The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
His inspiring experience prompted me to update this blog.
He was just 14 when he built his first windmill.
William Kamkwamba lived in a small Malawian village where there was no electricity. People in his village depended on tobacco farming.
His family of 20 did not have much. He even had to drop out of school because his parents could not afford to pay his yearly $80 worth of tuition fees.
There was much wind in his place, so he thought of putting that into good use for his community. He borrowed a book about windmills from the local library, then he set out to built a small windmill bicycle wheels, tractor fans, car batteries and other junk that he could fit in. He was able to generate electricity for his small community to power up light bulbs, pump water and even charge cellphones and power up the radio.
He was only able to construct his first working windmill in just two months.
Because of this, William’s work had caught the attention of local and international journalists. Not long he was several invitations in the US, to simply share this experience.
He is now out of his teens and he had already built and upgraded several windmills in his place. He was also able to continue his education through an elite African school.
Zorlone
October 8th, 2009 at 3:58 pm #
A very inspirational story indeed. Makes me think what we have here… We have plenty of natural resources, right? Maybe it’s time to use them properly and wisely?
Z
berryblitz
October 8th, 2009 at 4:00 pm #
He deserves to study in an elite school. Super galing!
.-= berryblitz´s last blog ..Arnel Pineda Journey Band on CNN News to Me =-.
Calvin
October 8th, 2009 at 5:01 pm #
nice story. dapat maraming kabataan na tulad niya dito saten.
.-= Calvin´s last blog ..Spice up your photos with these Asian poses =-.
blogbloke - helping you to be a better blogger
October 8th, 2009 at 5:30 pm #
$80 a year for school! Great story sweety and thanks for sharing it.
jan geronimo
October 8th, 2009 at 7:45 pm #
Triumph against adversity. Persistence. Great imagination. What an inspiring story indeed.
.-= jan geronimo´s last blog ..10 Blog Lessons I Did Not Learn From Darren Rowse =-.
reyjr
October 8th, 2009 at 7:54 pm #
Very cool.
And very nerdy. I like it.
Haha.
.-= reyjr´s last blog ..The RCS for Typhoon Ondoy victims in GK Village =-.
elmot
October 9th, 2009 at 6:05 pm #
Very inspiring. I guess we have our own versions of this man…but are not being put in the spotlight in our own country. Like Efren Penaflorida.
.-= elmot´s last blog ..A Scraper Has Stolen My Balls…Post! =-.
Jaypee
October 11th, 2009 at 9:09 am #
Very inspiring story indeed! I hope that the Filipino youth who watch this video could take this as an inspiration and use it to do something amazing like this for their small town or even for our country.
Anyways, that Wind Farm in Palm Springs is a few minutes drive away from our place and its close to my wife’s workplace. The wind is very strong in that area that most times, the cars have to slow down.
Thanks for sharing Gem!
.-= Jaypee´s last blog ..Watch the 2009 Philippine Blog Awards LIVE Online =-.
fruityoaty
October 15th, 2009 at 3:29 am #
Very inspiring story, indeed. Nice.
.-= fruityoaty´s last blog ..Cherry Cherry Boom Boom Pow, 3rd Blogiversary, Vote for Ria =-.
Jena Isle
October 17th, 2009 at 2:20 pm #
Persistence and hard work are the ingredients of success. Thanks for sharing this awesome story.
DiTesco
October 17th, 2009 at 5:33 pm #
Awesome story. Gives us the motivation we need. It is amazing what kind of achievement a person can attain if you have the necessary ingredients to make it happen. Pretty much applicable to blogging as well:) Lesson here I guess is that he “took action”, something that many of us, unfortunately often overlook. Cool.
BTW, Gem – Sorry I did not give you the proper greetings on P50. Offline duties has been giving me too much work overload. Sold one of my less performing business this week (yay!). Anyway, thanks for being part of it and expect to see more from me here.
Kelvin Servigon
October 17th, 2009 at 11:38 pm #
This is very inspiring. Teens (like me) should read this story!
bloggista
October 18th, 2009 at 2:57 pm #
Considering the fact that the Philippines has an endless and good supply of fairly strong wind, we Filipinos could easily replicate this awesome boy’s story.
Then we could reduce dependence on fossil fuel… Very inspiring indeed.
Dave Doolin
October 20th, 2009 at 9:31 am #
This is very, very cool.
One person really can change the world!
We throw all that junk away in the US. And have zoning laws and neighborhood covenants that would prevent such activity in so many areas. All that is going to have to change.
Justin
October 21st, 2009 at 8:23 am #
I love this! We should be harnessing the wind everywhere. Need to push this one at some of the Peruvians I know. Great story, thanks for sharing!
Paulo
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:39 pm #
Very inspiring person.
Sometimes we really need to look around to see how we can help and make a difference to our community.