Stichting DOEN ondersteunt pioniers die een ondernemende aanpak gebruiken om met oplossingen te komen voor een betere wereld. Lees het verhaal van Solomon Gitau, Production leader bij Ditgital Blacksmiths, een bedrijf dat afvalmateriaal gebruikt als grondstof voor 3D-geprinte producten.
It was a dream come to true when I got employed for Digital Blacksmiths. When I was small I allways wanted to do recycling. It was a pity to see the kind of state people were living in here in Africa, especially in the slums. The kind of dirt that goes around. And how the kids are brought up, physically. Most of the small physicall illnesses can be delt with by just recycling everything you have. That really effected me as from young age. When I got to Digital Blacksmiths I was actually able to see the impact of that.
At this moment I have coming to learn how to use 3D printers to do part of the recycling. Since our first product is a microscope, I also learned how to work with that. Planning how to work in such an organisation has also helped me to learn, so socially it also has an impact in my life, positivily. I also improved my need and working experience on design. The next big thing for me is finalizing the prototype stage and making things work more efficiently.
Right now we are doing plastic recycling, which is a very good thing. We actually reduce the amount of plastic that go flow into the seas and cause contamination. Because you can see the cycle goes on: plastic goes to the sea, the sea is degrated and than goes to the fish, we eat the fish and than the cycle goes back to us and we get all sorts of illnesses coming from that. To do something against is my basic motivation for working here.
Tekst: Indra Heerkens
Stichting DOEN ondersteunt pioniers die een ondernemende aanpak gebruiken om met oplossingen te komen voor een groene, sociale en creatieve samenleving.
DOEN ondersteunt Digital Blacksmiths met een subsidie. In lokale hubs in Nairobi bouwen en verkopen ondernemers 3D printers. Ze leren anderen met de printers om te gaan en kunnen lokaal ontworpen producten (zoals microscopen) printen van gerecycled afval. Dit heeft een positief effect op de economie en het milieu. De bijdrage van DOEN helpt het netwerk van Digital Blacksmiths uit te breiden en het productassortiment te vergroten.
www.digitalblacksmiths.org
