"... just because I didn't want to take a bath"

LUDWICK MARISHANE, a 17-year-old South African, was with his friends in Limpopo when they started talking about inventing something to put on your skin so you don't have to take a bath. Ludwick thought that this was a great idea. He used his cell phone to do some research on the Internet, and he found some shocking facts.

Two point five billion people around the world don't have clean water. This is a huge problem because dirty water can create terrible illnesses. One of them is trachoma: Eight million people all over the world get trachoma every year. They wash their faces with dirty water, get an infection, and become blind. To stop trachoma, people don't have to take expensive medication. They don't have to take pills. They don't have to have injections. They just have to wash their faces with clean water. That's it.

Ludwick started thinking. He wanted to make something to help people in parts of the world where it's difficult to find clean water. He did more research on his phone, and he did more thinking. Ludwick had a plan. He wanted to make a gel for people to put on their skin so they don't have to take a bath. He wrote the formula for the gel on his phone. When he was in college, he never stopped thinking about his invention. He started to talk to other people about it, and three years later the dream came true. He made the gel and called it "DryBath."

Ludwick is the winner of lots of prizes. People call him "one of the brightest young men in the world." He is very happy about his success. DryBath is helping people to be healthy. And DryBath also helps to save water. Now Ludwick Marishane wants to invent other things, and he wants to help other young people to become inventors, too.