MEET THE AFGHAN GIRLS BUILDING VENTILATORS FROM CAR PARTS

Four (4) Afghan girls between the ages of 14 and 17 have built a lifesaving ventilator from old car parts to help the fight against coronavirus in their country.

The girls, who had earlier received global recognition for building a robot designed to distinguish between contaminated water and unclean water, were invited by government officials to help build a health device to help the fight against COVID-19.

Initially, the star team had decided to source the materials needed to build the ventilators from abroad but couldn’t do so as a result of flight suspension. Thus, had to rely on local mechanic shops to get the parts for the project. The four friends had to travel daily to an old mechanic shop to see this dream come to fruition.

Travelling across the city was a daunting and risky task for the girls as a result of strict coronavirus lockdown restrictions in their country. Amid tight security measures, they occasionally made these trips while avoiding police checkpoints. The girls, who are members of an Afghanistan prize-winning robotics team, say the goal is to make ventilators from used car parts in order to help their war-stricken country fight coronavirus.

“We had to be prepared for the worst situation because we do not have access to Amazon and other companies for online orders. So, it was best to use local devices we have in our country,” tech entrepreneur Roya Mahbob, who set up the team, told Arab News.

“We discussed our design with a professor from MIT, and sent it, based on the MIT prototype, using Toyota car parts. He (the Professor) was surprised and wrote back to us saying that it was a clever design but would need to see if the system worked”

With constant shortages of electricity in many parts of the country the ventilator can still run on solar and battery and not just on the main supply of electricity.

The ventilators will be used to treat emergency cases in remote communities with few clinics or health centres, says the teams head of public relations