Domain 11 - Lesson 11: Kelvin Doe

Kelvin Doe

Turning Trash into Treasure

Check for understanding

Multiple Choice

Who is depicted, or shown in this image?

• Eleanor Roosevelt

• Susan B. Anthony

• Rosa Parks

• Faith Florez

Multiple Choice

What cause did Faith Florez fight for?

• freedom of farm workers

• the civil rights of farm workers

• the voting rights of farm workers

• the rights of farm workers

Multiple Choice

In what way did Faith Florez work to protect the rights of farm workers?

• She created a special program, named Calor, that will help keep them safe and healthy.

• She created a special program, named Faith, that will help keep them safe and healthy.

• She organized nonviolence protests.

• She joined nonviolence protests.

Multiple Select

How did the Calor program protect farm workers?

(multiple choices)

• Calor works through a special kind of watch that farm workers wear while working.

• The program will warn the farmers whenever it gets too hot, and can tell them when to take breaks.

• If there is an emergency, it will let 911 know.

• It has articles and videos that teach workers how to be safe, healthy, and ready for work.

Kelvin Doe

Turning Trash into Treasure

Core Vocabulary

discarded, v.

​to throw out or away

Example: We discarded some old clothing.

empower, v.

​to give power to someone

Example: Chi’s teacher empowered her to lead the class to the library.

entrepreneur, n.

a person who starts a business ​to give power to someone

Example: Kelvin Doe is an entrepreneur because he started a business to help his community.

inspiration, n.

something that makes someone want to do something or that gives someone an idea about what to do or create

Example: Her courage is a source of inspiration to us all.

perseverance, n.

to continue trying to do something even though it is difficult

Example: After months of trying to tie the shoelaces on their sneakers, the child persevered and shouted with joy, “I did it!”

recognized, v.

to publicly give special attention or notice to someone or something

Example: She was recognized for her high grades with a special award.

invention, n.

something new that is imagined and created. Everything we have today was invented by someone to help make our lives better.

Example: The three-light traffic signal was a Garret Morgan's invention because he wanted to make driving safer for people.

Poll

Is the Calor program created by Faith Florez an invention?

• Yes

• No

Poll

Is the Calor program created by Faith Florez an invention?

• Yes

• No

Kelvin Doe

• Today we will be hearing about a young man named Kelvin Doe.

• He created several inventions using items people threw away to make the lives of people in his community better.

• He is from the country Sierra Leone on the continent of Africa.

Did you know that you can turn trash into treasure? This is what a young man from a country in West Africa did to help his community have a better life.

​Sierra Leone [SEE-EH-RUH-LEE-OWN] which means “Mountains of Lions” is a country in West Africa. The capital of Sierra Leone is Freetown. Sierra Leone is a beautiful country known for many great things. It has large farmlands, majestic mountains, forests, and cities. The people of the country grow different types of fruits and vegetables like rice, potatoes, groundnuts, corn, plantains, oranges, pineapples and so much more! Rice is a very important food in Sierra Leone and is made into different kinds of meals. Football, also known as soccer in the United States, is a popular sport which children and adults both enjoy. Sometimes you can see them playing in the streets in different parts of the country. English is the main language of the country, and other languages include Mende [MEN-DEE], Temne [TEM-NEE] , Limba [LIM-BUH] and Kiro [KREE-OH]. There are two seasons—the rainy season and the dry season. In the rainy season, there are heavy rains and sometimes storms. In the dry season, it is mainly hot and humid. Basically, it’s like summer all the time!

​Kelvin Bokai Doe [D-OU] was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone on October 26, 1996. He is the youngest of five children. In his neighborhood, electricity was unstable. Sometimes they had power in their homes and sometimes they did not. This made life challenging for the people in his neighborhood. It was more difficult to carry on with daily activities like cooking, keeping the lights on, or watching TV. Kelvin decided to do something to help. Kelvin says, “Creativity is universal and can be found in places where one does not expect to find it.” This is because you can always make new things or think of new ideas anywhere and anytime. He also believed that simple things could fix big problems. He got inspiration from all the different things he found in the trash. He began to collect devices that people threw away or discarded, and any scrap metal he found laying around. He began collecting these things when he was ten years old.

​Using what he collected, Kelvin taught himself how to make new things that could help his community. He made big batteries that could power the surrounding homes in his neighborhood. He also created his own radio station, and built an FM radio transmitter which is something used in radio stations to communicate through the radio. He used this to share news and information with the people in his community. He played music at his station, and encouraged young people to have debates and talks about how to make the country better. People in his community began to call him DJ Focus because of his hard work, perseverance, and determination to make his country better. Even when things got hard, he never gave up, and continued creating new things.

​Kelvin was very ambitious and had a passion for learning. At the age of thirteen he taught himself how to invent and build new things. He also participated in a contest for inventors, and was recognized by the educational YouTube channel THNKR, news stations, colleges, government programs, and other young people all over the world. His goal in life is to continue to empower other kids and improve his country.

Through his inventions he became one of the youngest people to be invited to the Visiting Practitioner’s Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a top university in the United States. He also speaks to many adults and kids and teaches them how to invent things like he does. In 2016 he was asked to become a member of a foundation that gives free medical c.are to people who suffer from war and poverty.

​As a result of this, he created his own foundations in 2016 called KDoe-Tech and the Kelvin Doe Foundation. His foundations are dedicated to empowering young people in Africa to become inventors and have the courage to make their communities better.

Now Kelvin is twenty three years old, and currently lives in Canada where he continues to study engineering. He is also known as an entrepreneur because he has started several businesses to help his family and community. He has met so many important leaders from different countries in the world.

Kelvin’s life reminds us of the value in helping others, and learning new things to make ourselves better. Kelvin says that “The more I’m able to empower myself, the more I can do things that sustain the world as a whole.” He teaches us that we can learn and do simple things to help make our communities better. He encourages us to find inspiration from our environment and to be creative and determined.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

Multiple Choice

What was the problem that Kelvin was trying to solve?

• Kelvin wanted to solve the unstable electricity problem in his community.

• Kelvin wanted to solve the clean water problem in his community.

• Kelvin wanted to solve the unstable internet problem in his community.

• Kelvin wanted to solve the large population problem in his community.

Multiple Choice

What did Kelvin do to solve the problem?

• He asked his neighborhood to save electricity for industrial activities.

• He asked his neighborhood to stop using electricity.

• He made big batteries that could power the surrounding homes in his neighborhood.

Multiple Select

Why has Kelvin been successful with his inventions and plans?

(multiple choices)

• Kelvin always worked hard, and never gave up.

• He was always learning, and always looked for new ways to help people.

• He persevered through difficult situations.

Multiple Select

From a young age Kelvin has always been creative. What caused this creativity? (multiple choices)

• Kelvin has always been creative because he found inspiration from things he found around his community.

• He never stopped learning, kept on collecting things people threw away and turned them into something new.

Poll

Kelvin Doe turned things people threw away into new useful things. Do you think this could be a useful way to help the environment?

• Yes

• No