Lightbulb moment pays off for Sakira
It sounds like magic, but a Wellington teenager has found a way to turn a $12 lightbulb into $3000.
Sakira Knights, 13, is determined to help fund a cure for Parkinson’s Disease and she is doing it one trade at a time, bartering her way from a single lightbulb up to $20,000.
The idea is simple. Businesses or people trade something of higher value for something they want. ‘‘Then we can turn it into money and donate it to the scientists,’’ she says.
When Sakira’s grandmother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease last year she began thinking about what she could do to help.
The family was unprepared for how quickly the normally slowmoving disease developed in her grandmother, she said. ’’In September she was doing star jumps and now she’s in bed. I thought that although I might not be able to help her I could help other people in the future.’’
Beena Knights said her daughter initially set about finding a cure for the disease but was soon convinced to instead support the scientists already working on it.
Determined to encourage Sakira to fundraise through other avenues than ‘‘just knocking on doors asking for money’’, Beena told her about Canadian man Kyle MacDonald who traded his way up from a paperclip to a house using the barter system.
‘‘Straight away she settled on a lightbulb as the image of an idea.’’
The pair found a bookshop in need of some light and traded a book for the bulb. Then they were off.
A supermarket traded a grocery voucher for the book, which was then swapped for a gondola ride.
Further trades included helicopter flights and restaurant vouchers. Sakira now has a $3000 furniture voucher to offer for her next trade.
It is not just the trades that are helping fund a cure for the degenerative disease, Beena said.
Schools and businesses across the country have joined in by using donated coins to create lightbulbs as a symbol of support for Sakira’s efforts. An auction of donated goods will also take place in September. The money will be donated to Shake It Up Australia Foundation and Auckland’s Centre for Brain Research.