Teens creative innovation lighting up home, village

Lighting in rural Kenya is still poor even as the government lowered the connection fee for electricity in the country.

However, at Olopito Village in Narok North Constituency a form two student at Musaria Secondary School in Kericho has innovated lamps using old discarded bulbs to provide lighting for his family.

Necessity truly is the mother of all inventions as Sadera’s need to do his homework with ease at home led him to the revolutionary innovation.

Sadera said he collected used bulbs from discarded lamps, which he assembled into a rechargeable lamp that could light up a whole room.

The 18-year-old said he uses materials such as phone batteries and pieces of wood to assemble the lamps based on a design he put on paper.

Sadera expressed optimism that he could make more lamps using old bulbs if given support, noting that the lamps are eco-friendly as they do not produce smoke and are cheaper to maintain compared to paraffin lamps that the family was using before.

The young innovator urged fellow students to be keen on their studies as they are helpful in life.

He added that he decided to use discarded materials after realizing that materials from the shops would cost up to Sh1000 to procure and that would be too expensive for the villagers.

His father, Johnson Sadera, who has been supporting him, stated that the lamps his son makes are durable and have been providing adequate light for his family.

He further added that three families have so far benefitted from Sadera’s innovation.

Two months ago, Kenya Power reduced its charges for new electricity connections by half to Sh15, 000 down from Sh35, 000.

During that time, President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the Sh34 billion ‘Last Mile’ project, which seeks to connect more than 300,000 new homes to electricity.