• Disrupting Power Since 2015
  • Donate
  • Login
Monday, May 12, 2025
  • Login
  • Register
Canary
MEDIA THAT DISRUPTS
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
MANAGE SUBSCRIPTION
SUPPORT
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
Canary
No Result
View All Result

Young Afghan women work on lifesaving mission to build ventilators from car parts

The Canary by The Canary
19 April 2020
in Global, News
Reading Time: 4 mins read
163 9
A A
0
Home Global
319
SHARES
2.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Five Afghan young women are spending their days on a lifesaving mission to build a ventilator from car parts as the war-stricken country battles coronavirus.

Nearly every morning, Somaya Farooqi and four other members of Afghanistan’s prize-winning girls’ robotics team pile into her father’s car and head to a mechanic’s workshop.

They use back roads to avoid police checkpoints set up to enforce a lockdown in their city of Herat, one of Afghanistan’s hotspots of the coronavirus pandemic.

“If we even save one life with our device, we will be proud,” said 17-year-old Somaya.

Their pursuit is particularly remarkable in conservative Afghanistan. Only a generation ago, during the rule of the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban in the late 1990s, girls were not allowed to go to school, and Somaya’s own mother was pulled out of classes at a young age.

After the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, girls returned to schools, but gaining equal rights remains a struggle.

Ventilator research
The girls are developing two types of ventilator device using car parts (Hamed Safarazi/AP)

Somaya is undaunted. “We are the new generation,” she said in a phone interview. “We fight and work for people. Girl and boy, it does not matter anymore.”

Afghanistan faces the pandemic nearly empty-handed. It has only 400 ventilators for a population of more than 36.6 million people. So far, it has reported just over 900 coronavirus cases, including 30 deaths, but the actual number is suspected to be much higher since test kits are in short supply.

The Herat province in western Afghanistan is one of the nation’s hotspots because of its proximity to Iran, the region’s epicentre of the outbreak.

This has spurred Somaya and her team, aged 14 to 17, to help come up with a solution.

At their workshop, the team is experimenting with two designs, including an open-source blueprint from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The parts being used include the motor of a Toyota windshield wiper, batteries and sets of bag valve masks, or manual oxygen pumps. A group of mechanics helps them build the frame of a ventilator.

Ventilator research
The girls are all part of Afghanistan’s prize-winning girls’ robotics team (Hamed Sarfarazi/AP)

Daniela Rus, a professor at MIT, welcomed the team’s initiative to develop the prototype. “It will be excellent to see it tested and locally produced,” she said.

Tech entrepreneur Roya Mahboob, who founded the team and raises funds to empower girls and young women, said she hopes Somaya’s group will finish building a prototype by May or June. In all, the team has 15 members who work on various projects.

The ventilator model, once completed, would then be sent to the health ministry for testing, initially on animals, said spokesman Wahid Mayar.

Somaya, who was just 14 when she participated in the first World Robot Olympiad in the US in 2017, said she and her team members hope to make a contribution.

“Afghans should be helping Afghanistan in this pandemic,” she said. “We should not wait for others.”

Share128Tweet80
Previous Post

One heartbreaking tweet from a nurse exposes the horrendous reality for NHS workers

Next Post

NHS staff being asked to ‘sacrifice’ themselves over lack of PPE

Next Post

NHS staff being asked to ‘sacrifice’ themselves over lack of PPE

More evidence that official figures don't reflect the true scale of care home deaths from coronavirus

Empty prison cells

Lockdown may be extended, but here's why you shouldn't compare it to prison

David Attenborough issues a vital plea to 'cherish' our 'precious world'

Jeremy Hunt is a hypocrite over coronavirus

Jeremy Hunt's hypocritical coronavirus response has just been exposed

Please login to join discussion
Steel companies ArcelorMittal and Ternium continue to run roughshod over Global South communities
News

Steel companies ArcelorMittal and Ternium continue to ride roughshod over Global South communities

by The Canary
12 May 2025
Jenu Kuruba families begin their long-awaited re-occupation of their ancestral homes inside the Nagarhole National Park. They carried photos of loved ones who had died after the village was evicted, so they too can return to the forest.
Analysis

An Indigenous community in India just faced down 130 police to return to their ancestral lands

by The Canary
12 May 2025
Nigel Farage waving Reform
Analysis

Reform’s new ‘manifesto’ is just catnip for the fat cats

by The Canary
12 May 2025
UN experts say Israel has 'criminal responsibility' for 'genocidal conduct'
Analysis

UN experts have now accused Israel of ‘genocidal conduct’ in Gaza

by Maryam Jameela
12 May 2025
A new petition calls for mandatory training for education staff on neurodivergence
News

A new petition calls for mandatory training for education staff on neurodivergence

by The Canary
12 May 2025
  • Contact
  • About & FAQ
  • Get our Daily News Email
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

The Canary
PO Box 71199
LONDON
SE20 9EX

Canary Media Ltd – registered in England. Company registration number 09788095.

For guest posting, contact [email protected]

For other enquiries, contact: [email protected]

The Canary is owned and run by independent journalists and volunteers, NOT offshore billionaires.

You can write for us, or support us by making a regular or one-off donation.

© Canary Media Ltd 2024, all rights reserved | Website by Monster | Hosted by Krystal | Privacy Settings

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion

© 2023 Canary - Worker's co-op.

Before you go, have you seen...?

Steel companies ArcelorMittal and Ternium continue to run roughshod over Global South communities
News
The Canary

Steel companies ArcelorMittal and Ternium continue to ride roughshod over Global South communities

Jenu Kuruba families begin their long-awaited re-occupation of their ancestral homes inside the Nagarhole National Park. They carried photos of loved ones who had died after the village was evicted, so they too can return to the forest.
Analysis
The Canary

An Indigenous community in India just faced down 130 police to return to their ancestral lands

Nigel Farage waving Reform
Analysis
The Canary

Reform’s new ‘manifesto’ is just catnip for the fat cats

UN experts say Israel has 'criminal responsibility' for 'genocidal conduct'
Analysis
Maryam Jameela

UN experts have now accused Israel of ‘genocidal conduct’ in Gaza

ADVERTISEMENT
Lifestyle
Nathan Spears

Why More People Are Seeking Legal Advice When Separating

Travel
Nathan Spears

Hungary Vignette Adventures: Discovering Hidden Gems by Car

How Social Media Affects the Mental Health of Young Adults Today
Tech
The Canary

How Social Media Affects the Mental Health of Young Adults Today