Seeing his mother and siblings travel far just to charge their cellphones inspired pupil Mudjembo Matheus (23) to build a power bank which can charge five cellphones in one day.
The power bank can also be used as a torch.
Matheus is a Grade 11 pupil at Okankororosa Combined School at Omuthiya.
The Namibian has seen a video showing Matheus charging his Bluetooth earphones using the device.
Matheus says people from his village are forced to travel far to charge their cellphones, since his village does not have access to electricity.
"The lack of power at my village made me think out of the box. In the past we would go for many days without access to our cellphones, and we have to pay to charge our phones at people's shebeens.
"I then decided to invent a power bank which we can all use at home with my mother and siblings, and life has been much easier," he says.
Matheus says he took it upon himself to find a solution to the problem.
He says the power bank can take up to 24hrs to fully charge and lasts a whole day.
"I am self-taught, I did not attend any school to learn this," he says. Matheus says he has been fixing appliances since childhood.
"I have been fixing different things in my spare time. I enjoy fixing things, because it keeps me busy all the time and away from making bad decisions in life.
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"I hardly spend time with my peers, because most of the time, I am at home fixing some broken appliance or inventing my
own devices," he says.
Matheus, whose unemployed mother raised him on her own, says he has built a helicopter and a car, which are currently stored at a community centre at Omuthiya.
He says he aspires to become a successful technician after completing school.
"I am a bit of a slow learner at school, but I'm gifted with my hands, because I am able to fix and make many things.
"I want to complete school and enrol at a vocational school and become a qualified technician. "I also need support," he says. "He is always busy fixing something and he hardly rests. When he first started, I use to discourage him from spending so much time fixing things, but he would not stop until I gave up. "I thank God for his talent, but I also want him to concentrate on his studies and excel at school. I just hope his talent will pay off one day," Matheus' mother says.
Okankororosa Combined School principal Paulus Mahenda says Matheus is talented and has invented a number of items using scrap materials he collects at the village.
"Even though he is a slow learner, he tries his best to excel at all he does. We are proud of him and his work.
"As a school, we try to assist him by taking some of his work for exhibitions, and we once took him to the regional councillor to showcase his work.
"We have also asked him to go for training. He is willing to learn and master his skills," Mahenda says.
