"Trust Yourself and Believe, Whatever Happens Don't Give Up..."
...William Kamkwamba
I had seen William Kamkwamba on television being interviewed about his windmill. I was fascinated. How a small boy with a curiosity in how things worked was able to help bring electricity to his village was amazing. What I didn't know until I read the book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, written by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer, was how far William had to travel, not by miles but by the determination to live & have a more stable life, before he could make his idea a reality. In this emotionally charged story, William Kamkwamba is "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind". He was born into a family of poor farmers in a rural African village, with 6 siblings and the realities of a harsh African life, which included no electricity, or any other modern convenience, and living under a corrupt government that would rather see big profits than help the many small farmers that populated the country. Their livelihoods were wrapped up in the ability to grow their crops. They had to work around rainy seasons, dry spells and make the hard soil work for them. Then famine broke out, food became scarce, and people struggled to survive. Because of the famine, William had to drop out of school because his parents could no longer afford to send him. Though, he still had access to the library and used his time to keep his studies up. That library contained books on Physics and electricity donated by The American Institutes for Research. At the age of 14, with very little education, and not a very good grasp of English, William was inspired by the pictures in a book on windmills to see if he could build his own. A windmill could make electricity and bring water for irrigation. This could help not only his family, but his whole village...
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind will pull you in. It's a story of desperation and loss, but as the story continues, uplifting. The beginning of the book really opens your eyes to the harsh realities of the life of an African farmer. But you also get a sense of a simpler life, one filled with magic and storytelling handed down from one generation to the next. I got a sense of community among the people of the village, even though they had very little, people tried to help one another with what they had. As you learn more about William and day to day life in his village, you begin to see what a special young man he is. Of course the villagers thought he was crazy, going through the scrap yard looking for pieces of this and that to "build a windmill". We all know the ending- he did make his windmill, and The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is that story. There's also a wonderful "P.S." at the end of the book, an "afterwards" story entitled A Great Adventure that recounts some of the things that went on after the book was published. One of the wonderful things William mentions is meeting Dr. Mary Atwater, the woman who wrote Using Energy, the book that first inspired William to build his windmill. Dr. Atwater was "a black person in the American South during the 1950's, and she didn't have many great educational opportunities. It didn't help that she was also a girl, and a girl who loved science." But Dr. Atwater's dream came true through education, and she was "happy that I lived long enough to see that something I wrote could change someone's life."
William Kamkwamba will touch your heart. I felt such happiness when he was able to bring his dream to reality and help his village. But it doesn't stop there, because with worldwide attention, he's now helping to build schools and bring education into the communities of Africa. This is one very special story that will make you thankful for the bounty that you have, but also inspire you to follow your dreams, and to try and help others attain theirs. I would encourage anyone who enjoys inspirational stories to pick up this book. It's one story you won't forget.
Check out William Kamkwamba's Blog to learn more about him and his nonprofit organization Moving Windmills. I want to Thank Trish from TLC Tours for sending along a copy of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind for review! William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer will be touring the blogs with their book until the end of August, here are the other stops on the tour!
And in the meantime, here is a video of William talking about "How he harnessed the wind"...
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