Mthatha kids score with drought relief invention

DROUGHT relief in the Eastern Cape may come from its youth.

Mthatha Grade 10 pupils Allingile Mto and Lihle Sinyekemba have come up with an innovation to recycle water released by plants – which would have gone wasted.

“We live in a community affected by droughts and our families rely on farming and that inspired us to pursue this invention,” Allingile said.

“The device is shaped like an umbrella. It has adjustable metal poles which can be moved up to allow for the growth of a plant.

“A clear plastic covers the poles, which allows photosynthesis of the plants to continue.

“This plastic traps the water vapour expelled by the plant and turns it into condensation,” he said.

“Underneath the peak of the umbrella shape is a fan, on top of a condensation chamber. The fan pulls the water vapour into this chamber.”

Allingile said the device was small and covered small vegetables and plants, but they were hopeful that over time – and with less monetary constraints – they would be able to make it bigger until it could cover a large number of plants or crops.

When the two heard they had been nominated for an HIP2B2 award in Johannesburg, they had realised all their experiments had been worth it, he said. “It was my first time on a plane.”

Ann Zacharias, who teaches the pupils life sciences at Holy Cross Education Centre, said: “I’m happy for them. It was great to be able to take two children from such a rural area on a trip to Johannesburg.”

Allingile and Lihle came second in the competition – and won R2 000.

But even more exciting was that a company – 3M – is to sponsor a prototype of their exciting invention.