I just learned about a man named William Kamkwamba who
grew up on a farm in Malawi. He snuck into school (his
parents couldn’t afford to send him) until the school’s
administrators finally caught him and threw him out, so
he went to the library and taught himself as much as he
could. One day he learned about windmills and experimented
with small models until he could build a large one to generate
electricity and pump irrigation water.
Very few Malawans have electricity. But now Kamkwamba’s
family can read at night and irrigate their plants without
trecking water by hand. They can listen to the radio.
It’s simply astounding to me that someone could create such
a project despite having such barriers to education and while
having to work the farm just to stave off starvation.
He wrote a book about his experiences called The Boy Who
Harnessed the Wind. Sounds like a good read.
Here’s a video about him:
http://www.youtube.com/v/arD374MFk4w
Here’s his website. You can
http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/
