Student Question
What lessons can we learn from William Kamkwamba's memoir The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind?
Quick answer:
William Kamkwamba's memoir teaches the importance of education and energy in transforming impoverished societies. Growing up in a poor Malawian village, he overcame hardships by self-educating at a local library, leading to the construction of a windmill that provided electricity and fresh water. His father's stories instilled resilience and hope, showing the power of belief and ingenuity. Kamkwamba's journey from poverty to success underscores the transformative potential of knowledge and innovation.
William Kamkwamba's memoir, titled The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind:
Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope, details his hardships growing
up in a poor village of Masitala in the southeastern African nation of Malawi.
More importantly, it details his abilities to overcome his
hardships through his dedication to education and devotion to pursuing
his visions. One of the greatest lessons we learn from the
book is that there are two things separating the underdeveloped nations from
the developed nations: education and energy. Both of these
things need to be generated in underdeveloped nations in order
for them to finally prosper.
William grew up in a village in which all residents were subsistence
farmers , meaning they were only able to grow and harvest enough crops to live on, not enough to sell at a profit. The village also held onto its traditions of using shamans for all health...
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needs and being afraid of witchcraft. In contrast to the other villagers, William and his cousin Geoffrey, as they were growing up,strove to be more
modernized, even learning how to invent their own toys and how to
repair radios.
In the year 2000, William's family did not have enough money to buy fertilizer
for the new maize crop. In addition, the whole village was hit by
famine induced by both flooding and drought. During this time, William
was forced to give up the education he dearly valued because his family could
no longer afford it. Regardless, he continued to educate
himself by journeying to the nearby library. There, he studied books
on science, physics, electricity, and electromagnetism and even taught himself
some English. When he read a book titled Using Energy about using windmills to
convert wind into energy, he became convinced he could help his family
significantly if he built a windmill.
Through the help of his cousin Geoffrey, his own ingenuity, and collections of
any piece of scrap he thought could be useful, he built a
windmill large enough to power electricity in his home and charge cell
phone batteries. He even built a solar-powered water pump that
delivers to his village its first ever fresh drinking
water.
Soon, he became famous as an engineer, had enough money to buy two trucks his
family could use to haul their harvests to market to sell for profit, finished
his high school education, and even graduated from Dartmouth College.
Hence, through William's life events, we can see just how drastically education
and energy can transform a society from being impoverished to being
prosperous.
How did William Kamkwamba's father shape his outlook in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind?
The young William looks up to his father, a strong and kind man who takes an interest in his son and loves to share stories. Though William grows up in a village steeped in superstitious lore, he learns his love for the Christian god from his father.
When William is frightened of spirits after his near escape from the curse of the bubblegum vendor, he asks his father for money—kwacha notes—to help him ward off evil spirits. His father, a Presbyterian, instead tells him a story, recounting a time when he was in a pickup truck that went out of control, sending him and his fellow passengers careening. The father thought his moment of death had come as the truck rolled towards him, ready to crush him. But after running over and killing several others, it stopped just in time before hitting him. The father attributes this to the power of God.
His story teaches William to respect wizards and spirits but not fear them. His father tells him that if he has God on his side, the wizards have no power. This frees him from a life of constant superstitious terror.
In conjunction with this, William learns from his father a spirit of hopefulness; his father thinks good things are in store for his son and tells him you never know what will happen. Finally, he learns to be good and loyal, as poor behavior may come back to haunt a person.
Overall, William is positively shaped by his father's stories and example, gaining a confident compassionate outlook on life.