Nairobi — A 19-year-old girl in Nyeri has found a practical solution to rural electrification and she is already making a tidy sum of money for herself.

Roseline Wambui has modified several household electronic appliances to conveniently source power from car (or solar powered) batteries - innovations that are now fighting for space in major electronics shops in Embu, Meru, Embu, Nyahururu, Nanyuki and Nyeri.

The modifications enable appliances specified to use alternating current (AC) to be used with direct current (DC).

However, Wambui is reluctant to go into details on her modification procedure lest "a competitor steals her idea".

One of her popular modifications is the the electronic iron box which she and her father buy and modify to use battery power. They sell the same for Sh 1,000, making a profit of between Sh 200 and 300 per piece. In the last few months she has sold about 400 pieces.

A beneficiary of Wambui's innovation, Mr Francis Gichuki, says his family can now conveniently afford to bathe in warm water during this cold season after obtaining a modified water heater.

"My solar battery can store energy for up to four days and the heater assists in boiling cooking water, thus saving on the scarce wood fuel, he says.

Mr Gichuki added that though they border the Aberdare forest, wood fuel has become rare since the government imposed restrictions on tree felling.

The father of two, who hails from Kieni Division, says the immersion water heater and the modified solar powered iron box have also benefited residents of Bellevue village.

"Women from our village who have previously been using charcoal iron boxes flock to our home on Sunday to iron their clothes," says Mr Gichuki who works with a leading petroleum company in Nairobi.

He says he installed solar panels to light his home but he still continued to use a charcoal iron box until early this year when he found the modified iron box in one of the electronics shop in Nyeri town.

Mr Gichuki says the modified appliances came at the right time when many rural people are embracing solar power as a source of energy.

"It will take many decades for people like us living in the interior to get electricity and Wambui's innovation comes in handy since we now enjoy most of the services available in urban areas, he says.

Salesmen at one of the leading electronics shops in Nyeri town said the modified appliances are very popular with rural residents.

"We have sold over ten pieces of immersion water heaters in this cold season and we are sure more buyers will flock in once they know we are stocking them, says Mr Ngatia Machira of Ladies Tailoring House. Mr Machira says that so far, they have not received any complaints from customers during the one year they have been selling DC-powered iron boxes, soldering iron and fluorescent tubes.

The water heater is the latest of Ms Wambui's innovations, having designed it only in May this year with the cold season in mind.

But surprisingly, Wambui does not wish to further her electronic career but instead wants to study clinical medicine.

"Electronic engineering is just a hobby but my calling in life is in human medicine, says the deeply religious girl. At her father's workshop in Nyeri town, the third born in a family of four works with the zeal of an electrical engineer though she has never received any formal training in this field.

However, she admits that she has slowly been learning through observing her father work at the workshop. "My interest in electronics started when I was just eight years old in standard five. I used to assist my dad with minor radio repair works, says Wambui.

Her father David Kimondo, who like her daughter, has never attended any formal training in the field of electronics, says her daughter came up with the idea of modifying electrical appliances and together they put the idea into reality.

"Soon after sitting for her KCSE in 2002, she approached me and fronted the idea of modifying an electric iron box. Together we discussed the idea before putting it into practice, says Mr Kimondo.

Despite his 20-year experience at the engineering workshop, the father says that his hard working and focused daughter has outwitted him. "Many are the times I consult her to solve an electronic problem which is beyond my ability, he adds.

Wambui hopeful that this time she will get a place in one of the many Kenya medical training colleges in the country. Last year, she applied but she was not lucky though she performed well in Mathematics, Biology and Chemistry in her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations. She scored an aggregate of B (minus) in her KCSE exams and an average of B in all three science subjects. But even if she joins KMTC, Wambui says she will not be quitting her hobby of working with electrical gadgets.