BY BETHELEHEM BEDLU
Getabalew Mekuriaw lives in Jawi town of Awi Zone where the Tana Beles Sugar Project is located. He has received different certificates of appreciations for creating a bicycle boat.
There is a large sugarcane farm which is built for the sugar factory around the town entrance. The farm uses water from the rain and the irrigation dam, built for this purpose during the winter and summer seasons respectively.
The local children including Getabalew used to swim in the irrigation dam in order to refresh themselves. Through time, he became more aspired to innovate a boat.
The first thing he wanted to do was inventing a boat with paddle, which was common in many places. Later, he changed his mind and decided to invent a cycle boat.
While he was working on a floating boat, he came up with the idea of inventing a boat with a pedal. But, he had to wait for years to discover his new model boat.
Though building a bicycle that did not take long time, a financial problem remains a big challenge for him. In spite of all the suffering and loss, Getabalew invented the first sample at a time. But, the bicycle could not float as a result of its heaviness.
At that time, he began to rebuild the bicycle discovering that it was a good idea to fix the boat made of light and recycling materials. He recognized that this method would help him to invent easily floatable bicycle boat with low cost. Although he had completed his entire project recently, he was thinking about it for two years.
His new model boat has also different tubes that are helpful to keep the boat afloating. The bicycle is also used for seating and can be used to move the boat and use the steering appropriately. The movable material connected to the bicycle’s pedal on its part helps push the water backwards and the boat move forward.
Cycling boats help people to move around as well as serves as a means of recreation and exercise. He can look at other types of bicycles from different websites, but his bike is different for many reasons. Although there are many types of bicycle boats which are available in different websites, this one is unique as it is made of simple and recycling materials.
Moreover, it is also easy to disassemble, to carry and to move from place to place. When he finished inventing his bicycle boat, he worked with the people who helped him in the garage. Though he had no one to support him in his work except for his family, he never has forgotten to remember his friends who used to work in the garage.
However, staffs from Bahir Dar University had spoken to him about the bicycle after his video gone viral via social media, but they have not reached to him and provide him with any support yet.
Cognizant of the fact that his invention can be improved in many ways, there are circumstances in which the invention can be improved as to be driven through motor.
The water in his area is used for irrigation and is not allowed for swimming or paddling boat. Owing to the fact that using a safety jacket is also a must, he also went to Bahir Dar to acquire it, but he could not find any.
In addition to this, lack of water in the dam was also another challenge for him. With this in mind, he also planned to take his bicycle to Bahir Dar for service on Lake Tana. But he did not know any one there; even he did not know where he is going to put the boat.
Nevertheless, he did not get discouraged through all these problems. This is the first project for him, but he also has lots of things to do in the future indeed. Accordingly, he can be more creative if different institutions or individuals support him. As a result of economic difficulty, he failed to implement his other plans.
Thus innovative minds such as this have to be well exploited as they could help the nation to drive the creative trajectory wheel well.
The Ethiopian Herald February 27/2021
