The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

There is a new book, called The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind by William Kamkwamba, together with Bryan Mealer. I haven't seen this book in local bookstores yet. 

William is a young man from the impoverished country of Malawi in Africa. He is a person who loves learning and has big dreams for his future. At the age of 14, he was kicked out of school for not being able to pay the USD 80 annual school fees (Can you imagine yourself being forced to leave school over less than RM 300?).

Even though he was kicked out of school, he never stopped learning, thinking and dreaming. Armed with knowledge from a library book and his own ingenuity, he built, using scrap materials and blue-gum trees, a working windmill that generated electricity for his home. In Malawi, only 2% of the population can afford electricity (something we waste all the time).

Soon, his invention attracted attention from around the world, and he received support to return to school. he was also invited to visit wind farms in the USA. He hopes to build windmills to generate electricity throughout Africa.

This book has received praise from people like Al Gore and Carter Roberts, President and CEO of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF).

It seems like this will be an interesting and inspiring book. Hope it makes our shores soon. It is always amazing to see how people who have so little can achieve so much.

You can find out more about this book at http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/williamkamkwamba/

 

That's William and the windmill he built