Nigerian Prosthetics Maker, Hearing Aid Technician on African Voices

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

African Voices Changemakers programme will this week feature Crystal Chigbu, a Nigerian prosthetics maker who recalls how she surmounted the trauma of caring for a child who was born with a congenital limb deformity to establish a foundation which gives succour to children whose limbs had been severed as a result of health challenges.

The 30-minute magazine programme which is sponsored by Globacom, also features Tendekayi Katsiga, a Zimbabwean electronics technician who fabricated a solar-powered hearing aid with battery chargers for children with hearing defects.

Chigbu, a 2002 graduate of Biochemistry from the University of Lagos, Nigeria, said, “seeing other children and families go through the same process without a clear view on how to adapt to the challenges of living with limb loss gave vent to the creation of Irede Foundation which has, since inception, restored hope to children living with loss of limbs by giving them prosthetics.”

Katsiga, who had a chance encounter with a 15-year-old boy who could not afford a functional hearing aid, was motivated to establish Deaftronics from a workshop in Botswana from where he manufactured the world’s first solar-powered hearing device complete with battery charger called ‘Solar Ear’.

The duo will be on CNN on DSTV channel 401 on Saturday at 9.30 a.m. Repeats of the engaging edition will be broadcast on Sunday at 4.30 a.m., 7.30 a.m., 12.30 p.m. and 7.30 p.m.

Another repeat comes up on Monday at 4.00 a.m., while a two-part, fifteen-minute repeat will be shown on Tuesday and Wednesday at 6.45 p.m.