Self-taught African Teen Wows M.I.T.

(youtube) 15-Year-Old Kelvin Doe is an engineering whiz living in Sierra Leone who scours the trash bins for spare parts, which he uses to build batteries, generators and transmitters. Completely self-taught, Kelvin has created his own radio station where he broadcasts news and plays music under the moniker, DJ Focus.

Kelvin became the youngest person in history to be invited to the "Visiting Practitioner's Program" at MIT. THNKR had exclusive access to Kelvin and his life-changing journey - experiencing the US for the first time, exploring incredible opportunities, contending with homesickness, and mapping out his future.
Stusays...

If MIT is really that interested he won't have any loans. He shouldn't have any loans. These are the kinds of minds we need to give all the resources to. Let him see how far his potential can take him. Maybe he's the guy who makes clean energy and saves the planet. Who knows.>> ^vaire2ube:

show him the joy of work study and student loans, i bet he could have his own company by end of first year here

9547bissays...

Back in 1993, I remember this guy with a bad leg, living in a slum in Freetown (Sierra Leone's capital), in a tiny room plastered with Bollywood and Hong Kong B-movie posters, and whose door was made of pieces of cardboard glued together. He didn't have much.
He was called "Prof" Abubakar and made a living creating and selling steel wire sculptures from stuff he was scavenging off the streets. You're probably thinking of African steel wire toys, but his were crazy, there was nothing like it. They were incredibly complex, animated, spring-loaded, or with some sparkling devices.

Some years later, someone I knew came across him. He was exposing at the Pompidou centre in Paris.

Two decades later, it's like Kelvin Doe is his Internet-era spiritual son. I hope he does as well.

[EDIT]
Correct name: Abu Bakarr Mansaray (bio | one of his contraptions). He now lives in the Netherlands.

siftbotsays...

Tags for this video have been changed from 'kelvin doe, engineering, radio, dj focus, mit' to 'kelvin doe, engineering, radio, dj focus, mit, sierra leone' - edited by xxovercastxx

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