The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

William Kamkwamba grew up in AIDS- and poverty-stricken Malawi, Africa. Like most in his village, his family struggled to survive as farmers, a situation that became all the more desperate in 2002, when William was 14: Malawi experienced its worst famine in fifty years, and his family could no longer afford his school’s $80-a-year tuition.

During this time William was thinking a lot about electricity—a luxury that only two percent of Malawians can afford. After discovering a book in a nearby library about windmills, he decided to build his own using scrap metal, tractor parts, and the blue-gum trees that grew near his village. William’s homemade contraption succeeded in supplying electricity to his family’s compound—enough for four lightbulbs and two radios! News of his invention spread, attracting many people across the world who offered to help him. Soon he was re-enrolled in school and traveling to the United States to visit wind farms, much like the ones he hopes to build across Africa. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind tells the story of one boy’s struggle to advance himself from nothing, and his journey to inspire other Africans—and the whole world.