors.
We have no value in education as a country if
young people fail to establish new businesses, products and technology. It is
not impossible for teenagers in Zimbabwe to be Innovators and inventors. If it
has been done in other countries it can also be done in Zimbabwe by her own
young boys and girls.
The teens today have a better standpoint and
advantage compared to yesteryear teens. With so much information and knowledge
available on the internet young people have all they need to be inventors. We
are living in the information age and the beauty of it is that it makes
research and development easy compared to decades before us.Teenagers should
begin to toy around with ideas of setting up their own industries and
introducing new technologies while they are learning. Our education curriculum
should facilitate the interest of young people’s minds in invention and
innovation.
While it is true that much of the education
curriculum we have today in Africa was designed by Colonialists in order to
produce a labour force for their newly established industry it should not
hinder your mind from being inquisitive and creative.
There is much more you can do as a young person
and the time to start is now. Start by looking at the problems we face today as
a nation and think up solutions of what can be done.
When you have an idea start working on it, even
if it does not work the first time keep trying. For the incandescent light bulb
we have today to be there Thomas Edison had to go through many experiments
until it finally worked. You too should not give up the first time your idea
fails to work.
There is much room for innovation and invention
in the technology area. Zimbabwe’s teens too can come up with their new social
networks. Look at how many young people spend time on social networks e.g.
Facebook, you can start thinking of developing Zimbabwe’s home-grown Social
network and be known all over the world just like Mark Zuckerberg.
We must not all aim to be employed some of us
must learn in order to innovate so that they employ others. That new invention
can come from you.
story of William was found on the website link:
http://www.transitionhonesdale.org/http:/www.transitionhonesdale.org/around-the-world-in-transition-2/
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