“If my cows are protected and they’re safe, we can live with the lions without any problem.”
It’s an odd thing for a Kenyan Maasai herder to say. Their sole job is to protect their cows by any means necessary. But 18-year-old Richard Turere is no ordinary herder.
When he was 11 years old he invented a solar-powered light system to keep the lions out of the cattle pen, as his family was losing as many as nine cows a week. With each cow worth up to $1,000 (£753) it was an expense the family just couldn’t afford.
“Lion attacks on our cattle were rampant and happened on a daily basis,” says Richard’s mother, Veronica. “After the lights, we had no more problems.”
It took a while for Richard to perfect his invention. He started with a scarecrow, which the lions soon ignored, then he built a dark shed so the lions couldn’t see inside the pen but they could still smell the cows.
One day he was walking around at night with a torch and, for once, the Lions didn’t come to attack.
Richard made Lion Lights to mimic the movement of the torch, without needing him to stay up all night and keep watch.
“I began learning about electronics by breaking things,” Richard says. “I broke my mum’s new radio and she was very annoyed – she nearly killed me!”
The Lion Lights system is now in 750 homesteads in Richard’s community and beyond, with the innovator making small tweaks and improvements to each version.
“I’m often called in to do maintenance on the lights because people don’t really know how they work,” Richard says. “They try to fix them themselves, so I came up with the idea of making the system automatic.”
Lion Lights 2.0 costs $200 (£150) to install. Half of the money usually comes from NGOs while the rest is provided by the herder.
This version has 16 different flashing light settings and Richard’s latest update is a homemade wind turbine for days when clouds limit the solar power potential.
Richard’s community is particularly hard hit by the human-wildlife conflict. Sandwiched between the Nairobi National Park and the encroaching township of Kitengela, the “community lands” are only separated from the Park’s wildlife by a small river.
Every night wildebeest and zebra cross over to the community lands in search of fresh pasture – and the lions soon follow.
Richard’s innovation has changed his life in many ways – he got a scholarship to a prestigious school in Nairobi and was invited to meet Jack Ma, the founder of China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba to give a lecture in his honour.
He’s well known in Kenya and beyond as the “Lion Lights boy” and other communities have adopted versions of his lights from as far afield as Argentina and India.
But while his idea has traveled, support for Richard as a young innovator and the implementation of his own Lion Lights has stalled in recent years. He thinks Kenya could do more to help young innovators like himself.
But while his idea has traveled, support for Richard as a young innovator and the implementation of his own Lion Lights has stalled in recent years. He thinks Kenya could do more to help young innovators like himself.
But while his idea has travelled, support for Richard as a young innovator and the implementation of his own Lion Lights has stalled in recent years. He thinks Kenya could do more to help young innovators like himself.
“There are many young people in Kenya with brilliant ideas, better even than mine – they just need support,” he says.
They need someone to be there to tell them, “this idea is really nice., let’s develop it to help communities”.
But while his idea has travelled, support for Richard as a young innovator and the implementation of his own Lion Lights has stalled in recent years. He thinks Kenya could do more to help young innovators like himself.
“There are many young people in Kenya with brilliant ideas, better even than mine – they just need support,” he says.
They need someone to be there to tell them, “this idea is really nice., let’s develop it to help communities”.
But while his idea has travelled, support for Richard as a young innovator and the implementation of his own Lion Lights has stalled in recent years. He thinks Kenya could do more to help young innovators like himself.
“There are many young people in Kenya with brilliant ideas, better even than mine – they just need support,” he says.
They need someone to be there to tell them, “this idea is really nice., let’s develop it to help communities”.
“There are many young people in Kenya with brilliant ideas, better even than mine – they just need support,” he says.
They need someone to be there to tell them, “this idea is really nice., let’s develop it to help communities”.
“There are many young people in Kenya with brilliant ideas, better even than mine – they just need support,” he says.
They need someone to be there to tell them, “this idea is really nice., let’s develop it to help communities”.