"He's an Electrical Engineer": Namibian Grade 3 Dropout Lights Up Family Home with Diy Electricity
- Vicentius Kapumburu, 19, from Chwagi Village in Namibia's Musese constituency, built a working electricity system for his family home using discarded materials
- The homemade system has powered the household for two years, with wiring, switches and indicator lights running to separate rooms
- Kapumburu dropped out of school in grade 3 but taught himself electrical concepts through years of tinkering and repairing broken radios in his village
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A 19-year-old from a rural Namibian village has done what many trained electricians spend years learning to do, and he did it with salvaged parts and curiosity alone. Vicentius Kapumburu, from Chwagi Village in the Musese constituency, built a functional electricity system for his family's home entirely from discarded materials.
Source: Getty Images
It has been running for roughly two years, powering radios and charging mobile phones. Each room in the house has its own switch and a small red indicator light to show when power is flowing.
His system uses the positive and negative plates from old car batteries, water and other reclaimed components to generate electricity, which is then distributed through wiring he strung himself. Kapumburu left school after grade 3, but his drive to understand how things work never left him. He began by repairing broken radios for neighbours in his village, gradually building confidence with electrical components. He even attempted to build a remote-controlled toy aeroplane at one point, though that experiment ended unexpectedly when the aircraft crossed the Kavango River and landed on the Angolan side.
His first attempt at generating electricity used rotating motors to harness wind energy. The problem was reliability. On still nights, the system produced nothing, and his family sat in darkness. That limitation pushed him to develop the battery-plate method that now keeps the lights on reliably. In the video by @viralnamibia, Vicentius said:
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"I never thought this was what the future holds for me. I thought I was just playing. I accept the offer, and I am very happy."
His mother, Veronica Kapumburu, said the achievement moved her deeply. She added that she hopes her son's talent earns him a place at the Fisheries and Vocational Training Centre (FVTC), where formal training could sharpen what he has already built from scratch. Watch the video below:
Namibians applaud teen
The video drew a wave of support online, with many calling for bursaries and formal recognition:
@Ghost_Van_Die_Kasi wrote:
"Give him a bursary to go further study that potential ryt there"
@Flory said:
"This is an electrical engineer."
@Mrs Santa reflected:
"This is exactly why the school system doesn't make sense. This young man is clearly a genius, but because he doesn't have a Grade 12 certificate, he doesn't qualify to learn what clearly comes naturally to him."
@DeAman offered:
"Dear black child, your dreams are valid"
@Soul Nanuseb added:
"No school, but God have blessed him with wisdom like Solomon from the Bible; he needs help"
@A no noted:
"Proof that calculus has nothing to do with electrical engineering."
Other Briefly News stories about young innovators
- Social media users went wild over a viral clip featuring a talented technical school student showcasing his complex mechanical invention.
- TikTok video posted by @samora_wa_mhlengwe captured a clever Middleburg Primary School learner operating a DIY handheld vacuum constructed from a plastic bottle, motor, and tubing.
- Limpopo student Bohlale Mphahlele created the "Alerting Earpiece", a discreet device resembling an earring that houses a micro-camera, GPS tracker, and silent panic button.
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Source: Briefly News
