Meet William Kamkwamba, a Malawian inventor
(This article was originally written in 2005 and last updated on August 30th, 2021)
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Before November 2006, William Kamkwamba was just an ordinary Malawian village boy. He knew nothing about Google, blogs, TED talks, the Daily Show, travelling by plane and having a well-planned future. Today, William knows all this like the back of his hand, and much more. He is a Dartmouth College graduate, an author, a motivational speaker and a real asset to his community.
What magic brought him to this place? Invention. What qualities enabled him to build a windmill from pieces of wood, a broken bicycle and a myriad of other unwanted objects? A dose of madness, huge amounts of courage, the right measure of perseverance and unlimited patience. It also took the goodwill of onlookers, journalists and bloggers in Malawi and elsewhere to bring William’s story to the world. Above all, it was the belief in his creation, shared by many others, that saved William and his Masitala village from certain misery and destruction.
A series of unfortunate events brought about this transformation. It all started with a severe drought in 2001 that brought William’s education to a standstill. That year’s famine not only claimed many lives, but also left the surviving families struggling for basic amenities. In this context, school fees became a luxury. William dropped out of school at the age of 14 but falling into despair was out of question.
The teenager turned to books to kill boredom and keep out of trouble. It was during one of his forays into a local library in his Kasungu district that he discovered Using Energy, an American science textbook that described windmills. That book would change William Kamkwamba’s life.
After months of research, experiments and embarrassing trips to the scrapyard where he collected most of his building materials, William’s first makeshift windmill came into being. It could light four bulbs in his home and charge mobile phones, much to the wonder and disbelief of the people who originally thought that he was crazy. Later on, two more windmills would be built to provide more electricity that would light the village and power a water pump used for irrigational purposes.
November 2007 saw William attend his first TED conference in Arusha, Tanzania, where some participants noticed his potential and decided to sponsor his studies. The African Bible College in Malawi was one of the first steps that the education-starved boy took towards increasing his knowledge. The African Leadership Academy in South Africa soon followed thanks to another scholarship. William would finally end up at Dartmouth College in the United States of America in 2010.
Four years later, William obtained his engineering degree and made a pledge to continue helping his community and country through the Moving Windmills Project foundation which he co-founded in 2008. The project helps people to have access to solar-powered electricity, clean water and even sponsors a football team.
Currently, William is said to work on what he calls his ‘biggest project yet’ —an innovation centre that is set to ‘inspire the next generation of innovators in Africa.’ Incredible!
William Kamkwamba continues to inspire many people around the world. His improbable windmill harnessed the wind and freed our imagination, allowing us to dream and believe that creativity is the key to transformational change.
Further Exploration about William Kamkwamba:
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- William Kamkwamba (Pdf)
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- VocabAfrica 1_William Kamkwamba_the boy who harnessed the wind (Pdf)
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Read: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
This biographical book is set in Malawi and recounts William’s incredible story. The authors are William Kamkwamba of course and Bryan Mealer. You can buy the book here. You can also visit the author’s website here.
About the Author
Thandi Ngwira Gatignol is the founder of Learn English With Africa. She was born on June 11th, 1981 in Blantyre, Malawi. When she was 19, she left her country of birth for France. She currently lives with her two daughters and husband in Poland.
Thandi holds a Bachelor’s degree in English studies obtained at the Université Paris X Nanterre in France and a Certificate in Journalism from Malawi. She has taught English as a French Ministry of Education certified teacher both in France and in Poland. She speaks six languages fluently, including French, Polish and Italian. She is now learning Kiswahili, German and Spanish. Salt No More is her debut novel and you can find her other books here on the website or on Amazon.
