- Irish teenager designs and builds waterproof and fireproof sleeping bag for homeless people
- Emily Duffy, 15 years old, thought of inventing the sleeping bag – after experiencing a day on Dublin’s streets – to raise money for charity for homeless individuals
- The project also helps former homeless people earn a living
Homelessness remains one of the pervasive problems in the world.
According to Homeless World Cup, the last time a global study was attempted by the United Nations in 2005, an estimated 100 million people were homeless worldwide and as many as 1 billion people lack adequate housing.
The Philippines, in fact, has been determined by the UN Commission on Human Rights to be one of the countries with the worst homelessness problem. It is estimated that around 44% of the urban population live in slums. The capital, Manila, has the largest homeless population in any city in the world – an estimated 3.1 million people.
According to an article by Ludovica Iaccino of the IB Times, an estimated 1.2 million children in the Philippines sleep rough; with 70,000 in Manila.
So it is really heartening to know that some young inventors today seek solutions to problems brought about by poverty and homelessness.
One of these young inventors who have taken up the challenge of helping homeless persons is an Irish teenager who have designed and built a lightweight sleeping bag specifically suited to help homeless individuals.
Emily Duffy, 15 years old, thought of inventing the sleeping bag after experiencing a day on Dublin’s streets to raise money for charity for homeless individuals.
According to the Irish Times, Duffy, a student of Desmond College in Limerick, started by assessing the limitations of existing bags and subsequently eliminated them from her novel design.
Duffy’s final product is a lightweight sleeping bag that boasts a number of clever safety features, and also works well in various environments and conditions.
Dubbed as the ‘Duffily Bag’, it is made of waterproof lightweight metallic bubble wrap to replace cloth that can easily become soaked by rain. The air in the bubbles helps to increase the warmth of the bag. The bag also includes a fire-resistant coating on the exterior and used waterproof metallic tape to seal the seams.
“I wanted to develop a sleeping bag that would solve some of the problems with existing cloth bags,” Duffy said.
To decrease the dangers of sleeping in the streets, Duffy also added reflective strips to increase visibility and Velcro openings in case the person needs to escape from the bag quickly.
According to Amanda Froelich of the True Activist, Duffy recently showed off her invention at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in Dublin, which showcased some of the brightest ideas of the country’s young people.
In a story on Elite Readers, it said the project is also providing economic aid now that the sleeping bags are being produced by former homeless people at the Mendicity Institution and they are getting paid $ 10 an hour for the work.
The third-year student recently conducted safety tests and even used the bag herself to ensure it held up to the imagined demands.
Duffy hopes that her invention provides sufficient warmth, and could potentially save peoples’ lives if they have no other option but to survive outdoors.
With the increasing number of street dwellers here in the Philippines, this invention can surely help a lot of Filipinos. We hope that this project goes worldwide.
You can watch the short YouTube video here and see how the sleeping bag works:
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