Back in 2002, William Kamkwamba, who could not afford to attend school in his Malawian village, Mastala, noticed that they “had enough wind in Malawi to do something.”

So, at 14, he read a book in his library on how to make a windmill. In that year, he built one and powered a few rudimentary lights and a radio.

In 2006, a Malawian newspaper wrote up his feat. As a result he was invited to come to the United States.

He flew in a helicopter (another “windmill”) above New York City, marvelled at the uses of electricity there, and visited a windfarm in Palm Springs, California.

His dream is to finish his education and then start a company building windmills.

William’s first book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, written with Bryan Mealer, was released September 29th in the US.

“Most people, they want technology but cannot use the Internet technology without electricity. That’s what I’m planning to do, to come up with reliable electricity.”

After the Reval – or even before – maybe we can help. (I plan to.)

More on William:

William’s website at http://williamkamkwamba.com

Ted Talk, 2007, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8yKFVPOD6o

William Kamkwamba at https://www.ted.com/speakers/william_kamkwamba?language=en

For many more videos, enter “how I built a windmill” in the Youtube search box.

William’s mailing address:

William Kamkwamba
2 Wall Street, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10005