Harnessing the Wind

A few months ago, one of my friends told me about a book that he read, the book was titled ‘The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind’. This book describes the story of a fourteen-year-old boy named William Kamkwamba who built a windmill to power his home. This is his story.

William Kamkwamba is a resident of Malawi, a small country in south-eastern Africa. Like most of the people in Malawi, farming is the main occupation of the Kamkwamba family. Like everyone else, they used to grow maize. But things changed when in 2001 when an awful famine hits Malawi resulted in thousands of deaths across the country. The famine was so bad that almost 70% of the citizens reported starvation. At that time, the Kamkwamba family used to eat only one meal per day at night and the meal usually consisted of only one Nsima (A type of bread which is made up from maize flour).

In Malawi, for secondary education, you have to pay the fees. William’s school fees were around 80$ but because of the hunger, he was forced to drop out of his school. William loved going to his school, so when he dropped out, he decided to go to a library. He used to read science book especially the books which are based on physics. At that time, he didn’t understand English very well so he used diagrams and pictures to learn the concepts. One of such books called ‘Using Energy’ changed William’s life forever. When he found out that a windmill can pump water and generate electricity. For him, pumping water meant irrigation a defence against hunger which they were experiencing at that time and electricity means he can read books at night.

So, he decided to build a windmill by himself. But he didn’t have materials to use, neither had the money to buy them, so he went to a scrapyard where he found his materials. By using a tractor fan, a shock absorber, a broken bicycle frame, PVC pipes and a bicycle dynamo he built his first windmill. Malawi is blessed with a lot of wind and that is why it’s an ideal place to build a windmill.

At first, William’s windmill powered only one light but with slight modifications, he was successful to power four lights in his home (his entire home). He even built his own light switches and a circuit breaker in case of an emergency. He built his second windmill within few months which is used to pump water. He built all of these just by understanding some pictures and few words around them.

After that, the word quickly spread out. Within next few months, many people start to pour in his town to witness a glimpse of his windmill. Most of them are journalists, bloggers and residents of other neighbouring villages. Many people used to stand in a queue outside his home just to charge their mobile phones. As a result of his effort, he was invited to visit the United States for the first time in December 2007. Before that he had never seen an aeroplane, he had never slept in a hotel. It was his first foreign trip. Then he was selected for a youth conference organized by Ted in Arusha, Tanzania.

At his second conference at Ted he said, “So, on stage that day in Arusha, my English lost. I said something like, I tried. And I made it. So I would like to say something to all the people out there like me, to the Africans and to the poor who are struggling with your dreams. God bless. Maybe one day you will watch this on the Internet. I say to you, trust yourself and believe. Whatever happen don’t give up.”

May this story of this extraordinary young boy will inspire generations to come. You can achieve anything with hard work and determination. Thank you!