When the book begins, William is a firm believer in magic and has many superstitions. Since he had nothing to lose, Kamkwamba decided to make a wind turbine using materials around his village. But in 2002, his country was stricken with a famine that left his family’s farm devastated and his parents destitute. William Kamkwamba shares the remarkable story of his youth in Malawi, Africa—a nation crippled by intense poverty, famine, and the AIDS plague—and how, with tenacity and imagination, he built a better life for himself, his family, and his village. It has beautifully depicted the life of a thirteen year old Malawi boy ‘William Kamkwamba’. Local farmers and journalists investigated the spinning device and Kamkwamba's fame in international news skyrocketed. However, he was not ready to stop learning – he often went to a local library, which received funding from a combination of NGOs and foreign government aid. A film showcases the life of William Kamkwamba – “The Boy who Harnessed the Wind” – and none of this would be possible if it was not for a well-placed library and Kamkwamba’s determination to make his life better. When he was 14, he built an electricity-producing windmill from spare parts and scrap, working from rough plans he found in a library book called Using Energy and modifying them to fit his needs. In 2019, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind was adapted into a film, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, who also wrote and directed. With the money he made from donations and movie rights, he also installed a solar pump and technology to produce clean water to his home village in Malawi. [17][18]. His story was covered by Sarah Childress for The Wall Street Journal. Based on a true story ‘the boy who harnessed the wind’ is a very touching movie. Wind tells the story of William Kamkwamba, a young boy who lives in the village of Wimbe in Malawi. The book is about learning by inventing. Nevertheless, the 14-year-old built up a collection of materials – scrap metal, rubber from bicycle tires and wood from local trees – and assembled it within the year. [16], Kamkwamba is featured in the book Extraordinary People by Michael Hearst and is also the subject of a song from the companion album Songs For Extraordinary People. [2] A crippling famine forced Kamkwamba to drop out of school, and he was not able to return to school because his family was unable to afford the tuition fee. This is an extremely powerful and beautiful film that provides insight into the many struggles that the people of Malawi faced in terms of the weather, their land, their economy, and their democracy. —Nicholas Negroponte, Founder, MIT Media Lab, Founder and Chairman, One Laptop per Child He experimented with a small model using a cheap dynamo and eventually made a functioning wind turbine that powered some electrical appliances in his family's house. William’s Story. Africa is woefully short of electricity. The event will occur at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 30, through livestream. [8], Among other appearances, Kamkwamba was interviewed on The Daily Show on 7 October 2009 (during which he was playfully compared to the fictional hero Angus MacGyver for his impressive scientific ingenuity). One thing that interested him particularly was “Using Energy,” a physics textbook that had diagrams about wells that could improve harvests and other wind-powered devices that could produce electricity. When he was fourteen years old, a terrible drought hit the village where he lived. The villagers were very confused by all of this and thought he was doing drugs. Kamkwamba was born in a family of relative poverty and relied primarily on farming to survive. He is a writer, known for The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019), William and the Windmill (2013) and TEDTalks (2006). William Kamkwamba is better known as “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”. 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