The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

By: William Kamkwamba and Byran Mealer
Location: NF 920 KAM
Genre: African Brilliance

This will get me going... Last year I had the opportunity and privilege to help construct two libraries in Tanzania and a few years back we gifted three to schools in Ghana.
Little do you know when you humbly visit a village and convert an container into a library and leave a few thousand books and walk away- what could happen as a result. Who would know that a kid would study them, pour over them- and perhaps then become an  home grown engineer to impact the entire village. Will the books we gifted our schools create another William Kamkwamba- I hope so- I hope so!
This story is so inspirational to me, because I have seen it, I know it, I have met Williams of Africa but this guy did it, made it happen and shared his story with the world.
What did he do- he saw a book in the village library that had a windmill picture in it. His village was devastated by a famine and he had to leave school. When he saw the windmuill- he had an idea- build one. With bike bits and scrap and ingenuity- he could bring the power of electricity to his home, it could pump water to help the farm...
It turned William into a hero- one who harnessed the wind. But bigger than that- it proves- books and education is the key to change, is the answer to giving opportunities for communities to flourish. What an encouragement to RATA as we head to India this week- Education and books create heroes who can change the world for the special people in their lives- even in a rural poor famine struck village!
Read this book- it is the youth version and be inspired by William Kamkwambas story.