Skip to content

Helping Kenyans with Mobility Issues Live More Independent Lives

An inventor in Kenya is changing lives.  He builds battery-powered wheelchairs designed to roll through rough terrain, and he does it with recycled parts. What started out as a hobby turned into a passion and is now a business for Lincoln Wamae. His custom-made electric chairs use scrap materials he collects from junkyards. The self-taught innovator plans to one day mass produce his designs and sell them all over Africa. Wamae, 30, spent three years perfecting his electric wheel chair design using batteries from old laptops and materials he got from junkyards. He made tricycles until he saw a need to help alleviate the struggles of persons with disability. It was then that he thought of converting his tricycle into an electric wheelchair. He built his first electric wheelchair in December 2018 and has since built more. When provided with all the materials he needs, Wamae says it will take him a day to build a wheelchair.

SOURCE: VOA