Mzamose Gondwe has written an interesting article about Mr. Frederick Msiska, an innovative peasant farmer from Ntchenachena in Rumphi district of Northern Malawi. Mr. Msiska only attended school until the 5th grade due to school fees problems. But that has not stifled the spirit of innovation in him.
Battery operated handheld chemical sprayer
In her article, Mzamose reports that Mr. Msiska has built a biogas converter for his toilet that he uses to produce electricity. He has also built a cell phone charger, a fan and a chemical sprayer for use on his farm. The charger and the fan use the electricity produced by his biogas converter.
When asked about what motivated him, he says “I looked around and I found that certain things were missing in my life so I studied very closely things that the government supplies. I made them myself through trial and error. I just kept trying, trying, and trying until they eventually worked.”
Because I grew up at Mzokoto, which is close to Ntchenachena, I am very familiar with the mululuzga tree (just like Mzamose, I also don’t know the English translation of mululuzga), which Mr Msiska is using in his biogas converter. The mululuzga tree is very common in the Henga Valley and surrounding areas, but I did not know that it can produce acid. All I remember is that people use some of its parts as traditional medicine.
Mr. Msiska is older than William Kamkwamba, the boy who harnessed the wind, and Gabriel Kondesi, the boy who harnessed the airwaves. But the spirit of innovation at work in their lives is similar. I am of the view that there is a lot more innovation taking place in the rural areas that goes unnoticed.
Some of our journalists on the ground must devote more time to unearthing these kinds of stories and running columns on innovation in their dailies. The pro-Malawi digerati is more than ready to promote such stories on line. With increased publicity both on-line and off-line, it will be easy to find experts who can help to further develop these works.
28 users commented in " Mr Frederick Msiska, another innovator from Malawi "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackThroughout the world, it is the simple rural people without much access to an overload of information that innovate and make life easier for themselves and very often their neighbours. The problem as he says is that some busy body will come and put a spanner in his works to exercise some petty officialdom. Sad.
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I personally find Africa fascinating. Good to see that there are innovators there as well.
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Nicole Price says:
April 10th, 2010 at 10:33 pm
Yes, it is a fascinating continent and I for one think that it will become the continent to watch in the rest of the century.
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Working with limited resource he is able to come out with so many idea. Hopefully their government can support them instead of stopping their research for new idea.
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This was an interesting article indeed.
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This is really impressive.
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Yes the situation is same in every country. Poor people are more innovative than town folks as town folks are lazy and are happy their comforts.
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WOW… people like him makes me think that I can really achieve my dreams in life, despite of all the hindrances and stuff…All I need is hard work and dedication.
I admire him!
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This video is really eye opening.
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It is another world, creative genius crushed by the fear of arrest, what is the world coming to?
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Congratulations to Mr. Msiska! He really shows what creativity and determination can produce. I’m humbled.
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This is incredible! He went to school till 5th grade and was able to comprehend so much and actually invent stuff? Im amazed, he really is creative. We need more folks like him in this world! Humble and willing to work, creative, determined, dedicated.. Good luck to Mr. Msiska! and we hope he invents a lot more stuff. Sincerely, Kenny Hayslett
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The video is really amazing, its such an eye opener
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Great story – it shows that hard work and dedication prevail
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Thanks for sharing this story very interesting video.
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Well written story about the unfortunate inventor.
Awfully sorry for him – cause there is so few of such people.
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He attended school until the 5th grade?. I went to school for almost 20 years and I’m not nearly as creative as this guy.
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I personally find Africa fascinating. Good to see that there are innovators there as well
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Congratulations on your beautiful and informative articles
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Sadly he said he stopped inventing? So sad how people are sometimes pushed down by others for standing out.
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Miley says:
September 23rd, 2010 at 9:01 am
He is not an inventor as such, he simply found a practical solution to a problem he was having. Though if he lived in a rich country he probaly would have taken this to the markets and probably would have made some dosh from his findings. But as it stands he is probably happier than if he lived in the rat race.
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It never ceases to amaze me how seemingly ordinary people sometimes possess and extraordinary intellect or creative ingenuity. I hope he continues to invent many more fantastic devices in the future. On another note, it’s sad to see how some would decry him for his inventive tendencies – shame on them.
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I’ve always been interested in the african culture, this video lets me see into some of the innovations there
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Hello,
a great soul, very friendly guy with a great spirit in his eyes…
I wonder why he has destroyed everything, since he didn’t mention being harassed…
what a pity he – understandably – does not have the self-worth he deserves (“only educated people innovate”)
Africa is the future, 2 generations from now
Blessings
Daniel
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Thanks for sharing the video. Mr. Frederick Msiska’s works are truly impressive. I hope the media will continue to feature inspiring stories such as these. They are worth emulating especially since they don’t have access to the digital world yet they were able to do amazing innovations.
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This is an interesting piece.Big up to such people. They need to be protected
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What a great video, its truly impressive. Msiska is a gifted man. I hope he will inspire more people.
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Just plainly shows that lacking of education is not a hindrance of creating or to invent things which can be very useful. Mr Frederick Msiska is one great example of an individual who are determined to make a change. I salute you Mr. Msiska.
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