RICHARD TURERE'S LION LIGHTS

Hello Everyone..

Hope you're having a wonderful Tuesday. I am, and I couldn't be more pleased. The feedback on this blog has been encouraging so far and I want to thank everyone who has taken out time to talk to me directly or place a comment or two here or on other social platforms. Thank you so much.

The primary goal this blog tends to achieve is to present stories of people with exceptional ideas making great impact around them. This hopes to inspire and motivate anyone who decides to visit any of the pages. Very soon, we hope to widen the scope a little to include extra pages that would have you more excited about Tuesday. I'm really looking forward to it.

Nevertheless, today's post presents the story of a young Masai fellow who turned his hatred for lions into an idea (Lion Lights) that he has been well acknowledged for. Please read on: 

The Masai people of Kenya value their cattle. They would do anything to preserve them. But when predators become constant threats to their livestock, the situation becomes very unbearable, causing discomfort and insecurity within their communities.

Somewhere South of the Nairobi National Park, Richard Turere lived with his parents and catered for the family's cows. However, as wild animals migrated out of the park freely, lions followed them and in the process his father's cows suffered huge risks and were usually killed. 

Because of this, Richard grew up hating lions. As a young boy responsible for his dad's cows he tried to find ways to prevent these from occurring. First, he used fire but instead it helped the lions see through the cowshed. Richard didn't give up. He tried scarecrows, but the lions proved more clever. One night while walking round the shed with a torch, he noticed that no lion came. It didn't take Richard too long to realize that the lions were afraid of a moving light. With such discovery, the young lad began his journey to inventing 'Lion Lights' - an idea which has become very useful to many cattle rearing communities in Kenya.

He rigged up LED bulbs on poles around the enclosure 

Dubbed "Lion Lights," the lights are connected to a box with switches and to an old car battery powered by a solar panel. They were also devised to flash in sequence, tricking the lions into believing that someone is moving around carrying a flashlight.

Turere's innovative system became a big success. His family hasn't lost any livestock to lions since they installed the system, whilst many neighbors and other pastoralists across Kenya have now installed the "Lion Lights."

Turere has been given a scholarship at Brookhouse International School, one of Kenya's top educational institutions.

"One thing that's unique about Richard is that if you give him a problem, he'll keep working at it until he can fix it," says leading Kenyan conservationist Paula Kahumbu. "He doesn't give up; he doesn't find things too difficult; he's not afraid of being unable to do something and I think this is why he is such a good innovator."

Richard says he wants to work in aviation when he grows up. "Three years ago when I was in the savannah herding my father's cattle I used to see the planes flying over and landing at the airport and I was like, one day I'll be a pilot and an aircraft engineer," he says.

I hope Richard Turere's Story inspired you..

So, do you have an idea?
Would it solve a problem?
Have you tried producing it?


Watch Richard tell his story on TEDtalk here:





SOURCES

http://ipkenya.wordpress.com/2013/10/01/kenyan-cattle-herder-seeks-petty-patent-protection-for-lion-lights-invention/
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/26/tech/richard-turere-lion-lights/
http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_turere_a_peace_treaty_with_the_lions.html