Age
16
Country of Residence
South Africa
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
The spark was seeing my neighbours' shack burn down because of illegal connections, and others can't do homework in the dark during load shedding. My Aha! moment was: If I show people how dangerous and unfair this is, maybe we can fix it together and keep our community safe.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
We get people to join us at our church. Our idea came from church. We show them our model. They can see the danger with their own eyes. We talk in easy words. No big science words. Everyone in Duncan Village can understand. We tell other youth, you can be a teacher too. You can teach your own street. That makes them want to join. In future, we will go to more churches and schools to teach more people.
How many people are on your team?
2
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
*My Solution:* I will use my electromagnet and simple circuit model to teach kids at school and my neighbours that electricity is powerful but must be respected. I will show them how to connect wires safely, why we must not steal electricity, and how to call Eskom or the municipality when power lines are damaged.
Project Category
My project is an existing project that I started
Project Stage
Idea (We’re hoping to get started in the future)
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
My project shows the negative effects of electricity problems in my community, like power cuts, dangerous illegal connections, and fires .
Project title
Dark Side Of Eletricity
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
*The Problem:* In my community of Duncan Village, many families suffer because of electricity problems. Illegal connections cause fires and electric shocks that hurt children, load shedding leaves learners unable to study at night, and electricity is too expensive for many parents. It also leads to cable theft that leaves the whole township (kasi) in darkness for days. It matters to me because I live it. I see my friends scared, my family struggling, and homes burning. No one should have to choose between being safe and having light.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
In the next 3 months, we plan to finish our model and first present it at our church to get feedback from our elders and youth. Over the next year, we want to: 1. Use our church as a base to teach more people about electricity safety on Sundays after service. 2. Take the project to other schools and churches in Dunan Village more learners can learn. 3. Improve our model by adding a safe solar light example to show a cheap and safe alternative. Our goal is to grow it from a church project into something that helps the whole community stay safe.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
*My Innovation:* Most programs just tell people "don't do illegal connections" but they don't show them _why_ it is so dangerous. My project is different because: 1. It comes from inside the kasi - I am a learner from Duncan Village,so my community trusts me and understands me. 2. I use a real, working model to SHOW the danger, not just talk about it. People can see the spark and understand. 3. It is cheap and can be copied - any learner can make my model with waste materials and teach their own street. It is not just a science project, it is a solution made by us, for us.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
I am solving it by teaching my community about electricity safety and how to save power. My project does 3 things: 1. - I built a model of a safe vs. dangerous illegal connection to show why illegal wires cause fires and shocks. 2. I made simple posters in easy language showing what NOT to do with wires, and what to do during load shedding. 3. I show cheap ways to have light without danger, like using solar jar lights, candles safely, and reporting broken or stolen cables instead of connecting illegally.
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
In My Team: We are 2 in our group, including myself. I am the co- learder - he came up with the idea after seeing the electricity problems in Duncan Village and we built the circuit model. My teammate is my a leader - he helps me with research, improves the model, and helps present our findings. We share leadership by listening to each other, dividing the work fairly, and making all decisions together as a team.
