His Entire Community and Even His Mom Thought He Was Crazy. But Then He Turned On The Lights.

In 2002, Malawi was in the midst of one of its worst droughts. Fourteen-year-old William Kamkwamba was suffering greatly from the crisis: his family was on the verge of starvation and they didn’t have enough money to send him to school.

As a result, William spent most of his free time at the U.S. government funded library, drawn to books about science. Because he couldn’t read English very well, he often picked up books containing pictures and diagrams.

When he saw a picture of a windmill in one of the books, a lightbulb went off in his head.

“I saw the picture of the windmill in the library book so when I saw it I said ‘ah, this picture in this book, I think I can also build this windmill,’” he told Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.

He believed the windmill might be the answer to the famine problem that his family and community were experiencing. He explained to BBC News:

“I was very interested when I saw the windmill could make electricity and pump water. I thought: ‘That could be a defense against hunger.”

So he continued reading to learn about how electromagnetics worked and spent hours working on his prototype.

At the time, everyone in his village thought he was crazy. To them, a windmill was completely foreign.

But by using a tractor fan blade, an old shock absorber, spare bicycle parts, and blades from plastic pipes, he created a turbine and from there a 16 foot tower.

And three months after he began gathering scraps, he hooked a car light bulb up to the finished turbine, the windmill started turning, and power ignited William’s family’s home.

The naysayers began gathering around his compound, hoping to use his new electricity to charge their cell phones.

“I could not get rid of them,” he joked.

News of the windmill spread and journalists came from all over to hear his story. Meanwhile, William began making improvements and upgrades to his windmill. He also built a second windmill which created a water pump to irrigate his family’s crops.

Why a windmill mattered so much

To understand why William’s invention caught the world’s attention, it helps to understand what life was like in his village. Most families in rural Malawi grew their own food, above all maize, and depended entirely on the rains. When the rains failed, the harvest failed, and there was no safety net. Electricity was a luxury very few rural homes had. After dark, families relied on kerosene lamps or simply went to bed early, which made studying at night almost impossible.

A windmill changed both problems at once. Electric light meant the family could stay up and read after sunset. A pump meant water could be moved to the fields even when the rain did not come, which in a farming family is the difference between a harvest and a hungry year. William had not invented the windmill. What made his story remarkable was that he rebuilt the idea from a library book, with scrap parts and no formal training, at an age when most people are still in school.

From a village in Malawi to the TED stage

William’s windmill first reached a wider audience when he was invited to speak at the TEDGlobal conference in Arusha, Tanzania, in 2007. He was visibly nervous, spoke only briefly and in halting English, and the room gave him a standing ovation. That short appearance led to many more: a longer TED talk two years later, interviews with major newspapers and broadcasters, and the appearance on The Daily Show quoted above.

The attention also brought support. With help from people he met through TED and beyond, William was able to go back to school. He went on to study at the African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa, and later at Dartmouth College in the United States, where he graduated in 2014.

The book and the film

His accomplishments are now chronicled in a book entitled, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, which he wrote with journalist Bryan Mealer and which was published in 2009. The book became a bestseller and was later adapted into an edition for younger readers and a picture book for children, bringing his story into classrooms around the world.

In 2019 the story reached a new audience again as a feature film of the same name. It was written and directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor, who also played William’s father, Trywell. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released by Netflix, and it shows in detail the drought, the famine and the family’s struggle that made the windmill so important.

A lesson that goes beyond one windmill

Part of the reason William’s story continues to be shared is that it challenges assumptions about where innovation comes from. He had no laboratory, no money and no internet connection, only a small library, a few books and the willingness to keep trying while people laughed at him. His windmill is a reminder that curiosity and persistence are resources too, and that a single library can change a life.

It is also a reminder of how much talent goes unnoticed. William was only able to finish his education because his story happened to reach people who could help. Countless young people in similar circumstances never get that chance, which is why he has spent much of his adult life speaking about education, practical skills and the importance of giving young people the tools to solve the problems they see around them.

William hopes to inspire young people to follow their dreams, regardless of their circumstances.

“So I would like to say something to all the people out there like me. To the Africans and the poor who are struggling with your dreams, God bless … Trust yourself and believe. Whatever happens, don’t give up.”