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William Kamkwamba’s captivating memoir is about growing up in a rural farming village where technology is starting to trickle into his community. William and his friends play like kids anywhere, repurposing any old thing into toy cars, or Rambo style rifles. He has a natural curiosity about how things work – radios, windmills, cars, machines of any kind. A devastating famine strikes Malawi reducing villages, communities and families to the slimmest existence with all money now spent on food. This means no more schooling for William. Instead, he must now help his family survive by any means he can. He’s disappointed at his loss of daily camaraderie with his friends and classmates and makes his way to his village library to hone his reading skills. There he discovers books about physics and electricity and, with renewed interest and energy, he learns all he can about these sciences. Not satisfied with just learning the why and how of things, he also envisions ways to use his newfound knowledge. He starts by finding a way to power his radio to listen to his favorite reggae artists without relying on batteries - hard to obtain and costly. From there he’s captivated with ideas of creating faster, better ways to harness electricity: to ease his mother’s need to haul water for home use; to provide electrically driven windmills to aid in the hard labor of farming for more stable production. Soon he’s realizing the ability to bring his electrical grid to wider distribution. Local, national and international blogger communities discover his work and bring William and his story to the attention of international scientists and venture capitalists. Inspiring and life changing, William, now in his mid 20s, has achieved a far larger role than his first quest to find a reliable power source for his radio. William’s book is a marvel of innovation and solutions for a new generation growing into the challenges of our modern world. Reviewed by Marilyn S |
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