The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind.(Book review)

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer

William Morrow, 2009; HarperCollins 2010

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind is the true story of William Kamkwamba, a boy living in Malawi. His village is affected by poverty and famine due to drought, the corrupt government of the time and a lack of resources. In the book, William tells the story of his life including the close relationship he has with his family, his experiences of school, friendship, village life and eventually his determination to build a windmill.

He builds the windmill from bits of discarded rubbish he finds at the scrap yard including a dynamo and pieces of an old bicycle. He uses the knowledge he learns from a book he reads at the school library called Explaining Physics. The windmill he builds produces electricity to power lights in his home. It is a remarkable story as he does all of this whilst experiencing severe hunger and poverty. He and his family have very little to eat because the maize crop they usually grow fails because of the drought. This is exacerbated by the government as they fail to acknowledge the famine and therefore offer no assistance to help the people. Instead they allow prices of food to escalate so that villagers like William's family are forced to sell everything they have just to survive. This means that William cannot continue his education. So he occupies his time building his windmill.

Despite some people in the village ridiculing William, when he eventually manages to get the windmill working to power the lights in his family home, news spreads quickly. The windmill attracts the attention of the village and many people from neighbouring villages. Officials from the Malawi Teacher Training Activity hear about the windmill and are very impressed. As a result William is interviewed on Radio Malawi. The news of William's invention spreads across the world and consequently this book was written. William has also appeared on at least two occasions at the International TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design): Ideas worth spreading conference and you can see his inspiring presentation through the following link.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/ eng/william_kamkwamba_how_i_harnessed_the_wind.html

I read this book as part of my Year 12 English course. I was so inspired by William Kamkwamba's story that I have decided to go to Africa as part of the World Youth Organisation. I will be visiting Kenya to work on a project helping villages similar to the one that William Kamkwamba grew up in. I think everyone should read this book as it opens your eyes to a very different way of life to the way we live in Australia. It made me realise how lucky I was and also how robust the human spirit is.

Alysha Martens

Canberra

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind.(Book review)

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer

William Morrow, 2009; HarperCollins 2010

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind is the true story of William Kamkwamba, a boy living in Malawi. His village is affected by poverty and famine due to drought, the corrupt government of the time and a lack of resources. In the book, William tells the story of his life including the close relationship he has with his family, his experiences of school, friendship, village life and eventually his determination to build a windmill.

He builds the windmill from bits of discarded rubbish he finds at the scrap yard including a dynamo and pieces of an old bicycle. He uses the knowledge he learns from a book he reads at the school library called Explaining Physics. The windmill he builds produces electricity to power lights in his home. It is a remarkable story as he does all of this whilst experiencing severe hunger and poverty. He and his family have very little to eat because the maize crop they usually grow fails because of the drought. This is exacerbated by the government as they fail to acknowledge the famine and therefore offer no assistance to help the people. Instead they allow prices of food to escalate so that villagers like William's family are forced to sell everything they have just to survive. This means that William cannot continue his education. So he occupies his time building his windmill.

Despite some people in the village ridiculing William, when he eventually manages to get the windmill working to power the lights in his family home, news spreads quickly. The windmill attracts the attention of the village and many people from neighbouring villages. Officials from the Malawi Teacher Training Activity hear about the windmill and are very impressed. As a result William is interviewed on Radio Malawi. The news of William's invention spreads across the world and consequently this book was written. William has also appeared on at least two occasions at the International TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design): Ideas worth spreading conference and you can see his inspiring presentation through the following link.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/ eng/william_kamkwamba_how_i_harnessed_the_wind.html

I read this book as part of my Year 12 English course. I was so inspired by William Kamkwamba's story that I have decided to go to Africa as part of the World Youth Organisation. I will be visiting Kenya to work on a project helping villages similar to the one that William Kamkwamba grew up in. I think everyone should read this book as it opens your eyes to a very different way of life to the way we live in Australia. It made me realise how lucky I was and also how robust the human spirit is.

Alysha Martens

Canberra