Syrian refugees in sweltering southeast Turkey invent fan-propelled device to cool off

Syrians living in the Süleyman Şah residential facilities in the Akçakale district of Şanlıurfa province have created a device made of a fan inside a wooden cube. The cube has three sides and is covered along its bottom and top parts, and the fan blows cool air that it gets from water through a pipe.  

The so-called “ventilator air conditioner” has become wildly popular among the camp’s residents, who are struggling with hot summer temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (around 104 Fahrenheit).

“We used to sit outside in the shade. But after making this invention now we can sit comfortably inside our tent with our family. As long as there is electricity, we can live comfortably inside our tent,” said Hasan Ahmed Neda, one of the inventors of the device. 

Fellow inventor, ventilator mechanic İbrahim Naci, said he was thrilled to put his skills to work by making the makeshift ventilator.