A nine years old Kenyan boy Stephen Wamukota received a presidential award after making a handmade wooden hand washing machine to help prevent the spread of coronavirus. He expressed his feeling while giving an interview to a foreign news agency that he is very happy after receiving the presidential award.
He says, “Right now I have two machines and I want to build more”. The wooden hand washing machine works in a way that permits operators to tip a bucket of water via using a foot pedal in order to avoid touching surfaces to reduce the virus spread.
Stephen came up with the idea after seeing and learning coronavirus related information from TV and its spreading pattern. In Kenya, there are 2,872 coronavirus cases and 85 deaths in total, active cases at the moment are 1,938 and among those cases, only 7 are in critical condition.
Stephen and his family live in Mukwa village, in Bungoma county which is on the western side of Kenya. There are no corona cases reported at the moment in his village and seeing Stephen’s innovative method the villagers will be encouraged and adopt ways to contain the spread of the virus.
However, Stephen’s father, James Wamukota is worried that soon the virus may reach their village. Mr. James shared his views on the handmade wooden washing machine and said that he gathered the wood to build a window frame but upon returning home, he found that his son has made the washing machine. Everything done to make the machine was by Stephen and he just provided a helping hand.
His father felt very proud of his son, who works as an electrician and repairs electronic goods for a living. Mr. James posted the creation of his son on Facebook which went viral. Stephen sees himself as an engineer in the future and to fulfill his dream the county governor offered a scholarship to Stephen Wamukota.
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