Institute for War and Peace Reporting: The Father of Invention
A man in Afghanistan has spent his life developing original solutions to everyday problems.
Ghulam Sediq Wardak holds a screwdriver and clamp in his dirty hands. The 62 year old, wearing a turban and the tradition shalwar kamiz costume, picks up an engine part from the floor of his Kabul workshop and attaches it to a partially built car.
Engine parts from the 1980 Volkswagen litter the floor, but Sediq moves purposefully amid the chaos. He screws six solar panels on to the roof, door and back of the vehicle.
He is adapting the car to his own design – and working against a deadline. In a week, the vehicle is scheduled to be driven through the streets of Kabul, without using petrol, water or batteries.
This prototype is expected to travel at just 25 kilometres per hour - but Sediq plans to improve the speed in future models.
He stands back to admire his work. Afghanistan’s first solar-powered car is being build by the country’s most famous inventor: a semi-literate peasant who already has 341 inventions to his credit......
But at 17, he produced his first invention: a radio that operated without batteries. It was made out of a matchbox, wires, and headphones, and was powered by the low voltage electricity produced by a person’s body.
When the women of the village put on the headphones to try it out, they were so startled by the voice of a strange man on the radio that they modestly pulled their veils on.
He made more than a thousand of the radios which were sold at less than two US dollars a piece.
He said some simple and ordinary events of daily life have given him ideas.
He recalls how nearly burning down his house gave him the idea to invent a teakettle that automatically turns itself on and off.
"When I put the heating element in the pot to boil water, I left home to go shopping. On the way I had a chat with my friend and forgot all about the water and heater,” he says.
“When I got back home the water had evaporated. If I had returned a few minutes later, my home would have been burned down. So I thought of a heater, which would turn off automatically when the water was boiled and when the water gets cold, it would turn on again. And then I made it," he says.
In 1964, when he was 22, a theft in his village inspired him to invent a burglar alarm that would also take a picture of the intruder.
His system involved surrounding a house with concealed wires that were attached to a battery, an audio cassette player and a camera. When the intruder stepped on the wire, it triggered the cassette player, which played a tape shouting, “There’s a thief!”. It also activated the camera, which would take a picture of the burglar.
He says he worked feverishly on the alarm system for 15 days and eventually presented the design as a gift to Prince Ahmad Shah, the son of King Zaher Shah.
Becoming a father inspired him to invent a cradle that automatically rocks when the child is awake.
A man in Afghanistan has spent his life developing original solutions to everyday problems.
Ghulam Sediq Wardak holds a screwdriver and clamp in his dirty hands. The 62 year old, wearing a turban and the tradition shalwar kamiz costume, picks up an engine part from the floor of his Kabul workshop and attaches it to a partially built car.
Engine parts from the 1980 Volkswagen litter the floor, but Sediq moves purposefully amid the chaos. He screws six solar panels on to the roof, door and back of the vehicle.
He is adapting the car to his own design – and working against a deadline. In a week, the vehicle is scheduled to be driven through the streets of Kabul, without using petrol, water or batteries.
This prototype is expected to travel at just 25 kilometres per hour - but Sediq plans to improve the speed in future models.
He stands back to admire his work. Afghanistan’s first solar-powered car is being build by the country’s most famous inventor: a semi-literate peasant who already has 341 inventions to his credit......
But at 17, he produced his first invention: a radio that operated without batteries. It was made out of a matchbox, wires, and headphones, and was powered by the low voltage electricity produced by a person’s body.
When the women of the village put on the headphones to try it out, they were so startled by the voice of a strange man on the radio that they modestly pulled their veils on.
He made more than a thousand of the radios which were sold at less than two US dollars a piece.
He said some simple and ordinary events of daily life have given him ideas.
He recalls how nearly burning down his house gave him the idea to invent a teakettle that automatically turns itself on and off.
"When I put the heating element in the pot to boil water, I left home to go shopping. On the way I had a chat with my friend and forgot all about the water and heater,” he says.
“When I got back home the water had evaporated. If I had returned a few minutes later, my home would have been burned down. So I thought of a heater, which would turn off automatically when the water was boiled and when the water gets cold, it would turn on again. And then I made it," he says.
In 1964, when he was 22, a theft in his village inspired him to invent a burglar alarm that would also take a picture of the intruder.
His system involved surrounding a house with concealed wires that were attached to a battery, an audio cassette player and a camera. When the intruder stepped on the wire, it triggered the cassette player, which played a tape shouting, “There’s a thief!”. It also activated the camera, which would take a picture of the burglar.
He says he worked feverishly on the alarm system for 15 days and eventually presented the design as a gift to Prince Ahmad Shah, the son of King Zaher Shah.
Becoming a father inspired him to invent a cradle that automatically rocks when the child is awake.
Comments