The Boy who Harnessed the Wind

Every night, William Kamkwamba's sisters would huddle around the faint light of a kerosene lamp to read and study in the hope of a better future. That was before their brother, who was only fourteen at the time, built windmills that brought electricity to his village of Masitala in Malawi, Africa. Now, this self- taught inventor is setting his sights even higher, aiming to light up an entire country! It all began with the famine of 2001 when food was so scarce in Malawi that ten thousand people died of starvation, William's family survived on just one meal a day, but they didn't have enough money to afford the $80-a-year tuition fees for William's school. Forced to drop out, he refused to give up and carried on his education from textbooks in the small local library. There he learnt all about electricity and motors, but it was the cover of one book in particular that truly captured his imagination. It showed windmills. "With a windmill, I could stay awake at night reading instead of going to bed at seven with the rest of Malawi," William realised. "We'd finally release ourselves from the troubles of darkness and hunger." He set about building one from an old bicycle and pieces of scrap metal from tractors. Ignoring the other villagers (including his mother), who thought he was crazy, over two months he managed to assemble a 5-metre high windmill that supplied enough power to light four small light bulbs. In a country where only 2% of the population has access to electricity, this was like a miracle! Villagers came from all around to see the 'electric wind'. With the addition of another windmill that helped irrigate his father's crops, William was transforming his village through renewable energy all by himself. News of the boy who built windmills spread through blogs and newspaper articles. Bryan Mealer, an American joumalist, had spent five years in Africa when he heard about William. He immediately knew that this was the story that he had been waiting for and in 2009, The Who Harnessed the Wind, was published. Soon, influential people started to was a real asset to his country and before long, he was invited to speak at conferences, he had documentaries made about him and universities abroad were offering him scholarships. William is currently studying for a degree in America, but more ideas to help his village. Thanks to generous donations, Masitala now has clean drinking water and solar panels. William also finished a project to build new classrooms that William he plans to return home with Windmils He e school which is equipped with laptops that run on energy from fis windmills. He still worries about his mother, though: "I haven't solved the problem o firewood. Each day, my mother has no choice but walk three hours to collect a handful of wood to cook the family meal." It's a walk that gets longer every ody to i loses about 500 sg kilometres of forest every year due to illegal deforestation. Experiments with solar ovens made out of tinfoil haven't quite worked out yet, so 1or u moment William has turned to a more hands-on method – planting more trees. William Kamkwamba might not have the solution for everything just vet, but he's a sning example of all that can be achieved when just one person dreams of a better world.