An immensely engaging tale about an enterprising teenager in Malawi who builds a windmill from scraps found around his village and brings electricity—and a future—to himself and his family
 
"William Kamkwamba’s achievements with wind energy should serve as a model of what one person, with an inspired idea, can do to tackle the crisis we face. His book tells a moving and exciting story.” — Al Gore
 
 
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.
 
Contributor Bio(s)
 
William Kamkwamba is a New York Times bestselling author and innovator who designs development projects, including safe water delivery and educational access. William tells his journey of how he achieved his dream of bringing electricity, light, and the promise of a better life to his family and his village in his memoir The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope, co-authored with Bryan Mealer. Since its debut, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind has sold more than 1 million copies and has been translated into nearly twenty languages worldwide. It has been published in two additional editions, a young reader’s version and a children’s book. After graduating from Dartmouth College in Environmental Studies, William began work as a Global Fellow for the design firm IDEO.org. He is an entrepreneur, TED Fellow, and has worked with the WiderNet Project to develop appropriate technologies curriculums focused on bridging the gap between “knowing” and “doing” for young people in Malawi and across the world. William splits his time between the U.S. and Malawi and is currently working full-time with the Moving Windmills Project to bring the Moving Windmills Innovation Center to life in Kasungu, Malawi.
Bryan Mealer is the author of All Things Must Fight to Live: Stories of War and Deliverance in Congo. He is a former Associated Press staff correspondent and his work has appeared in several magazines, including Harper's and Esquire. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.