William Kamkwamba: The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind
To anyone who's ever wanted to do something big, something great, something that could truly change the world, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, a book by 22-year old Malawian author William kamkwamba, is for you. Click here to purchase The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by: William Kamkwamba
Coming from the poorest of the poor, and the lowest circumstances you might imagine, this one boy dared to ask the question, "How does this work?" He followed that up with the question, "How could I make things better?"
Those two questions, and his resourcefulness and ingenuity in answering those questions, changed not only his life, but his parents' lives, his family's lives, and the lives of his entire community.
And now, his story has impacted my life in a way I don't think I yet fully realize.
I'm dumbfounded to have the awareness, through this book (and throughout my reading of this book), just how much I really have available to me in the way of knowledge, tools, and resources, and how little I really do with those tools. Not to compare, but I feel like I do a lot more with what I have than a lot of others around me. In any case, since we are comparing, I don't hold a candle to the resourcefulness and skills of William Kamkwamba.
Using a bicycle, scrap parts he finds in his town's junkyard, three books he finds in a local library, and the support of only two friends and his father (everyone else calls him a madman or bewitched), William brings "electric wind" to his family's small farm in rural Africa. He does this not in his 20's or 30's, but at the ripe old age of 14, with little more than a 5th grade education.
As I'm reading the book, I realize that William was recognized by TED at the Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge within just months of the time that Carrie and I were there. William tells the story of being at the mountain lodge and having the realization (for the first time) that a laptop is like a miniature computer.
In that same time frame in history (summer of 2006), I paid $5/hour to use the Internet connection at Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge and sent an email to people following our travel to say that Carrie and I had successfully summitted Kilimanjaro.
And here it is, almost exactly three years later, with the story of William's journey in my hands. William is someone I've never met, but whose story has had a profound impact on my realization of what's possible.
(Something interesting: William attended the CES Show in Las Vegas in 2007... I was there as well, thanks to a last minute invite from my friend Dave Taylor. It's just interesting to me that we've been in the same places in very close time frames, but not interacted (yet). I believe our paths are destined to cross.)
One of my favorite quotes from (close to the end of) the book "I went to sleep dreaming of Malawi, and all the things made possible when your dreams are powered by your heart."
And so my question for you today is, what are your dreams?
And are they currently powered by your heart and soul?
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I devoured this 347 page book in three nights, and will perhaps read it again once Carrie's had a chance to get a hold of it.
To my new hero, William Kamkwamba, thank-you for your inspiration, for your dedication, and for sharing your story with me, allowing me to read it halfway across the world in Denver, Colorado, USA. (Thank-you as well to Carrie for bringing this story into my life.)
William, I look forward to seeing your windmill, and I am greatly looking forward to the day we meet.