Ever since I first heard his story I was intrigued. It had all the right hooks to reel me in: Malawian youth wind entrepeneur, transforms village, builds electric windmills out of scraps. Even better, his storywas captured in a book entitled "The Boy who Harnessed the Wind" by Bryan Mealer.
The young entrepen
eur is William Kamkwamba of Malawi. He grew up poor and was actually forced to quit school at age 14 because his family couldn't afford it anymore, but that didn't stop him from learning.In 2002 Malawi experienced one of the worst droughts which killed hundreds and almost claimed his own family. It was then that he realized something needed to be done. Talk about a dreamer, who at age 14 dreams of bringing running water and electricity to his village?
Everything changed when he stumbled upon an old tattered textbook with a picture of a windmill inside. Thank goodness for curious hands. It was then he decided that he would build one himself.
His weapons of choice were a turbine made from spare bicycle parts, a tractor fan blade, an old shock absorber, fashioned blades from plastic pipes which he flattered using fire. Out of these he constructed a 16-ft tall tower.
Even though all his neighbors (his village contained only about 200 people) thought he was crazy, he amazed them all when he hooked up a car light bulb to the turbine and as the blades moved, it stood aglow.
I found it so endearing reading about his first time using the internet. While we Google things like movie listings, concerts dates, and clothes, Kamkwamba Googled so much information about windmills.
It's amazing that Kamkwamba accomplished everything being self-taught, with no Western influence at all. I'll let that speak for itself.
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