KNYSNA NEWS - The Knysna fires that ripped through settlements and ravaged the town inspired 17-year -old Gabriella Mogale from Port Elizabeth to come up with a way to insulate shacks and make them fire resistant, an idea that could potentially save thousands of lives.
This is a groundbreaking invention by the Collegiate Girls' High School learner.
Mogale was watching TV and saw all the devastation from the Knysna fires and wished that someone would come up with an idea that would curb the number of shack fires that there were in informal settlements.
Science expo gold medal
She then came up with the idea for a science project last year as part of her Grade 11 science class. Guided by her teacher, she entered the project for the regional Eskom Expo for Young Scientists, and received a gold medal.
On a question on what she is hoping her design can change, the overwhelmed now Grade 12 learner gracefully answered, “You never think you would create or do something great until you do it. And having come from a disadvantaged background, I have always wanted to be that person who is going to change the lives of someone who was like me.”
Mogale is one of two children raised by both parents and they are originally from Thabong in Welkom. She received a scholarship from Allan Gray as one of only 35 in the country. She stays at the school’s hostel.
Jenny Jooste, the head of the hostel, commented, “Gabriella’s determination to find a solution to a very real need that many communities of our country face, portrays the altruistic spirit and diligence of this young lady. We are extremely proud of Gabriella.”
Two-part design
Gabriella’s design combines recyclable substances painted onto the shack's interior to block the cold and a fire-retardant cement mixture on the outside.
In an interview with The Herald published on 15 March, Mogale said one of the judges told her to fine-tune the project and to return this year. “When I went to the expo and they said that I should come back this year with the improvements, I realised that it could go somewhere and that made me a little proud,” she said.What’s next for this budding genius? Oddly enough, not the field of science one would assume after this great achievement – she wants to study actuarial sciences.
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