Reclaiming the narrative around S. Sudan with a comedy festival [Inspire Africa]

On this episode of Inspire Africa, Lauriane Vofo Kana and the Africanews team bring you the story of Ugandan engineer Gonzaga Ntege. He is trying to make 3D printing more accessible and solve the problem of low manufacturing for custom-made products that have not yet reached large volume production numbers – where one can use injection moulding.

With peers, he opened a factory in 2021. Printers of the "future" are manufactured there, thanks to electronic waste like motors and rods from old photocopiers. Since 2022, the engineers have been devoting one hour every week to training the new generation.

The amount of e-waste produced in the world in 2019 reached the record figure of 53.6 million tons (Mt), including 7,000 tons for Rwanda, according to the Global E-waste monitor.

Valuable e-waste

The second report in this episode will take you to Kigali where Jaqueline Mukarukondo and Ghislain Irakoze, two young entrepreneurs have launched a mobile application to simplify the sorting and management of electronic and electrical waste. If Wastezon was launched in 2018, an accident that occurred a few years ago was in fact its starting point.

While Ghislain Irakoze, was working on a school assignment with a friend, the latter almost died when a heap of garbage nearly engulfed him. His friends set out to do something about it. A few years later, their app connects sellers and buyers of used equipment. They offer a second life to the devices either by recycling it or refurbishing it.

Introducing his country to others

What comes to mind when you think of South Sudan? Our guest is one of the people behind the Juba International Comedy Festival. Born 26 years ago when his country did not yet officially exist, this comedian had to grow up in refugee camps first in Kenya and then in Uganda; before finding his place on stage.

South Sudanese Akau Jambo speaks of the challenges and successes of his country using humour. He is often far from the clichés but can get close to them to better deconstruct them or denounce societal and political issues. The comedian shares with us the inspirations behind his comedy festival and talks about the second edition scheduled later this year.