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Kamkwamba, William. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Turtleback Books, 2016.

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William Kamkwamba was born on August 5, 1987 in Malawi, Africa, which is often called "The Warm Heart of Africa." William lived in the center of Malawi, inside of a tiny village called Masitala, located on the outskirts of the town of Wimbe.

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William's village consisted of ten houses, all made of mud bricks that were painted white, and roofs made from long grasses that were picked near swamps. These houses however, were not enough to protect them from the cold.

Quote: "The grasses kept us cool in the hot months, but during the cold nights of winter, the frost crept into our bones and we slept under an extra pile of blankets" (5).

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William's parents are Trywell and Agnes Kamwamba. William is the second eldest of his six siblings, which are all girls. They all grew up on their family farm in Masitala Village.

Quote: "In our house, there was me, my mother and father, and my six sisters, along with some goats and guinea fowl, and a few chickens" (5).

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Due to William living in a rather poor region as a child, doctors were hard to come by. Poverty and lack of knowledge also added to the predicament that was at hand. The solution to these mishaps were simple, "magic." At least that was what William thought home remedies were.

Quote: "In Malawi, magic came in many forms-the most common being the witch doctor whom we called sing'anga" (7).

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January 1997, nine year old William and his family experienced a sudden loss. While working on the fields one afternoon, William's uncle John became very sick and fainted.

Quote: "My father rushed him to the small clinic in Wimbe, where the doctor diagnosed him with tuberculosis, a deadly disease that seizes the lungs" (36).

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The year that William turned thirteen, he started to notice that not only was his body starting to change, his interests were also altering.

Quote: "I stopped hunting as much and began hanging out more in the trading center with Geoffrey and Gilbert" (45).

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William is trying to leave primary school to advance to secondary school. William particularly took interest in science, and he figured that he would get more opportunities to learn once he's gotten into secondary school. The only obstacle in his path, a test. The Standard Eight exam that covers every subject and lasts for a whole three days.

Quote: "For several months I stayed awake past dark and studied beside the smoky lamp" (59).

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William is starting to grow his passion of becoming a scientist. He is also almost graduating primary school, when he starts to feel conflicted.

Quote: "To me, graduating primary school and being a scientist was loads better than farming, which by then was taking up a lot of my time" (62).

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Heavy rainfall occurs before an unexpected drought. When the sun doesn't come back, disaster strikes. William's family farm begins to become corrupted. Crops as dry as sandpaper take effect on the family.

Quote: "By May, half our crops was scorched. The plants that remained were only as high as my father's chest" (68).

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The whole country has run out of maize. Businessmen travelling to neighboring countries such as Tanzania to buy them by the truckful. Prices skyrocket to moon, causing havoc upon all, leaving William in an almost dazed like state.

Quote: "But also, they charged more because they knew people were starving and would pay anything to stay alive" (82).

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As the widespread famine continues to get worse, William looks to see if he had gotten into his desired secondary schools. Neither accepted William, and he was left with one that's said to be one of the worst.

Quote: "Like Wimbe, it was a community school and very poor. No science programs. No laboratories. Just rain through a leaky roof" (100).

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People become more desperate in the village. People steal cakes from William’s mother, stopping her from buying more flour. William sees more and more starving people filling the trading center and along the roads. All the meanwhile, the president of Malawi has done close to nothing to advocate for their people.

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William’s dog, Khamba, becomes increasingly sick as the famine stays strong. Geoffrey, William's friend, is also facing health altercations which are getting rapidly worse.

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After five months of national suffering, an "emergency" gets concluded by the president of Malawi, leading to William being able to harvest in the maize field and cook them. His family and surrounding areas become healthier as food becomes more available.

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Although the famine is decreasing, there are still obstacles that William faces. His family still cannot afford the fees for secondary school. The workload on the farm isn't as high as before, which leaves William in the search for a new hobby.

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William gets textbooks from his old primary school, and teaches himself about electricity. William thinks back to the bicycle dynamo that powered the radio and starts to dream of building a windmill that will support his family. With a functioning windmill, his family could also have a water pump to irrigate the crops, allowing for two harvests a year.

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William begins to assemble the moving parts of the windmill and places it on top of a pole to test it out. When attached to William’s father’s radio, the windmill creates so much current that black smoke expels out of the radio.

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William learns about physics to gain knowledge of his creation that he's trying so hard to provide for his family. With the help of Geoffrey and Gilbert, William starts to build a proper tower for the windmill. Once the tower is assembled, they use a wire and one of the support rungs as a pulley to lift the heavy windmill to the top of the tower. A crowd starts to form to mock him, but soon become amazed when William attaches a light bulb to the windmill and lets it spin to create light.

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Some officials from the Malawi Teacher Training Activity (MTTA) show interest in William’s windmill. They realize that William should be in school and have access to more resources. Dr. Mchazime arranges for reporters to interview William. From that point, William's story continued to spread on the internet. William showed how you can really make something out of close to nothing if you really put in the effort.

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https://www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm/author_number/1787/william-kamkwamba

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William Kamkwamba Biography William Kamkwamba was born in Dowa, Malawi, in 1987 and raised in Masitala village along the central plains. One of seven children born to sustenance farmers who grew maize and tobacco, his childhood was often interrupted by drought and hunger.

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https://docplayer.net/82044133-William-kamkwamba-fact-file-timeline-date-of-birth-august-5-place-of-birth-dowa-malawi-nationality-malawian.html

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https://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/about.html

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I am a Malawian inventor, author of “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” (with Bryan Mealer) and student at Dartmouth College.

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https://www.williamkamkwamba.com/

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https://www.ted.com/speakers/william_kamkwamba

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TED curator Chris Anderson discusses the transformative power of speaking to an audience from the heart.

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To power his family's home, young William Kamkwamba built an electricity-producing windmill from spare parts and scrap -- starting him on a journey detailed in the book and film "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind."