BBC has a short article on a maker who turns discarded weapon shells into coffee machines… – “In his workshop in Mekele, just 120 km from Ethiopia’s border with Eritrea, Azmeraw Zeleke is turning burnt-out shells into cylinders used in coffee machines. Most of the shells are left over from the 1998-2000 war between the two countries. The workshop is made up of three quite small ramshackle rooms that lead from one to another with sunlight coming through the gaps, but it is a hive of activity for Mr Azmeraw and his six staff.” [via] – Link.
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2 thoughts on “From weapons of war to great coffee”
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Some of those African Makers are pretty inventive, on a trip to Kenya a few years back I saw a truck with what looked like a VW bug as a cab, after a short chat with the driver, the previous truck had rolled down a gully sideways, crushing the cab, we didn’t get into who was driving. But since the engine and frame were fine he used a broken down car for the new cab, looked pretty nice too all in all.
On the same trip I saw a bicycle with 3 sets of gears, on what looked like originally a 1 speed bicycle, shifting gears meant pulling one of 3 U shaped bars set beside the seat, which disengaged the chain near a hub and the rider moved the bar side to side to get into the proper gear, simple if not a little tricky to do while riding the bike at the time.
The owner said he lived in a village that was 4 hours (he didn’t mention if that was by bike, car, or foot) outside of the town we were in, which was flat until about halfway there when the road met a fairly steep climb. So he built his bike from salvaged parts to ride quickly on the flats but easily on the climb.