Book description
When William Kamkwamba was just 14 years old, his family told him that
he must leave school and come home to work on the farm - they could no
longer afford his fees. This is his story of how he found a way to make
a difference, how he brought light to his family and village, and hope
to his nation.
Malawi is a country battling AIDS, drought and famine, and in 2002, a
season of floods followed by the most severe famine in fifty years
brought it to its knees. William Kamkwamba's family were farmers, and
relied on their maize crop to feed them for the year and bring in money
by selling the surplus. But after many lean years, finally there was no
more. By Christmas 2001 they were running out of food - with months
before they could harvest their crop again.
At 14 years old, William had been forced to leave school as there was no
money to pay the fees. Borrowing library books to continue his
education, William picked up a book in English about energy, with a
picture of a wind turbine on the front cover. Fascinated by science and
electricity, William decided to build his own. Ridiculed by those around
him, exhausted from his work in the fields every day, slowly he built it
with scrap metal, old bicycle parts and wood from the blue gum tree.
It has changed the world in which William and his family live. Only 2%
of Malawi has electricity; and the windmill now powers lightbulbs and a
radio at their compound, and he has built more windmills for his school
and village.
When news of William's invention spread, people from across the globe
offered to help him. Soon he was re-enrolled in school and travelling to
America to visit wind farms. This is his story - his attempts to teach
other Africans to help themselves, one windmill, one lightbulb, at a
time. “THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND is the inspiring story of a
young man in Africa who used the only resources available to him to
build a windmill and elevate the lives and spirits of those in his
community. William Kamkwamba's achievements with wind energy should
serve as a model of what one person, with an inspired idea, can do to
tackle the crisis we face. His book tells a moving and exciting
story." - Al Gore, former Vice President and Nobel Laureate
William Kamkwamba was born in1987 in Dowa, Malawi, and grew up on his
family farm in Masitala Village, Wimbe, two and half hours northeast of
Malawi's capital city. The second eldest of seven children, William has
six sisters.
He currently lives in Malawi but has been sponsored to study at
international schools and colleges in Cambridge, UK and Johannesburg,
South Africa.
