The boy who harnessed the wind / Kamkwamba, William

The author details how he ignored naysayers and was able to bring electricity and running water to his Malawian village when he built a makeshift windmill out of scrap metal and spare parts.

The author details how he ignored naysayers and was able to bring electricity and running water to his Malawian village when he built a makeshift windmill out of scrap metal and spare parts.

Tells the true story of how fourteen-year-old William Kamkwamba of Malawi read science books and learned how to build a windmill out of junkyard scraps, giving electricity and a means for transporting water to his people and saving his family from a famine.

When 14-year-old William Kamkwamba's Malawi village was hit by a drought in 2001, everyone's crops began to fail. His family didn't have enough money for food, let alone school, so William spent his days in the library. He came across a book on windmills and figured out how to build a windmill that could bring electricity to his village. Everyone thought he was crazy but William persevered and managed to create a functioning windmill out of junkyard scraps. Several years later he figured out how to use the windmill for irrigation purposes.

William Kamkwamba details how he ignored naysayers and was able to bring electricity and running water to his desperately poor village in Africa when he built a makeshift windmill out of scrap metal and spare parts.

The author details how he ignored naysayers and was able to bring electricity and running water to his Malawian village when he built a makeshift windmill out of scrap metal and spare parts.