Inspiration: Moving Windmills
This is the story of William Kamkwamba.
At 14 years old, he lived in a small farming village of 60 families in Malawi. In a family of 20, he was dropped out of school because his parents didn’t have the money to pay for his $80 school fees anymore. He had always thought that the wind in Malawi could be utilized for better use. So without school, he took the initiative to read books about windmills on his own.
The books only showed pictures of windmills, and didn’t have instructions on how to build one to generate electricity. William figured it out on his own, building his first windmill in the span of two months in 2006 at age 14. He didn’t receive much support initially, but soon people started to realize the impact that this young kid could make.
Now 20, his dream is to finish his education and start his own company about windmills in the future.
William Kamkwamba’s book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, written with Bryan Mealer was released September 29, 2008 in the US.
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Oh yeah, I think I saw a TED talk by him. The materials he built his windmill out of were all like scrap metal, right? He turned one man’s trash into another man’s light.
Yeah, I believe he used parts from tractors and other miscellaneous things that he found.
It’s quite an amazing story.