Girl Who Built Solar-Powered Water Purifier for Her Community at Just 12, Receives Numerous Awards

Cursory: A young African girl is in the news for bringing great innovation, such as a solar water purifier, to improve the welfare of her community.

Mwangala Maunga, a young girl who hails from Lusaka, Zambia and currently attends Roma Girls Secondary School also a child rights advocate.

“I am the first and only girl in my family which alone creates expectations around me, setting an example for my brothers. I decided to take interest in an area where not a lot of girls are present,” said Mwangala Maunga.

At the age of 12 years old, she invented a solar water purifier to provide clean water for dwellers in both rural and urban areas.

The prevalence of waterborne diseases in her country inspired the young girl to find a lasting solution which led her to put materials together to build her water purifier.

She built the water purifier prototype with a combination of wooden and metal sheet enclosures, black paint for insulation, heat absorbent black trays, reflective materials, sheets of glass, glue and catch troughs.

“It is easy to use, as one just needs to put water in it and place it in the sun. However, as science develops, so does my idea,” she said.

In an interview with PlanetForward, Mwangala said she believes her water purifier idea is divine and could not have been timelier, as its conception was closely followed by the declaration of a cholera outbreak in Zambia in 2017. Cholera is a sometimes fatal infection of the intestines, often caused by drinking contaminated water. Mwangala explains that, “The main reason I developed the water filter was because I wanted to provide clean and safe water in the simplest way possible, as opposed to a complicated water purification system.”

According to Mwangala, she nursed the idea for the solar water filter while she was in Grade 5, however, she only actualized it when she was in Grade 8.

“I remember sitting in a science class and drawing the draft in my exercise book,” she said. “When I showed my friend and asked if she thinks it could actually work, her answer was negative as she said it won’t go anywhere.” A few years down the line, it is evident that Mwangala pressed on with her idea. 

In 2018, Mwangala received an award for being the best inventor in the Science and Technology category at the DStv Africa MultiChoice – Cartoon Network Powerpuff Girls’ Awards.

She earned another accolade in 2019, becoming the youngest recipient of the Brenda Muntemba Award as an (Emerging Young African Leader) at the PUSH WOMEN AWARDS.

That’s not all; in August 2020, she was the youngest and only Zambian speaker at the Virtual International Youth Day featuring the Youngest Deputy Minister of Information and Technology in Namibia, Hon. Emma Theofelus and other Directors from African Union (AU)& UNICEF.

She was awarded a SDG badge of honour, courage and bravery and work in the fight against cyberbullying by the UNDP Country Resident Representative in December 2020.

In December 2021, she was named the Youngest STEM Change Maker at the Genius Education Zambia Awards.

To continue her advocacy roles and empower the female child, she pioneered an organisation called Girl Power Platform in 2021.

Now 17 years of age, Mwangala Maunga remains passionate about Science and Technology and continues to seek avenues to ensure the girl child is not disadvantaged.

Read Also: Exceptionally Brilliant 14-year-old Nigerian Girl Wins 7 Medals in International Maths Contests

Credits: Legit.ng, Planetforward.org

ALLSCHOOL TEAM