Frank Darko is a graphic designing student at Tarkoradi Technical University, Ghana. Frank Darko has designed a water cycle to help Ghanaian children living in villages throughout the Volta Region in the West African State. The idea of this invention is to help people living in riverine areas to cross rivers with ease.

What inspired this invention was the documentary and news report about the children’s plight. He went into work in 2017. It took him more than a year to come up with the concept and design. 

In an interview, he explained his reason for building this, he said, “there are no canoes to carry them and even if there were, it is very risky as it can capsize at any time putting the life of the children in danger. The water cycle is designed to be stable on water”.

This invention has been named Chario, inspired by chariot. It has been built with aluminum, wood, propellers and corks that keeps it afloat. The manufacturer has invested $100 of his personal money into the production of the water cycle.

In another interview, he said he hopes to take the prototype to production to increase the people’s mobility on water. He has made his invention very easy to operate so it can be used by anyone. The current version carries only one but he intends to build a version that carries up to three to four people.

This has shown how necessity is the mother of all inventions and also how much Africans look out for a way to maneuver the negatives.