WILLIAM
WILLIAM
KAMKWAMBA’S
KAMKWAMBA’S
E
EL
E
EL
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Here’s one person who knew how to use the wind
at his back! William Kamkwamba built windmills to
bring power to his village in Malawi.
8/17/11 4:05 PM
ELECTRIC
WIND
ELECTRIC
WIND
ELECTRIC
WIND
ELECTRIC WIND
by Cynthia Levinson
W
hen William Kamkwamba was growing
up in Masitala, a far ming village of
about 60 families in Malawi, the best day of the
year was Christmas. Then, he, his par ents, and
his six sisters ate meat with their usual maize
porridge and gr eens. Meat was so rar e, his
Chichewa [CHIH-cha-wah] language has a word,
nkhuli [n-KOO-lee], meaning
“great hunger for meat.”
During the rainy season,
young William hunted for bir ds,
using traps he fashioned fr om a
hoe, a scarf, bicycle tires, bricks,
his mother’s clothesline, and
ropes made of blue gum tr ee
bark. With his ingenuity and
steady hand, W illiam brought
home meat.
But, between 2001 and 2006,
drought and famine hit Malawi.
Even maize wither ed and blew
away. Limited to one tiny meal
a day, the Kamkwambas starved.
One Christmas, W illiam ate
only boiled goatskin. In 2006,
William, 14, dr opped out of
school; he couldn’t pay the fee
of 1,200 kwacha (about $80).
His family was desolate. If
only he could help.
MUSIC TO PEDAL BY
William headed to the library, a small
room with three walls of books from America and
electric lights. Although he knew little English, he
figured out from diagrams how water wheels and
electromagnets produce electricity; how batteries
yield direct current; how magnets concocted
from everyday objects make alter nating current.
A natural mechanic, W illiam powered a radio
by connecting one to the dynamo on a bicycle.
While he pedaled, his cousin Geof frey danced to
African reggae music.
“Of course,” he thought. “This
is how spinning motion generates
power!” William wrote in his book
The Boy Who Har nessed the
Wind. And, power could pr ovide
lighting and move water from the
stream to fields. Studying a book
on energy, William realized wind
could power pumps better than
bicycling! All he needed to do
was build a windmill.
He rigged a small, test
windmill from a plastic bottle,
pipes, bamboo, an old battery,
wires, and a rubber shoe. When
he connected the wires to a radio,
he heard music!
“With that success,” W illiam
wrote, “I started planning for an
even bigger windmill.”
GOAT POOP
This
one r equired
heavier materials—a tractor fan, shock absorber,
vats of gr ease—which William scrounged from
a scrap yar d. It wasn’t easy, though. Students
at his old school nearby called him a madman
for digging in garbage. Not understanding why
he wanted it, his father almost r efused to give
Here are some handy terms
should you go to Malawi:
Muli bwanji (MOO-lee BAHN-gee) = How are you?
Ndiri bwino (n-DEER-dree BWEE-no) = I’m fine.
magetsi a mphepo (ma-GET-see m-PEP-o) = electric wind
nsima (SEE-ma) = maize porridge
A dynamo
mechanic conver ts
(like peda al rotation
electricity.ling) into
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him his br oken bicycle. T o pay a welder ,
William stacked wood. He accidentally blew up
his father’s radio and later ruined his mother’s
favorite cooking pot, boiling goat poop to extract
biogas!
Months later, he had fi nally collected all the
pieces—except the dynamo he needed for a generator
.
Then, a friend, Gilbert Wimbe, son of Masitala’s chief,
gave him 200 kwacha to buy o ne. The next day, he
started connecting the parts.
“If you want
to make it, all
you have to
do is try.”
“HE’S MADE LIGHT!”
William spent hours heating a handmade
drill to bore holes into plastic blades, each four feet long.
He strengthened the blades with bamboo poles, bolted on
with washers fashioned from bottle caps. He attached the
bicycle, then the dynamo, then chains. W illiam, Gilbert, and
Geoffrey felled blue gum tr ees and constructed a tower, 16
feet high, wrapping its legs in plastic to keep out termites. With
a makeshift pulley, they hauled the 90-pound windmill up the
tower.
Finally, William inserted a light bulb into a socket handcrafted
from a hollow r eed and wir e. Here goes, he thought, setting the
blades in motion. A wind gust nearly knocked him of f the tower but
spun the blades “like furious pr opellers…I held the bulb befor e me,
waiting for my miracle. It fl ickered once. Just a fl ash at fi rst, then a
surge of bright, magnificent light. My heart nearly burst.”
A neighbor shouted, “He’s made light!”
William answered, “Electric wind. I told you I wasn’t mad!”
Soon, he dangled a bulb from his bedroom ceiling and installed a switch.
In Malawi, where only about fi ve percent of the population has electricity,
William “could touch the wall and get lights!”
This wasn’t a miracle. It was his resourcefulness, confidence, and
persistence. “If you want to make it,” he said, “all
you have to do is try.”
Windmills were widespread in Europe from the
12th to the 19th century. They ground grain and
pumped water. Today, wind turbines produce
electricity by driving a generator. Worldwide,
the small country of Denmark generates the
largest percentage of its electricity from wind.
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At first William’s neighbors
thought he was crazy, but
once the windmill was up and
running they realized how
valuable his machine was.
S
AVED FROM DESTRUCTION
William wasn’t done yet. He built a transfor mer
with a socket and battery; then, people paid him to char ge
their mobile telephones. After nearly bur ning down the
house, he fabricated a circuit breaker. He built a transmitter,
creating his own radio station.
Best of all, in 2007, W illiam, now 24, drilled a well that
provides fresh drinking water for his village and irrigation
for crops. His mother says, W illiam “saved his family fr om
destruction.”
Word of W illiam’s achievements spr ead. He was asked
to speak at a TED (T echnology, Entertainment, Design)
conference. TED is a non-pr ofit organization devoted to
“ideas worth spr eading.” With more hard work and help
from donors, he finished high school and now gives speeches
around the world and studies engineering at Dartmouth
College. Through his or ganization, the Moving W indmills
Project, William continues to work toward providing villages
throughout Malawi with access to clean water and school
and building supplies. Bryan Mealer , the co-author of The
Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, says William’s message “really
resonated with a lot of people.”
Thanks to William’s windmill, change is in the air for the
people of Malawi.
Cynthia Levinson is a former social studies teacher who writes fiction and
non-fiction for young people.
To learn more about William and his projects, go to:
Movingwindmills.org/projects
Williamkamkwamba.typepad.com
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