William Kamkwamba, the author of The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind, lives in the village of Wimbe in the Kasungu district of Malawi with his parents and four sisters. In his memoir, William laments that only 2 percent of Malawians have electricity, so it is not rare to go to bed at 7pm. The family depends on maize and tobacco crops, and when their farm fails to provide a substantial income, William is forced to drop out of secondary school. His spare time is spent at the library, reading physics books.
But when the famine of 2002 hits, William has to put his independent studies aside to help his family scrounge for food. With distressing detail, William describes how a combination of ill-fated weather, deforestation, and a neglectful government causes his family to go from eating three full meals a day to eating only seven mouthfuls, and then three. Reading this part of the book from the perspective of an American is plainly sad, and it's a distinct change in tone from William's vivid portrayal of daily village life and folklore. Most of us will never experience such famine, and most shocking is how swiftly it can overtake an entire population. But William manages to remain somewhat upbeat throughout the crisis and his family persists through this hardship and others, such as malaria and cholera, without losing a single member.
When his famine finally ends, five months later, William returns to his studies determined to make sure his family never suffers again. Captivated with the way electricity works, he begins gathering stray materials with his best friend, Geoffrey. The young boys' friendship is touching and their loyalty to one another -- a true characteristic of boyhood -- is admirable.
From the scrap yard, William collects tractor fans, shock absorbers, wheels, PVC pipes, and an assortment of other oddities, leading the entire village to make fun of his unusual collecting habit. But he soon proves them wrong by constructing a small windmill that is able to power lights and radio.
When the media gets word of William's ingenuity, it's fascinating to read a firsthand account of the young boy being whisked away to the TED conference, seeing the Internet for the first time, and using donors' money to further help his village and return to school.
As he explains, "...It would have to be done little by little, but once complete, it would save my parents the money they normally spent on kerosene, and that was just the beginning. The next machine would pump water for our fields. And I wouldn't stop there. One day, windmills would be our shield against hunger."
William is a hero and his resourcefulness deserves to be recognized. Compensating for the local government's void in empathy, William is able to become wholly self sufficient, sharing entertaining stories and customs along the way. William's compelling and valiant character makes it easy to read in one afternoon what one boy managed to change for an entire existence of people.
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