Uganda's swamps abound with papyrus, providing a plentiful and free source of material.
Moses Kizza Musaazi uses his inventions at his own company, including this bicycle-wheel generator powered by steam from one of his three-chamber incinerators. Read more about Musaazi's inventions and solutions for Uganda here.
A woman and her children at the Kyaka refugee settlement.
The child of a worker at a factory outside of Kampala.
Moses Kizza Musaazi's company, Technology for Tomorrow, is on the campus of Makerere University.
T4T, as Technology for Tomorrow is known, is across a dirt road from the engineering department of Makerere University, where he is a lecturer.
Musaazi holds up sheet of dry papyrus, the primary material used to make Makapads.
The R&D facility at Musaazi's company, Technology for Tomorrow, doubles as storage space.
A mason lays a wall of Musaazi's interlocking bricks at Masooli Primary School.
Uganda's forests are disappearing into the ubiquitous kilns that fire clay bricks for construction.
Musaazi displays tongue-and-groove shaped dirt bricks, whose shape means they require less mortar.
Workers fill a press—its design was modified by Musaazi—to make bricks at Masooli Primary School.
Technology for Tomorrow's rainwater harvesting tanks are larger and sturdier than other Ugandan water tanks and—because they are made of the interlocking bricks—they don't rust.
During the long rainy season, Uganda loses a lot of its much-needed water to runoff.
Students surround one of Musaazi's solar water heaters at the Mpigi UMEA Primary School, which heat water for the girls' latrines.
At the Mpigi UMEA Primary School, a pipe extends from a three-chambered incinerator into a latrine so girls can dispose of sanitary pads discreetly.
A classroom at Mpigi UMEA Primary School which uses several Technology for Tomorrow products, including solar water heaters, incinerators, and water tanks.
Makapads dry on wooden frames at a plant in the Kyaka Refuge Settlement.
A worker returns to the Makapad plant with papyrus he has harvested from a nearby swamp.
A worker peels the green stem from papyrus stalks to expose the white pith beneath.
A worker mashes pulverized papyrus with wet waste paper.
A worker sluices the papyrus-waste-paper mixture in water and then spreads it on wooden frames.
Once the Makapads are sealed in plastic, a worker trims them by hand.
A bicycle-wheel centrifuge, invented by Musaazi, spins Makapads to hasten the drying process.
The Makapad plant gives residents of the Kyaka refugee settlement an opportunity to make some money, which some use to educate their children.
Musaazi displays his motto on his office door. Translated from the Bugandan, it means, "So little done. So much more to do."
Students at the Mpigi UMEA Primary School swarm around Musaazi. Many more girls attend now that his incinerators allow them to dispose of their sanitary napkins.
Read more about Musaazi's Uganda in Leigh Buchanan's feature story from the May 2012 issue of Inc..
