Richard Turere: My invention that made peace with lions

611,964 views ・ 2013-03-27

TED


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Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast
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This is where I live. I live in Kenya,
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at the south parts of the Nairobi National Park.
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Those are my dad's cows at the back,
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and behind the cows,
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that's the Nairobi National Park.
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Nairobi National Park is not fenced in the south widely,
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which means wild animals like zebras
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migrate out of the park freely.
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So predators like lions follow them,
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and this is what they do.
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They kill our livestock.
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This is one of the cows which was killed at night,
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and I just woke up in the morning and I found it dead,
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and I felt so bad,
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because it was the only bull we had.
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My community, the Maasai, we believe that
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we came from heaven with all our animals and all the land
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for herding them, and that's why we value them so much.
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So I grew up hating lions so much.
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The morans are the warriors
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who protect our community and the livestock,
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and they're also upset about this problem.
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So they kill the lions.
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It's one of the six lions which were killed in Nairobi.
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And I think this is why the Nairobi National Park lions are few.
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So a boy, from six to nine years old, in my community
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is responsible for his dad's cows,
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and that's the same thing which happened to me.
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So I had to find a way of solving this problem.
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And the first idea I got was to use fire,
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because I thought lions were scared of fire.
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But I came to realize that that didn't really help,
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because it was even helping the lions
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to see through the cowshed.
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So I didn't give up. I continued.
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And a second idea I got was
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to use a scarecrow.
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I was trying to trick the lions
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[into thinking] that I was standing near the cowshed.
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But lions are very clever. (Laughter)
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They will come the first day and they see the scarecrow, and they go back,
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but the second day, they'll come and they say,
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this thing is not moving here, it's always here. (Laughter)
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So he jumps in and kills the animals.
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So one night, I was walking around the cowshed with a torch,
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and that day, the lions didn't come.
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And I discovered that lions are afraid of a moving light.
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So I had an idea.
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Since I was a small boy,
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I used to work in my room for the whole day,
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and I even took apart my mom's new radio,
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and that day she almost killed me,
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but I learned a lot about electronics. (Laughter)
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So I got an old car battery,
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an indicator box. It's a small device found in a motorcycle,
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and it helps motorists when they want to turn right or left. It blinks.
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And I got a switch where I can switch on the lights, on and off.
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And that's a small torch from a broken flashlight.
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So I set up everything.
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As you can see, the solar panel charges the battery,
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and the battery supplies the power
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to the small indicator box. I call it a transformer.
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And the indicator box makes the lights flash.
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As you can see, the bulbs face outside,
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because that's where the lions come from.
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And that's how it looks to lions when they come at night.
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The lights flash and trick
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the lions into thinking I was walking around the cowshed,
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but I was sleeping in my bed.
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(Laughter)
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(Applause)
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Thanks.
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So I set it up in my home two years ago,
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and since then, we have never experienced any problem with lions.
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And my neighboring homes heard about this idea.
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One of them was this grandmother.
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She had a lot of her animals being killed by lions,
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and she asked me if I could put the lights for her.
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And I said, "Yes."
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So I put the lights. You can see at the back, those are the lion lights.
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Since now, I've set up seven homes around my community,
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and they're really working.
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And my idea is also being used now all over Kenya
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for scaring other predators like hyenas, leopards,
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and it's also being used
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to scare elephants away from people's farms.
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Because of this invention, I was lucky to get a scholarship
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in one of the best schools in Kenya,
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Brookhouse International School,
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and I'm really excited about this.
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My new school now is coming in and helping
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by fundraising and creating an awareness.
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I even took my friends back to my community,
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and we're installing the lights to the homes
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which don't have [any], and I'm teaching them how to put them.
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So one year ago, I was just a boy in the savanna grassland
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herding my father's cows,
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and I used to see planes flying over,
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and I told myself that one day, I'll be there inside.
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And here I am today.
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I got a chance to come by plane for my first time for TED.
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So my big dream is to become an aircraft engineer and pilot when I grow up.
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I used to hate lions, but now because my invention
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is saving my father's cows and the lions,
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we are able to stay with the lions without any conflict.
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Ashê olên. It means in my language, thank you very much.
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(Applause)
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Chris Anderson: You have no idea how exciting it is
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to hear a story like yours.
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So you got this scholarship.Richard Turere: Yep.
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CA: You're working on other electrical inventions.
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What's the next one on your list?
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RT: My next invention is,
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I want to make an electric fence.CA: Electric fence?
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RT: But I know electric fences are already invented,
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but I want to make mine.
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(Laughter)
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CA: You already tried it once, right, and you --RT: I tried it before,
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but I stopped because it gave me a shock. (Laughter)
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CA: In the trenches. Richard Turere, you are something else.
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We're going to cheer you on every step of the way, my friend.
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Thank you so much.RT: Thank you. (Applause)
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